Wonders of Technology-Teaching Physics to Non-Scientists

Wonders of Technology is a conceptual physics course developed for non—science majors. The approach taken here in the introduction of the physical concepts is to depict their role in today’s technology, specifically the technology familiar to the students, and also to emphasize the connection between technology, art, and culture from the historical perspective. Why this approach? The traditional method of teaching physics is perceived by many students as user-unfriendly — they think physics is difficult, abstract, and, in fact, of little or no relevance to everyday life. The course Wonders of Technology alleviates this perception by placing the students on familiar ground that provides a fertile environment for an easier assimilation of knowledge. By examining the technology students use on a daily basis to demonstrate how physics makes things work, students are motivated to seek understanding of the principles underlying their operation. The course was developed within the guidelines of the new general education requirements at Virginia Commonwealth University. This presentation highlights some of the highly successful features of the newly developed course, with emphasis on responses from the education majors who are enrolled in the course

Lessons from two Dutch projects for the introduction of computers in schools

The systematic introduction of computers in schools for general secondary education in The Netherlands started in the early 1980s. Initially, the Dutch government experimented in 1983 with a project in 100 lower general secondary schools limited in scope to gain experience with educational computer use (100-school project). In the period 1985¿1989 the government implemented a second stimulation project focused at all lower secondary schools: New Information Technology in Secondary Education. This project consisted of the provision of hardware and courseware to all general secondary schools, organizing nationwide in-service teacher training, and the intensifying of software development.\ud \ud With respect to the 100-school project the question was whether there would be any differences in computer implementation and problems with computer use at schools in the 100-school project as compared to other schools which could only profit in the second promotional program.\ud \ud The question addressed for the second promotional program concerns the use of software packages and courseware which were provided to all schools for general education during the NIVO-project.\ud \ud An important conclusion for The Netherlands is, that the provision of hardware, software and in-service training was adequate to introduce computer education (called: information and computer literacy) as a new subject in nearly all lower secondary schools. But the set of stimulation activities does not seem to be adequate or sufficient to realize the integration of computer use in existing subjects

АНАЛИЗ РЕЗУЛЬТАТОВ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЙ ОБЩЕГО СРЕДНЕГО И ВНЕШКОЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ В ЭСТЕТИЧЕСКОМ ВОСПИТАНИИ ПОДРОСТКОВ

The article reveals the main results of scientific research on the implementation of the system of interaction of general secondary and out-of-school education institutions in the aesthetic education of teenagers. Methods of diagnosing the aesthetic education of students at the stages of the ascertaining and formative stages of the study, which were used during the experiments, confirmed the need and correctness of the conclusions. The main purpose of improving the aesthetic education of adolescents - the integration of the existing system and new forms of interaction, event technology in education as a technology of impressions and a component of the system of socio-pedagogical activities in educational institutions, methods of interaction, and methods of aesthetic education aimed at creative activities, promotes acme success, creative self-realization of teenagers. As a result of introduction of multi-vector model the tendencies of development of aesthetic education of modern teenagers in the conditions of application of system of interaction of establishments of general secondary and out-of-school education in aesthetic education of teenagers are allocated. A general trend for both control and experimental groups is a decrease in the number of teenagers who show a "low" level of aesthetic education. This allows us to argue about the feasibility of the proposed system of interaction of general secondary and out-of-school education in the aesthetic education of teenagers, the introduction of new forms, methods of interaction in the practice of school and out-of-school. With such interaction, the out-of-school education institution is able to solve a range of tasks aimed at aesthetic education of teenagers in particular and humanization of general secondary education in general: integrate resources of out-of-school and general secondary education, equalize initial opportunities at the same time to each pupil acme success, to promote self-realization of the personality of the child and the teacher.The article reveals the main results of scientific research on the implementation of the system of interaction of general secondary and out-of-school education institutions in the aesthetic education of teenagers. Methods of diagnosing the aesthetic education of students at the stages of the ascertaining and formative stages of the study, which were used during the experiments, confirmed the need and correctness of the conclusions. The main purpose of improving the aesthetic education of adolescents - the integration of the existing system and new forms of interaction, event technology in education as a technology of impressions and a component of the system of socio-pedagogical activities in educational institutions, methods of interaction, and methods of aesthetic education aimed at creative activities, promotes acme success, creative self-realization of teenagers. As a result of introduction of multi-vector model the tendencies of development of aesthetic education of modern teenagers in the conditions of application of system of interaction of establishments of general secondary and out-of-school education in aesthetic education of teenagers are allocated. A general trend for both control and experimental groups is a decrease in the number of teenagers who show a "low" level of aesthetic education. This allows us to argue about the feasibility of the proposed system of interaction of general secondary and out-of-school education in the aesthetic education of teenagers, the introduction of new forms, methods of interaction in the practice of school and out-of-school. With such interaction, the out-of-school education institution is able to solve a range of tasks aimed at aesthetic education of teenagers in particular and humanization of general secondary education in general: integrate resources of out-of-school and general secondary education, equalize initial opportunities at the same time to each pupil acme success, to promote self-realization of the personality of the child and the teacher

An Effective Introduction to Technology and Design in Norwegian Primary Education

How can young pupils get An effective introduction to technology and design at the primary level in the Norwegian context? This question is highlighted with examples based on case studies at five classes in two schools doing their first technology and design project at grades 1 or 2 (age 6-8 years). The project was about air rockets. The discussion in this article covers five aspects of introducing technology and design at the primary level: technological literacy, design, motivation, teaching and assessment. The discussion is based on a very small sample. That is not a safe basis for drawing general conclusions about what the best introduction of technology and design education might be. There are of course many different effective ways of introducing technology and design education. Most of the pupils reached the actual curricular competence aims. The designing process and making process were interwoven and the pupils were eager to take their initial idea directly to making at the cost of reflective thinking. It seems however, that this simple but spectacular project did develop interest and enthusiasm for designing and making artefacts. The discussion identifies several characteristics of An effective introduction

Cybersecurity, Technology, and Society: Developing an Interdisciplinary, Open, General Education Cybersecurity Course

This paper describes an interdisciplinary effort involving faculty from five different disciplines who came together to develop an interdisciplinary, open, general education cybersecurity course. The course, Cybersecurity, Technology, and Society, brings together ideas from interdisciplinary studies, information technology, engineering, business, computer science, criminal justice, and philosophy to provide students an interdisciplinary introduction to cybersecurity. We provide an overview of the rationale for the course, the process the authors went through developing the course, a summary of the course modules, details about the open education resources used as readings, and the types of assignments included in the class. We conclude by offering recommendations for others developing similar courses

The Use of One-To-One iPad Technology and its Impact on Students Receiving Special Education Services Work Completion and Grades

The research question addressed in this project was, how does the use of one-to-one iPad technology impact students who receive special education services grades and work completion? It examines and compares the work completion rates and grades of students receiving special education services in the general education setting, both before and after the implementation of the one-to-one iPad initiative. This mixed methods study examines fifteen secondary students’ grades in English, mathematics and social studies the trimester before the iPads introduction and follows the students for the full school year after the introduction to compare their grades and work completion rates. The study also surveys the students to obtain information on their use of iPads in class as well as any struggles or concerns they may have had

Sustainable faculty development: issues in technology for teacher education

This dissertation centers around research and development on faculty preparation for integration of technology for teacher education. Chapter 1 is the general introduction in which the background and the significance of the research topics are addressed. Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 consist of three published or publishable papers. Chapter 5 is the general conclusion. Chapter 2 summarizes the literature related to one-on-one technology mentoring programs in higher education and K--12 institutions nation wide, and identifies themes contributing to a successful mentoring program. Chapter 3 describes the pedagogical shift of an exemplary technology-using teacher educator through her eight-year journey with a one-on-one technology mentoring program. A grounded theory approach was used to relate and integrate the stages experienced by an exemplary technology-using teacher educator who moved from limited knowledge and use of technology to learning to apply basic applications in the classroom and on to integrating innovative technology. In Chapter 4, results from an online survey on the issues of sustainability of faculty\u27s use and integration of technology in teacher education programs are presented. Based on the findings of a pilot case study, the survey was developed to gather quantitative data from 60 teacher education faculty members from 31 higher education institutions. The purpose of the survey study was to investigate how to encourage faculty members who have made significant use of technology to continue to use technology in their teacher preparation courses and to sustain efforts in making technology an essential component across the curriculum in teacher education programs. In addition, the survey results helped to identify effective faculty development practices and provided information on breaking down barriers to faculty\u27s continued technology integration.;Taken together, the three studies in this dissertation provided insights in effective faculty development practice for supporting faculty integration of technology into their teaching. Results from all three studies suggested the importance of forming a community of faculty members working to integrate technology. In addition, all three studies provided evidence for the effectiveness of the one-one-one mentoring approach to faculty development in this area

The implementation of technology education in secondary schools in the Free State province (urban areas)

ThesisThe purpose of this study was to investigate the implimentation of Technology as a subject in schools and to determine the attitudes of educators towards Technology as a subject and Outcomes-Based Education in general. The main aim of this study was to determine how successful the introduction of Technology Education (in Secondary Schools in the Free State Province urban areas) was, how the subject is being taught and what problems are experienced. The study also aimed to give a general overview and an international perspective of Technology Education. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the perceptions of educators of Technology Education, their training to present the subject and whether schools are equipped and resourced to present the subject effectively. Concerning the research methodology, a literature study was undertaken and experiences from other countries were studied. The approach was mainly qualitative and a non-experimental research was conducted. The population (schools) were selected by means of cluster sampling and the sample (Technology educators) by means of simple random sampling. Data were collected by means of questionnaires and structured interviews. The analysis was done by using a Likert-scale to obtain the opinions of the teachers, and to determine whether there were differences in the proportion of persons' opinions regarding the questions , the Chi-square (x2 ) value for homogeneity (Howell, 1997) was used. Technology is fast becoming a key learning area in tne curriculum of tertiary institutions as well as secondary and primary schools. Technology learnereducators should endeavour to prepare young people for life in a technological society. From an international perspective the investigation revealed that the way in which Technology Education has been organised differs from country to country, but that they had similar experiences and problems when they introduced the subject for the first time. Specialized subject teachers (Former Industrial Arts, Vocational Education, Industrial Technology specialists etc) usually teach Technology Education in the junior and senior secondary schools in the countries that were studied. One of the biggest problems was the shortage of Technology trained teachers. The investigation revealed that a very low percentage of educators feel that the implementation of Technology Education was successful and that schools were ready for the implementation. It further revealed that the level I standard of Technology Education in different schools are not the same. There also exists a need for specialised trained teachers to present Technology Education. The need for appropriate equipment and physical facilities also came across. There are still problems I shortcomings regarding the subject Technology Education at schools. The study further revealed that a high percentage of educators feel that the subject Technology Education does have a place in the Further Education and Training sector

Educational technology and the new technologies

Like everywhere in our culture, new technologies gradually penetrate the field of education. This may be seen as a problem area, which asks for appropriate, actions by teachers, curriculum experts, instructional designers and others. As "technology" seems to be the main issue,one may quation whether the introduction of new technologies is to be considered as an educational technological problem. To a certain extent, the answer may be yes. In this contribution, the nature of educational technology is dealt with primarily. On this basis, the new technologies, are placed in the context of educational problem solving in general.\ud In the literature, educational technology is defined in several ways. After discussing three major approaches to educational technology, it is put forward that educational technology should preferably be conceived of as the methodology of educational problem solving.\ud The program of the Department of Education at the University of Twente is described as an example of a curriculum in which this conception of educational technology takes a central position

Theoretical preconditions for the design of pedagogical technologies in the conditions of profile education in philological direction

Статтю присвячено аналізу теоретичних передумов проектування педагогічних технологій в умовах профільного навчання за філологічним спрямуванням в закладах загальної середньої освіти. Наводяться основні визначення ключових понять, аналізується напрацьований досвід з питання.The article is devoted to the analysis of theoretical preconditions for the design of pedagogical technologies in the conditions of profile education in philological direction in institutions of general secondary education. The definition of key concepts is given, the experience gained on the issue is analyzed. The general features of organization of training at the senior level of general education in foreign experience are singled out. A retrospective analysis of the domestic philosophical, psychological, didactic and methodological literature on the stages on this issue has been carried out. The main definitions are defined and differentiated: profile education, pedagogical technologies, pedagogical technologies of philological direction. The priority task of profile education is not the amount of knowledge about a certain branch of knowledge or technology, but the formation of students ability to design acquired knowledge through the prism of their personality, life and professionally oriented plans, the formation of a number of competencies. The definition of the concepts of "profile education", "pedagogical technology", a number of differently oriented educational technologies used in the educational process of institutions of general secondary education is organized. The pedagogical technologies of the philological direction are systematized: technologies of general direction (integral educational technology and others); technologies aimed at the formation of communicative competence (technology "analysis of the image - the character of an epic composition", dialogical and others), innovative technologies. It is concluded that the introduction of profile education based on the latest pedagogical technologies is naturally determined. It is certified that the lack of a comprehensive study of issues related to the design and implementation of pedagogical technologies with a philological orientation in the profile education requires a thorough scientific research