Integration of Technology in Math and Science Education – A Model for Teaching Elementary and Middle School Pre-Service Teachers

This paper describes the development and implementation of a course, Integration of Technology in Math and Science Education, to introduce elementary and middle school pre-service teachers to real technology skills that they can use in their future classrooms. Activities allowed the students to learn technology skills while using the Internet to enrich their content skills and share information with their fellow students. The course was designed to allow students to master a variety of technology skills, and see how these skills can be used appropriately in their future classrooms, while also increasing their comfort level to use the technology and reduce their resistance and anxiety to use it later in their real-time classrooms. During the class hands-on activities, the students became fluent at using the Internet for enrichment and communication, and at developing strategies for using their new skills to present SOL-relevant lesson plans. Students enter this course with very little in the way of educational technology skills, but leave with a teaching toolbox filled with new skills

Providing equivalent learning activities with software-based remote access laboratories

Laboratory-based learning activities are important components of engineering and surveying education and it is difficult to offering practical activities to distance education students. Remote Access Laboratory (RAL) systems are widely discussed as learning tools to offer students remote access to rigs or hardware. In some disciplines laboratory activities are purely software based and RAL systems can be used to provide access to software. As part of a larger study into the transferability of the remote laboratory concept to non-engineering disciplines this project evaluates the effectiveness of RAL based software activities in supporting student learning is investigated. In the discipline of Surveying and Spatial Science, RAL technology is used to provide Geographic Information System software access to distance students. The key research question discussed in this paper is whether RALbased software activities can address the same learning outcomes as face-to-face practical classes for software activities. Data was collected from students' discussion forums, teaching staff diaries and teaching staff interviews. The project demonstrates that students undertaking learning activities remotely achieve similar learning outcomes than student in practice classes using the same software. Ease of system access and usability are critical and the learning activity needs to be supported by comprehensive learning materials. This research provides a clear case in which the use of RAL technology has provided inclusive educational opportunities more efficiently and these general results are also applicable to experiments that involve physical hardware

TOWARDS USABILITY INTEGRATION INTO E-LEARNING DESIGN

While e-learning use has sharply increased, the drop-out rate is high. This paper addresses some of the aspects that cause users to reject e-learning and not finish. It focuses on the concept of “usability”, especially pedagogical usability that is currently central to usability design. While the term is nebulous, it is identified by attributes such as learnability, efficiency and (subjective) satisfaction. Attributes can be measured and designers add new ones as the need arises. Satisfaction has become the focus of pedagogical usability experts who claim the term includes motivational and emotive factors and may be measured by psychometric testing. Currently, efforts are underway to integrate pedagogical usability into e-learning design and create attractive, flexible features that are easy to handle and available on demand. Efforts are also underway to design mobile learning that incorporates usability principles. Usability improvements have been incremental because the e-learning process is not clear to designers, but it is expected that awareness and innovations will correct this problem in the future

The Impact a Technology Leader and Their Leadership Style Makes in K-12 Classroom Teacher\u27s Implementation of Technology

The purpose of the study was to examine how public school technology leaders\u27 leadership styles in Pennsylvania schools impact K-12 classroom teachers\u27 integration of technology. The study collected data using two online surveys, the MLQ and LoTi, which measured leadership styles and levels of technology integration. Despite the large sample size of 500 school districts, a low response rate of 5.6% resulted. While demographic data and descriptive statistics could be analyzed, it was not possible to run meaningful analytical statistics to show if correlations existed between technology leaders\u27 leadership styles and classroom technology integration. A number of limitations were identified and insightful comments from participating classroom teachers and technology leaders provide future researchers with many points to consider

The role of ICT in teacher education. The development of web pages by project method

This paper is a description of an in-service teacher training experience that used ICT to develop a project that involved teachers (nursery and primary) and also children, parents and other members of the educational community. Its aim was to build an Internet site that would give information about school life. It's an open web space where teachers, parents and students can express and share their ideals and activities. This project is still in progress and is being developed in three interconnected phases: conception, development and evaluation. The most important issue to relate is that the technical or instrumental learning is dependent on the ideas and purposes of teachers, students and parents. We believe that when we talk about ICT in schools and also in teacher education we shouldn't only be concerned with the 'means', that is to say, how to introduce computers or how to use a word processor and Internet resources, but also with the 'ends'. Only when we question the ends do we begin to pay attention to what we do, that is, to construct a story that is worth telling " ... to tell that we are merely tools makers (and tools users) is to miss the entire narrative aim? We are world's makers and world's weavers" (Postman, 2002, p. 108)

Enabling Students to Learn Scientific Methods Through Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet programs are enormously flexible, familiar, and relatively easy to use. Commonly, spreadsheets are used in business, technique, and education. Spreadsheets are widely used in various disciplines of education to simulate phenomena in order to solve problems. In traditional simulation using spreadsheet, the students asked to change certain parameters to visualize a mathematical relationship to get the concept. Consequently, students become passive in the learning process in classroom. Whereas, in science, the students just not only need to understand the concept, they also expected to know how to get the concept. It is argued in this paper that spreadsheets could also be used to enable students to learn scientific methods, including: the importance of model building, the relationships among variables in a model or models, and how to use a model to predict outcomes. By using a constructivist approach, students asked to make a supposition and test it using spreadsheet. The students could be required to investigate an open-ended problem with the help of hand out. Based on this research, it can be concluded that students motivated to participate in the class. Besides that, students can learn more in depth used scientific methods

Collaborative and Creative Thinking Skill Development Through the Design of Wearable Technologies

Skills inherent in the creative thinking process such as reflecting and collaborating are needed for success in many careers. However, a focus on standardized testing in K-12 schools in the United States has resulted in the restructuring, reduction, and in some cases, elimination of arts in the curriculum to the detriment of students\u27 creative thinking process. The purpose of this study was to discover whether creative thinking and collaborative skills were positive unintended consequences of a curriculum that includes the design of wearable technologies. Jonassen\u27s modeling using Mindtools for conceptual change and Rosen\u27s culture of collaboration provided the conceptual framework. This qualitative case study explored students\u27 and teachers\u27 perceptions of collaborative and creative thinking skill development while designing wearable technologies. The data analysis used interviews with 3 students and 1 teacher and an evaluation of participant wearable technology artifacts. Rich themes and patterns were determined through open coding. The themes identified to explain the perceived development of creative thinking skills were divergent thinking, stimulation of the imagination, generation of new knowledge, and creative climate. The themes identified to explain the perceived development of collaborative skills were diverse membership, culture of collaboration, and community building. The design of wearable technologies as a Mindtool showed promise as a new way to integrate art with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This study may effect positive social change by informing educational policy and influencing school budgetary consideration toward including art as a value-added benefit to STEM curriculum

ENRICHING CRITICAL THINKING AND LANGUAGE LEARNING WITH EDUCATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARIES

As the amount of information available in online digital libraries increases exponentially, questions arise concerning the most productive way to use that information to advance learning. Applying the earlier information seeking theories advocated by Kelly (1963), Taylor (1968), and Belkin (1980) to the digital libraries experience, Carol Kuhlthau created the inquiry-based information search process (ISP) model. This ISP model describes thoughts, actions and feelings in six stages of inquiry: initiation, selection, exploration, formulation, collection, and presentation. This study investigated the value of an organized educational digital library in supporting and improving English Foreign Language (EFL) student's critical thinking skills. The study also considered if critical thinking skills and English language skills can be improved simultaneously in the appropriate learning environment. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design was utilized. Participants were 98 Taiwanese freshmen majoring in Applied English. Two groups were compared in their ability to cultivate critical thinking. One approach used traditional open access to information plus training in critical thinking. The other used a structured approach to accessing and organizing information from an online digital library as well as training in critical thinking. A One-Way ANCOVA and an Independent-Samples t-test were used to examine the two groups on their 1) critical thinking skills, 2) English reading comprehension, and 3) attitudes in EFL classrooms. Bivariate correlation was employed to evaluate the relation between critical thinking and English reading comprehension. Results indicated that the experimental digital library group (M=11.69) significantly outperformed the traditional group (M=10.61) in critical thinking; F (1, 95) = 4.10, p<.05. The digital library group (M=11.69) also outperformed the traditional group (M=10.23) on English reading comprehension; F (1, 95) =14.72, p<.05. There was a positive relationship between critical thinking and English reading comprehension (r=.212), p<.05. Also, students in the digital library group (M=38.57), had better learning attitudes toward the intervention training program than did the control group (M=35.59); t (96) =2.48, p<.05. Students who used structured search strategies with digital libraries had higher critical thinking performance and more positive attitudes toward their learning experience. Educators should adopt training strategies that engage learners in every stage of inquiry process, from identifying a topic and selecting what to investigate, to formulating a focused perspective and presenting their final product. Further studies are needed to determine if the benefits of structured search strategies with digital libraries extends to other settings, cultures and grade levels. Collecting and analyzing examples of student projects may provide additional insights into the development of critical thinking skills