Interested in writing a story
or nominating a friend? Yes
Translate this story into Spanish? Yes
|
Getting up to speed with technology
A high school science teacher tells the story of how he learned to use technology as a tool of the trade, and how his students are learning along with him. By James Askew |
 ix years ago, I
thought that computers were calculating devices and that word processing meant typing.
I considered myself a good teacher, because I kept students on task and they seemed to
learn and enjoy classroom discussions. Then I moved to a school where teachers used
computers in the classroom, one per room. Teachers used it to record class grades, and
students handed in some of their work printed on the dot-matrix printer attached to the
computer. After a couple of frantic weeks, I was up to speed and using technology.
This was great!
|
 Jim Askew, high school science teacher at Frontier High School. |
 he following year,
I was offered a position at a small school in rural
Oklahoma with one networked computer for every one and a half students.
Frontier School was known at the time to be one of the best technologically equipped
schools in the country. I took the position with some excitement about the possible
use of technology; but I was actually more excited about the small class size: my
student-to-teacher ratio was going to be cut in half. Having taught for over twenty
years, the class size sounded much more inviting than having a few more computers.
Frontier School provides a wealth of technology training for their teachers. The first new thing I learned was how to use a graphics presentation program. I immediately recognized this as something I could use to enhance classroom discussions. I could show notes from my computer on the overhead television, instead of on the chalkboard. As I learned more about presentation graphics, I found that pictures, sounds, and even movie clips could be added to the text to make the material more interesting. I was up to speed and using technology again! |
 y second year at
Frontier, the superintendent saw fit to install a T-1 Internet connection for the
entire district network. Wow! Now every computer in the school could access the
Internet at anytime! This was great! Except for one thing . . . what were we supposed
to do with the Internet?
Teachers at Frontier started looking to other schools to see what they were doing. To our dismay, most schools had only one or two connected computers, and these were usually in the school library. How were we supposed to use three to six computers in each classroom!? I wish we had found the one magic answer to give to all teachers, but we still haven't. |
|
eaching is still an
individual art. How each teacher uses the available tools, must be determined
ultimately by the teacher. But I have come to believe that we must use computers for
something more than teaching rote facts and evaluating students' ability to memorize.
Computers open up a whole world of information for students to access, evaluate, and
use. Perhaps student goals should now include mastering these skills more than merely
memorizing information. If so, then the traditional classroom where teachers lecture
and students listen will not fulfill the need.
Am I saying that to be a good teacher with technology, one must completely change the way they teach? Absolutely! Will good teaching look the same in every classroom with computers? Certainly not! |
|
y teacher station
now consists of a multimedia laptop computer, digital camera, and color printer. The
entire curriculum for every class is found on this computer in two formats: Power
Point files for class viewing during discussion, and HTML files for the Internet. I
use both Netscape and Internet Explorer. Netscape is my browser for the Internet,
while Internet Explorer is the desktop browser. All program files on the computer are
hypertext linked and can be called up using Internet Explorer.
This makes it easy and quick for me to switch between graphics, presentation files, and even text documents. The teacher computer is equipped with a remote mouse that allows me to change screens on the overhead TV while moving around the classroom. My students, and anyone else for that matter, can access our curriculum through the Internet at anytime. Depending on the length of the unit, we tend to work on five day or seven day cycles, both of which are outlined on the Net. This certainly helps students who might want to review on their own, or who missed a class session or two and need to catch up. |
|
While there are still tests given for certain topics, I
made the decision that they would no longer be the most common class product. As often
as possible, student evaluation is centered around a product of their research.
Student research has to be directed to insure coverage of information on standardized
tests. However, I try to give students as much freedom as possible in making their
own research decisions.
|
 ach
week's curriculum consists of concepts introduced as research questions.
The students work through these questions to learn the concepts; our
Web site includes a page containing the basic
information about each concept to start them off. Related topics
are also linked to the assignment to help students begin. The amount
of time spent in class discussion is determined by the questions students
have on each topic. While there are still tests given for certain topics, I made the decision that they would no longer be the most common class product. As often as possible, student evaluation is centered around a product of their research. Student research has to be directed to insure coverage of information on standardized tests. However, I try to give students as much freedom as possible in making their own research decisions. To insure that students understand my goals for them, and to assure that they gain the knowledge needed for standardized testing, I provide them with self-evaluation rubrics to help them learn to evaluate their own work. Since the teacher is held accountable in the end , I ask the students to do their evaluation before presenting their work to me. Then I use the same rubric to score their work officially. If the student's evaluation is not within ten points of my evaluation, points are deducted. I have been very pleased with the ability of students to recognize the difference between quality work and substandard work. Because of the switch from testing to student-driven research, my time has shifted from lecturing in class to creating questions, hypothesis, and positions that students can work with. |
 aboratory
experiences are one thing I refuse to relegate to the digital world,
although I do post their weekly lab
question on the Web. Dissections and most other labs are still done
with real objects. I have done away with the step-by-step cookbook labs
though. I now give students a problem to solve or a hypothesis to test,
and they design their own methods of finding the best answer they can.
Student lab grades are no longer based on how well they read and follow
directions, but how well they inderstood the concept. Again, I provide
them with a
rubric for self-evaluation, as I do with their research projects.
While the labs have become less complex, students now have the extra
task of researching the lab topic and understanding the
scientific method to be successful in lab. For example, one of the simpler labs involves finding the percentage of sugar in a piece of bubble gum. I found this lab in a simple science book, but the book provided step-by-step procedures to answer the question. By doing away with that recipe, my students now gain a lot more from the lab. They have to think of a process to answer the question, and they also have to recognize potential problems in their procedure. Upon finishing a lab, we compare conclusions and discuss any major differences. Since there is no one correct method, students learn the importance of running an experiment several times to develop an acceptable answer. My task has been in finding questions like these for every concept in my course curriculums. |
 Jim Askew's science room. |
 ecause of their
technology-assisted research projects, and the new lab method I've implemented, my
students are becoming problem solvers, and they're beginning to recognize that
technology is a tool. I find myself becoming more of a facilitator than a teacher.
My job is not to give students all the answers; but rather to make the students'
problem-solving tasks easier. I try to help them regard computer technology as they
do automotive technology: they don't have to be able to rebuild a car or a computer
in order to use one, but they do need some basic skills to use either effectively.
The students learn these technology skills more easily when they recognize the value
of the skill.
For example, many students regard HTML as a useful skill; once they see its applications, many of them learn basic HTML tags and publish their work on our Web site. For others, a digital camera is available to take pictures of classwork for their projects. Once visual information is in digital form, students manipulate this information using graphics tools. These tools range from fairly simple to very complex, so the students decide which of these tools they want to master to get the job done. By using these tools, they can improve their projects through visual aids or graphic models. One of the most popular tools, however, is e-mail, which is now as easy to use as the telephone, and almost as indispensible. |
 find myself at
that comfort stage again: Wow, I'm up to speed using technology! One thing is
different for me though. I now understand that tomorrow, technology will be ahead of
me again.
|
|
Look at Jim's Internet Science Rooms!
|
Jim Askew has his entire curriculum on the Web. Here are some of the sites he uses for
research questions and lab assigments.
Physical Science.
Class notes, demonstrations, labs, and hypermedia resources on topics
such as: matter, elements, atoms, chemical equations, solutions, acids,
bases, salts, and more! 
Biology.
Class notes, demonstrations, labs, and hypermedia resources on topics
such as: life, cells, respiration, reproduction, mutation, evolution/creationism,
photosynthesis, taxonomy, viruses, and more! 
Chemistry. Class notes, demonstrations, labs, and hypermedia resources
on topics such as: periodic table, quantum numbers, chemical formulas,
mass, percent composition, empirical formulas, chemical reactions, moles,
stoichiometry, and more! |
|
