You can find the article here.
The best points made by the article are when they talk about the use of technology in a math classroom. It states:
"The study, mandated by Congress when it passed No Child Left Behind in 2002, evaluated 15 reading and math products used by 9,424 students in 132 schools across the country during the 2004-05 school year. It is the largest study that has compared students who received the technology with those who did not, as measured by their scores on standardized tests. There were no statistically significant differences between students who used software and those who did not.
In classrooms, the programs — such as "iLearn Math" and "Achieve Now" — are used in different ways, depending on teachers. Some educators use the software as a supplemental tool to drill students in particular lessons; others use it instead of textbooks to teach entire lessons."
I know that several times in this course we have talked about how teachers are forced to "teach to the test" - and we have also talked recently about the goods and bads of technology integration. For me, this article shows that technology isn't the be all and end all - that the "old fashioned" ways of teaching information are just as effective as the "new and hip" ways of teaching. What makes this apparent is what this article states in the paragraph above.
I think what Elaine said to me rings true in this situation...and that you need to think of technology as the vehicle to get information across. I think that that is a very strong point...and shows 1) how you know that you are using technology creatively...2) technology isn't the be all and end all...there are other "vehicles" that may be important to the information you are trying to relay...and 3) technology is different for everyone...and everyone is going to interpret it differently.
I know that technology and education will continue to be an interesting thing for me to learn about...both first hand and through the media...but it's certainly interesting to see things come together...with or without technology playing a part. In the months and years to come I'm sure that there are lots of instances that I will look back on what I've learned in this course through the material and my peers...and only build upon things.
1 comment:
"The study, mandated by Congress when it passed No Child Left Behind in 2002, evaluated 15 reading and math products used by 9,424 students in 132 schools across the country during the 2004-05 school year. It is the largest study that has compared students who received the technology with those who did not, as measured by their scores on standardized tests. There were no statistically significant differences between students who used software and those who did not.
A couple of thoughts. The study measured (hopefully accurately) differences among scores on standardized. Standardized tests????? Since when do those tests what a student really knows and understands? (Ah, there's another one of those essential questions. How do we teach and then assess for true understanding?)
But yes, as you have noted in your post, technology in whatever form, need to be a means to the end.
While I was working at a coffee shop in downtown Amherst yesterday, I was sharing a table with another woman who had scattered her side of the table with all sorts of mathematical equations and symbols. I asked her what she was doing, and she replied that she is a physics teacher at UMass, Amherst who was preparing for a lecture about Stephen Hawkins' black hole theory. Somehow she launched into how she thought that today's students were not prepared for college study and how she advocated going back to straight lecture and note-taking, and forget all the "gizmos". I'm guessing she was about the same age as me.
I did not have the time to engage her in a further conversation, but it certainly would have been an interesting one.
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