The Tech Savvy Teacher

Welcome to the age of technology. Since entering this era, technology

has become more readily accessible to both teachers and students. Teachers now have the opportunity to allow students to discover

science on a first-hand basis rather than relying on the experiences

of others. With the advantage of technological software and hardware,

learning becomes more meaningful, appeals to different types of

learners, and reinforces the concepts being taught.We took advantage of such technology by including it in the experiment

we carried out to introduce the concept of physical changes of matter and how temperature affects the states of matter. We decided to begin

with the most familiar substance: water. 

To display these changes, we 

began with a pot of frozen water. Using the digital temperature probe, we simply connected its USB cord into the computer and placed

the probe into the pot of ice in order to calculate and record the current temperature of the ice.

Leaving the probe in the pot of ice, we then increased the temperature of the burner. 

As the probe records 

the increase in temperature by graphing it on the computer, we observed how the water transformed from a solid to a liquid state. 

Increasing the temperature of the burner yet again, we left the probe

in the pot to continue recording the changes in temperature of the

water.

We noticed the physical change of matter as the liquid transformed into its final state, a gas.

We concluded 

the experiment by observing the graph on the computer and analyzing

the correlation between the increase in temperature and each physical

state of water.

Although basic experiments, like the one we accomplished, can be
performed in the classroom in old school fashion, technology like the
portable, digital probe provides more accurate data, graphs changes in
temperature in real time and exposes students to the limitless
possibilities technology has to offer. Furthermore, with the
supplement of this particular technology, students are learning how to
observe a set of data as well as analyze, identify, and describe the
relationships involved with temperature and physical states of matter
as shown on graphs.

Stellarium

Today I explored Stellarium. The things you can see with this program are amazing. I was able to see the night sky at the exact time of my birth. It was so amazing! Programs like these allow students to do things they wouldn't normally be able to do, like speed up or slow down time while exploring the stars. The options are endless. 

TPACK

TPACK is the knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content combined. From a teaching perspective it is very effective to incorporate obviously pedagogy, content, and technology. Allowing the students to use technology to learn rather than just showing a clip in class makes the assignments more enjoyable. Incorporating all of these aspects provide an optimal learning environment because it allows students to learn things that could not be learned otherwise. TPACK is extremely important, especially in teaching. 

Observational Learning Report

The teacher I chose to observe is actually one of my current professors. She approaches teaching with a very positive attitude. She makes the students feel as if her subject matter, not her class, is the most important there is. I think this is a very great quality. I think that the teacher uses strategies that make the student feel important. All of the work is student-graded but at the same time she has you participating in class discussion through different activities so that she knows you are doing your assignments. I think this teacher’s theory is that participation is the key to having quality class sessions and that hearing the students’ opinions may be more beneficial than her own. I have found in her class that this is the case, not because she has nothing beneficial to teach but because the discussion can facilitate twice the amount of learning that takes place. Although the class is three hours long, she makes me feel like it is much shorter than that. She demonstrates activities that we can use in the elementary classroom by having us participate in them. I find this class both beneficial and fun! I would probably teach this same topic in a similar manner, however, I would spend a little bit more time explaining definitions and ideas since there is no textbook for this particular course, and maybe that is something I would change as well. I think that taking time to explain the definitions and concepts would help the students to more easily take in what is being taught and would give them the ability to use what they learn in their everyday situations. I would want the students to have the ideas and definitions be second nature to them. I think this would help them be more comfortable with the idea of openly discussing their own opinions about the class topics because they feel as though they know a lot about them.

RSS and Web 2.0

I learned that an RSS feed is useful because I do not have to search out for different information but that it is gathered together and brought to me. This is very helpful because I can have updates right on my blog about anything I want as long as it is RSS compatible. Web 2.0 is helpful because it is like wikipedia. Both of these are helpful because it allows the teacher to have information sent to them about particular students and their work. It also keeps track of lesson plans and organizes materials for quick access.

My Background and History in Technology

I am efficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and the world wide web! I took a class in high school that dealt with creating websites. So I have some knowledge of Dreamweaver but have forgotten a lot since then.