Interactive Science Teaching!

I came across this paper/study and I have to agree that Professional development plays a crucial role in making teachers to integrate ICT into their teaching and it is the lack of this makes teachers not integrate ICT.  It is required for the following reasons

• Professional learning is essential for teachers to provide teaching and learning that integrates ICT
• Teachers must gain the confidence and understanding in the use of ICT so they can integrate it into their teaching
• Career-long professional learning to enable educators to remain up-to-date with their changing work and the changing trends in ICT

Effective Professional Learning should:

• • Address what teacher wants to know
  • Build on what teachers already know
  • Meet personal goals
  • Consolidate experiences
  • Occur in work time or be compensated with time in lieu
  • Be immediately implemented in the classroom
  • Be hands-on
  • Provide guidance from an expert, mentor or coach
  • Encourage reflection
  • Involve team work with peers
  • Include rewards

I think if schools address these issues teachers will embrace ICT easily. Also schools should have an ICT technician (Not an IT technician). The role of this person should be to help prepare lessons using ICT and help teachers in preparing lessons. He/She would also be present during some of the lessons and help the teacher till the teacher gains confidence in using ICT in their teaching. This added support will make the teacher try new things and be more open to ICT. Teachers (at least myself) can only realise the full usefulness and effectiveness of using ICT in teaching and learning only if they have used it. So teachers should be given all the help they need to get them to stat using ICT in their teaching.

Reference:

Kathryn Moyle. (2006). Leadership and learning with ICT: Voices from the profession. Canberra: Teaching Australia, Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership Ltd.

I think that we are all moving too fast to the extreme such as having a laptop for each child etc.. just so that we can say we have technology and to be part of the technological revolution. I agree with Toby’s comment about first ensuring that every classroom has a laptop with a projector which will me more useful for the time being than every child having a laptop. I have also realized that the technology available to teachers is some schools are very limited, for example teachers having to share computes…. how are we going to incorporate ICT if we don’t have the resources?

After reading the article I agree with what Esraa has posted regarding the article. It is a tool that can be used across many key learning areas and particularly I would use in my teaching of Science. It is a good way of getting the students engaged and it is a way of knowledge construction rather than knowledge reproduction.

Although I did not grow up with much technology as a kid and use technology during my school days I consider myself to be a “digital native”. The internet is my first stop to finding out information. Thanks to e-journals which have made life so much easier for to find journal articles for example. I communicate with my family and friends overseas via instant messaging and e-mails and send documents as scanned e-mail attachments, make online travel bookings, do online banking etc… According to the article by Prensky “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” I don’t think I possess a digital immigrant accent rather I speak the language of the digital natives.

I agree that the kids nowadays are born in to a new culture that has embraced technology as part of life and that there is no going back. As a teacher to the digital native the would use technology in my classroom but with moderation.  I would use a teaching methodology that communicates the language and style of the learners.

I don’t particularly agree with Prensky about going faster, less step-by-step and more random access. For instance in Science particularly Chemistry you need to understand basic concepts and steps you can’t skip… and I also think the whole idea of kids being digital native and able to multitask is a exaggerated. Not every kid is able to do this and it depends on the where the kids are coming from….