I am struggling here a little bit with all the technical terms for research. I think this is why I was never draw to research in the first place. Funny thing is I sat in several seminars at a formative assessment convention this Thursday and Friday in Columbia, South Carolina and so much research was thrown at us. I was impressed that my attention was sparked up a bit more as I recognized the terms that I usually blew off before. However, I still found it amazing that these researchers were so excited by data and results and the whole process! This is just really not my thing I guess, but I am hoping I can find a new interest in research as I begin my own exploration.
As I delve into this venture I plan to use Exploratory design under the Mixed-Methods measure sby using things such as literature and past research to decide if using technology-based games will help my student learn and retain their facts.
Statement
I plan to determine if technology-based games increase skill levels and retention in remembering math facts based on achievement test scores in middle school students.
Who: middle school students
What: technology-based games
Why: increase skill levels and retention of math facts
Questions
1. What are technology-based games that support retaining mathematical facts? (Qualitative and descriptive)
AND
2. Do children that use technology-based games to learn and retain their facts have better overall performance on achievement tests than those that do not? (Quanitative and Relationship)
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Can Technology-Based Games and Activities Strengthen Facts Skills?
Facts tests are a weekly event in my classroom even though I teach middle school mathematics. This surprises many of my colleagues, my students and their parents. Facts tests are usually not given after third or fourth grade, however I insist on these to build my students’ speed and accuracy. My experience throughout the years and through informal research shows children that can recall their facts quickly and accurately experience more success in class, both in class grades and standardized test scores especially in higher level courses.
My original goal was to find research to support rote memorization as an acceptable and successful method for learning mathematic facts. I planned to use brain research to help support this idea, however in this course I must incorporate technology and this required a bit of a shift on my part.
My goal will be to find research that supports technology-based games and activities to foster learning math facts to develop stronger and more confident students in mathematics. Therefore my research statement is:
I plan to determine if technology-based games increase skill levels and retention in remembering math facts based on achievement test scores.
Who: elementary and middle school students
What: technology-based games
Why: increase skill levels and retention of math facts
My original goal was to find research to support rote memorization as an acceptable and successful method for learning mathematic facts. I planned to use brain research to help support this idea, however in this course I must incorporate technology and this required a bit of a shift on my part.
My goal will be to find research that supports technology-based games and activities to foster learning math facts to develop stronger and more confident students in mathematics. Therefore my research statement is:
I plan to determine if technology-based games increase skill levels and retention in remembering math facts based on achievement test scores.
Who: elementary and middle school students
What: technology-based games
Why: increase skill levels and retention of math facts
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Reflecting on EDUC-6711I-3 Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology
As I wrap up this class I think back to my first assignment asking me to describe my theory of education and after taking this course I am confident that I am on the right track for my students. Education should be engaging and enjoyable and involve many interactive activities using various forms of resources through hands on manipulatives to web based communities. Technology is a must in today’s classroom and promotes a very inviting, fun and challenging environment that is focused on learning. After taking this course I feel secure in my theories and plans but have noticed that I take one concept to heart a bit more. The idea of Paivios’ dual coding hypothesis has made me more conscience of incorporating several ways to introduce concepts and multiple ways to have the children experience the lessons (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).
Walden’s program has made me become more aware of many different technology tools that I can be using in my class without any financial commitment and actually providing opportunities to really interact with the machines that my school has made a financial commitment to. First tool that I have already begun to use is a Concept Map, using these maps has brought a new level of understanding to my students and in their eyes doing this on the website is fun and creative. What I found as frustrating and a formatting nightmare the students have moved through rather easily. This once again echoes the ideas of Prensky and his comments about Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001), these children have no fear and sit down and start playing and figure out the formatting issues in minutes. One concern I had when working with a map myself was that the formatting of the map would distract from the concepts of the project but fortunately the students did not encounter these issues and got right into the assignment.
Another technology tool introduced to me through this course was Voice Threads. I knew immediately that I would love this tool and I have my students working diligently right now to complete their stories and illustrations so they can get on it. I also have shared the idea with colleagues to spice up their unit on China and Confucius, so I know that this will become a regular part of my curriculum. It is rather exciting to learn about things that can be immediately introduced and worked into current plans and curriculum, rather than learning of this great new thing but it will require a lot more work. Voice Threads have probably been the highlight of this course!
Both of these tools will support student learning in my classroom by engaging the students and allowing them to construct something that they see as purposeful and useful. Students get excited and involved when they are active and working on technology and using either concept maps or voice threads are great ways to have the students share their knowledge with others while building their own knowledge and ideas.
Making goals is always a difficult part of these courses for me. I have so many things I would like to do but I never like to think of them as goals. “Goals” sound so formal and official and leads to the possibility of failure but for the sake of the course, I can commit to two more goals. At work my current goal is to work on building and promoting our Center For Differentiation and I would have to include this goal for this course. As I hope to bring interactive hands on activities to all the students in my school through this center of resources for teachers, I must think about incorporating technology. I am committed to finding and including activities and games for the center that use technology. Interactive Web quests or Voice Threads like my brownie activity or similar would be great ways to engage the students, teach concepts and use technology. Having students participate in activities on concept maps or wikis to build or support their vocabulary for mathematics would be a perfect addition to our Center For Differentiation and would help other teachers provide interactive activities and technology. Therefore, I feel confident that this would be a definite goal for me to focus on throughout this year.
A second goal which I would like to continue to develop for my students and myself are creating inquiry based lessons. Lessons that have the students making the findings and then having the teacher tie up those ideas and any loose ends. I find that I can be in front of the classroom using lecture style and although I am a believer in this method, I would like to limit the times that I just disseminate information and promote ways for the students to be the ones that discover the rules and properties of mathematics. I do this in many ways in my classroom but when it comes to the textbook material, I revert back to the lecture style teacher that our children of today have a hard time relating to. My goal would be to develop, find and use inquiry based activities for all concepts I have to teach in my courses. Needless to say that technology will play a major role in this development. Most lessons that are being created today involve technology and I plan to continue to use a variety of technological tools to help me achieve this goal.
This course was a productive one that offered me a refresher in theories and provided me with the background and research for the ideas I use in my classroom. Technology is an integral part of today’s society and it needs to be a major part of my students learning process. Through Voice Threads, Web quests, Content Maps, Wikis, BlogSpot’s and more, I am prepared to conquer this challenge and bring technology into my classroom daily!
Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program one. Understanding the Brain [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5),1-6.
Walden’s program has made me become more aware of many different technology tools that I can be using in my class without any financial commitment and actually providing opportunities to really interact with the machines that my school has made a financial commitment to. First tool that I have already begun to use is a Concept Map, using these maps has brought a new level of understanding to my students and in their eyes doing this on the website is fun and creative. What I found as frustrating and a formatting nightmare the students have moved through rather easily. This once again echoes the ideas of Prensky and his comments about Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001), these children have no fear and sit down and start playing and figure out the formatting issues in minutes. One concern I had when working with a map myself was that the formatting of the map would distract from the concepts of the project but fortunately the students did not encounter these issues and got right into the assignment.
Another technology tool introduced to me through this course was Voice Threads. I knew immediately that I would love this tool and I have my students working diligently right now to complete their stories and illustrations so they can get on it. I also have shared the idea with colleagues to spice up their unit on China and Confucius, so I know that this will become a regular part of my curriculum. It is rather exciting to learn about things that can be immediately introduced and worked into current plans and curriculum, rather than learning of this great new thing but it will require a lot more work. Voice Threads have probably been the highlight of this course!
Both of these tools will support student learning in my classroom by engaging the students and allowing them to construct something that they see as purposeful and useful. Students get excited and involved when they are active and working on technology and using either concept maps or voice threads are great ways to have the students share their knowledge with others while building their own knowledge and ideas.
Making goals is always a difficult part of these courses for me. I have so many things I would like to do but I never like to think of them as goals. “Goals” sound so formal and official and leads to the possibility of failure but for the sake of the course, I can commit to two more goals. At work my current goal is to work on building and promoting our Center For Differentiation and I would have to include this goal for this course. As I hope to bring interactive hands on activities to all the students in my school through this center of resources for teachers, I must think about incorporating technology. I am committed to finding and including activities and games for the center that use technology. Interactive Web quests or Voice Threads like my brownie activity or similar would be great ways to engage the students, teach concepts and use technology. Having students participate in activities on concept maps or wikis to build or support their vocabulary for mathematics would be a perfect addition to our Center For Differentiation and would help other teachers provide interactive activities and technology. Therefore, I feel confident that this would be a definite goal for me to focus on throughout this year.
A second goal which I would like to continue to develop for my students and myself are creating inquiry based lessons. Lessons that have the students making the findings and then having the teacher tie up those ideas and any loose ends. I find that I can be in front of the classroom using lecture style and although I am a believer in this method, I would like to limit the times that I just disseminate information and promote ways for the students to be the ones that discover the rules and properties of mathematics. I do this in many ways in my classroom but when it comes to the textbook material, I revert back to the lecture style teacher that our children of today have a hard time relating to. My goal would be to develop, find and use inquiry based activities for all concepts I have to teach in my courses. Needless to say that technology will play a major role in this development. Most lessons that are being created today involve technology and I plan to continue to use a variety of technological tools to help me achieve this goal.
This course was a productive one that offered me a refresher in theories and provided me with the background and research for the ideas I use in my classroom. Technology is an integral part of today’s society and it needs to be a major part of my students learning process. Through Voice Threads, Web quests, Content Maps, Wikis, BlogSpot’s and more, I am prepared to conquer this challenge and bring technology into my classroom daily!
Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program one. Understanding the Brain [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5),1-6.
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