Contents
Integrating Mathematics and Science Education Using the Powers of Ten
James R. Miller and Adrian L. Melott 87Abstracts
Integrating Mathematics and Science Education Using the Powers of Ten
James R. Miller and Adrian L. Melott
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 415 Snow Hall, University of Kansas Lawrence, KS 65045, USAmiller@eecs.ukans.edu
melott@kusmos.phsx.ukans.edu
We read almost daily about how America’s students are falling behind those in other industrialized nations in terms of mathematics and science education. As a direct result, there is a renewed national commitment to improve the quality of today’s science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education (NSF, 1993). A promising opportunity has been enabled by a confluence of technological developments which has enabled exciting new educational tools that are accessible to anyone with a World Wide Web browser and access to the internet. In this paper, we describe a prototype system we are building which presents an interactive organizational framework for mathematics and science education based on the Powers of Ten tradition. We believe that use of this system will allow students to see the relationships among the various physical and life sciences while seeing first hand the role that mathematics plays in each of the disciplines.
Multimedia Portfolios for Preservice Teachers: From Theory to Practice
Donna Read and Ralph Cafolla
College of Education, Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, Box 3091 Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USACafolla@fau.campus.net
Over the last five years, educators have discovered the validity of portfolios for evaluating students in elementary and secondary settings. Another obvious trend in education is the increased use of advanced technology, particularly multimedia technology. This paper reports the results of a project undertaken to combine authentic assessment using a portfolio and multimedia technology by preservice teachers. In the first section, a brief overview of constructivist theory is presented, followed by a discussion of the relationship between constructivism and portfolio assessment. A review of current research on portfolio assessment and the use of technology are also presented. The second section presents the results of a project undertaken at Florida Atlantic University to implement multimedia portfolios for preservice teachers. This section provides a description of the process that preservice teachers follow in developing a multimedia portfolio and describes the hardware and software used in the development of this project. Information about the state-of-the-art multimedia technology used to capture student work for the portfolio is also provided. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges faced in developing the portfolios and gives an update on the projects current status and future directions.
First-year Teachers’ Use of Technology: Preparation, Expectations and Realities
Neal B. Strudler, Marilyn O. McKinney, and W. Paul Jones
College of Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 4505 S. Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, NV 89154-3005, USAstrudler@nevada.edu
marilyn@nevada.edu
jones@nevada.edu
Linda F. Quinn
Department of Teaching, University of Northern Iowa City, IA 50614, USAThis article reports the results of a study that investigated the needs and concerns of first-year teachers including the problems they encountered, the support they received, and the degree to which they felt prepared to use technology. Beginning teachers participating in the study reported that: (a) access to computer resources was a major problem; (b) support for technology varied greatly from school to school; (c) their preparation to teach with technology lagged behind their preparation for other instructional strategies; and (d) student teaching had a minimal impact on their preparation to teach with computers. Findings of the study are consistent with the mounting evidence that beginning teachers are not being adequately prepared to teach with technology. The authors recommend increased efforts to integrate technology into preservice courses and field experiences. They further recommend the need for research that documents specifics of current practices, levels of preparation, and approaches that promote effective implementation of technology by beginning teachers.
Teaming Technology Enhanced Instruction in the Science Classroom and Teacher Professional Development
Erminia Pedretti
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. Toronto, Ont., Canada, M5S 1V6e_pedretti@tednet.oise.utoronto.ca
Jolie Mayer-Smith and Janice Woodrow
University of British Columbia Faculty of Education, Department of Curriculum Studies Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z4mayersmi@unixg.ubc.ca
woodrow@unixg.ubc.ca
This paper describes a qualitative case study of Technology Enhanced Secondary Science Instruction (TESSI); a collaborative effort between teachers and researchers to advance technology implementation in high school science classrooms. The case study serves as a lens through which a range of assumptions about the value of introducing technology into the classroom environment can be examined. We illustrate how teachers’ vision of, and commitment to, technology-enhanced instruction fostered a professional development experience that transformed both the teachers’ and their students’ views of teaching and learning. The professional development experience was situated in the teachers’ own classrooms, and furthered by feedback from, and support of, students, administrators, parents, and coresearchers. Results illustrate how teachers acting as agents of technological change can serve as a powerful vehicle for classroom innovation and enduring professional development.
Technology and Teacher Preparation: An Oxymoron?
Ranae Stetson
School of Education, Box 297900 Texas Christian University Fort worth, TX 76129, USARanaestet@aol.com
Troy Bagwell
Decatur Independent School District 501 E. Collins, Decatur, TX 76234, USAtroyb@tenet.edu
This article describes the dilemmas school districts and colleges of education are facing as they move toward training both veteran and new teachers to integrate technology as a teaching/learning tool in their classrooms. It outlines the resistance of many schools, colleges, and departments of education to embrace technological applications into their methods coursework. An overview of what is needed to overcome such resistance is discussed. The manuscript concludes with a description of an innovative field-based teacher preparation program that infuses the use of technology into its teacher preparation program. This three-year-old program was collaboratively designed and implemented by a team of classroom teachers, administrators, community representatives, and university faculty as the first step toward systemic educational reform.
Exploring Teaching, Learning, and Instructional Reform in an Introductory Technology Course
Dale S. Niederhauser, Donna J. Salem, and Matt Fields
307 MBH University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USAThe typical introduction to technology course focuses on helping preservice teachers develop skills for using technology and integrating it into their practice (Downs, 1992; McKenzie, 1994; Niess, 1991; Raiford & Braulick, 1995). Current national standards for technology in teacher preparation also emphasize the importance of developing skills and competencies for using technology (ISTE, 1997; Wiebe & Taylor, 1997). Thus, technology teacher educators tend to see teaching technology-related skills as the primary purpose for the introductory technology course.
However, the preservice technology course has the potential to fill a more central role in a teacher education program. The technology course can provide an authentic context for future educators to examine instructional practices and reflect on their learning as they learn new skills and content. Unlike content-area methods courses—in which preservice teachers often assume they understand the content and are simply learning to teach it—most students expect to learn new concepts and skills in technology courses. Course activities can be designed to help students develop technical competence as they explore educational issues in teaching, learning, and instructional reform.
Instructional practice is in a state of transition in American public schools. Ongoing instructional reform efforts promote the use of student-centered cognitive constructivist1 teaching methods (Cobb, 1994; Jonassen, 1991; von Glasersfeld, 1989; 1995). From a constructivist perspective, the learner actively integrates new information with existing knowledge to construct meaning through experience and develops personal theories about the physical and social world (Piaget, 1970; 1980). Constructivists argue that education involves providing activities and an environment that supports student efforts to construct increasingly complex and sophisticated understandings. Most preservice teachers, however, have a vision of schooling that is grounded in didactic instructional methods. Didactic pedagogy reflects an objectivist tradition that centers on the efficient transfer of knowledge to students and the replication of basic skills (Duffy & Jonassen, 1992; Jonassen, 1991; Lakoff, 1987). Technology provides a versatile instructional tool that can be used to support both pedagogical orientations. Thus, activities in the introductory technology course can be structured to help students compare and contrast these two viewpoints based on their own learning experiences.
The technology course provides a forum for preservice teachers to: (a) reflect on their own learning processes, (b) develop a deeper understanding of learning theory, (c) analyze assumptions underlying traditional and reform-oriented instructional methods, (d) critique the nature of school-based learning experiences, and (e) examine the relationship between learning theory and instructional practice. In the following sections we discuss issues associated with the instructional reform movement, describe factors associated with conceptual change, and present a series of course activities designed to help students explore learning, instruction and reform in our introductory technology course.