There is a lot of talk out there about ways to raise the graduation rate. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proudly wore #80 in the NBA All-Star celebrity game to tout the highest graduation rate the country has seen since 1974. Educators are collectively working harder to help students make it to the high school finish line and get prepared for college and the workforce. There is a lot of credit to be handed out for the successful graduation rates around the country (of course, there are still plenty of areas for improvement) but I think one shining area deserves a lot of the praise: technology.
The website DropoutPrevention.org singles out technology as a leader in high school graduation upsurge. The site states:
“Educational technology is needed for a variety of reasons. It provides an alternative method of learning for those who struggle to learn using traditional methods.
Technology can be used to address multiple intelligences and also to provide authentic learning experiences for students.”
In other words, technology has made it possible for students who fall off the traditional path to jump back on and finish what they spent most of their childhood working towards. This may be in the form of taking remote classes from home, remedial classes in on-campus computer labs or even by enrolling in full-time online schools, public or private. The technology available for these options benefits students who face difficulties with a normal school schedule including teenage parents, students with short-term or long-term illnesses, teens with substance abuse struggles, or those who had poor academic performance due to learning disabilities or bullying.
Equality through Technology
Technology is also a great equalizer in K-12 classrooms. Students have the same access as their peers to whatever technology is available in their district and specific classroom. While there is certainly some technology discrepancies between one district and another, often based on the socioeconomic status of the families within that district, within each one students have fair access to technology. In a way, things like computers and mobile devices in classrooms usher in the technology of the outside world and give students who may not otherwise have access a chance to use it for learning purposes.
Having in-classroom technology more directly impacts the graduation rate by providing customized learning experiences. A student who needs extra help on a particular topic need not hold up the entire class, or feel embarrassed asking for that help, when there are computer modules and tablet apps available for individual learning experiences. Teachers who spot a trouble area with a particular student can gear that teen towards more exercises to master the topic. Of course technology is not the magic wand to fix all problems, but it does allow for more flexibility of the learning process which in turn makes it easier for a wider group of students to stay in classrooms until the end of the K-12 journey.
College Prep
K-12 educators used to have the goal of helping their students reach high school graduation, but now the pressure is on to create students who go on to achieve college goals too. No matter how advanced the technology options in a particular school district, they are dwarfed by the reliance on and widespread use of technology on college campuses. High school students who become acquainted with technology for things like course selection, class management and actual learning modules are better prepared when they arrive on college campuses. There is very little hand-holding when it comes to higher education (perhaps too little based on college dropout rates) and students need to be self-sufficient in life skills and technology ones when they cross the bridge to college life.
How big of a role do you think technology has played in high school graduation rates?
For too long, educators have focused on “what we learn” over “how we learn.” To unlock an understanding of how our consciousness most intuitively engages and comprehends, a thorough exploration of the learning process becomes key. Only then will we be able to fully understand the art of inducing electrified engagement, meaningful connections, deep illumination, awe, and even rapture through idealized modalities of learning. Such explorations allow us to more reliably provide students with transformational encounters with their universe and themselves. In essence, we need a new kick-ass toolbox for facilitating the apex of cognitive ignition.
To pursue such a mission, we require a new taxonomy that supports a variety of high-engagement, deep-immersion methods, tools, and techniques. In todays “edu-verse”, there are an infinite number of concepts for our minds to grasp and act upon. Moreover, there are a variety of ways to shine a light upon these various structures of knowledge. And so, the grand challenge becomes this: How can we shine the most illustrious, wavelength-appropriate, multispectral light upon these realities, art forms, scientific processes, stories, skills, and understandings of our age? What tools, what technologies, and what facilitations of experience best connect us to the content we intend to explore, to the ideas we wish to grasp, and to people we wish to know and understand? For each learning outcome, and within each educational domain, I believe that we will find certain “ways-in” (through teaching approaches, experiences, and technologies) that lend themselves most naturally to the attunement of each concept’s essence. What is the best and most fulfilling library of eureka moment potentiators? What’s in the “Jedi Toolbox” for teaching in the 21st century?
Five years ago, our company GameDesk, began experimenting with a variety of approaches, techniques, and technological tools to this end. We’ve explored at home, in-school, online, and in your pocket. We’ve gone high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech. Whether it is a chalkboard, lecture, game, video, story, experiment, simulation, buildable physical system, programmable environment, or role-played experience, each tool provided a unique lens of experience on the chosen subject of learning.
As we explored and developed,, we asked ourselves: What experiences enable learners to most intuitively and accurately grasp concepts? What visualizations, words and metaphors, narratives, objects, and interactions connect us most immediately and with the most perceptual fidelity to the subject at hand? What technologies best link certain actions and choices, interweave and intimately bind them to the world of knowledge? What learning modalities best allow for students to feel energized and focused, fully immersed in their involvement, and joyful in the process of the learning? Within these these methods, which work best for novices, journeymen, and experts?
To ground this exploration, let’s cite some examples. In our latest game experiences, Geomoto and Pangean, we linked specific hand movements through a consumer hand-tracking device (the Leap Motion controller) to continental and plate movements. This 1:1 movement relationship made learning about continental drift, tectonic plates, and their resulting phenomenon highly intuitive. Here, we leveraged the affordances of hand motion to naturally attune the mind to geoscience processes. As student observes that they could actually see and feel how the plates worked and the effects they had on the earth.
In another exploration called EDULARP, we used role-play to create deep engagement with historical systems. To help them learn history experientially, students role-played through various social classes that existed during different periods of ancient history. They became merchants, governors, astrologers, and priests. By both researching the social norms and practices of a specific culture and then interacting with one another in character, students fulfilled in-game objectives that provided them with an enriched and lasting understanding that persisted beyond the simulated reality. In this modality, role-play provides students with deep, personalized feelings and experiences of engaging in historical systems of thought, agriculture, culture, and politics.
Another tool is the ‘digital sandbox’. Sandbox technologies allows for creation-based simulations that students can manipulate to program and build objects, inventions, worlds, and even universes. Sandboxes, such as Minecraft, Scratch, Universe Sandbox, and the physics creator Algodoo, allow students to experiment and create their own mathematically driven architectural structures, galaxies, and physics-based inventions respectively. Within this learning vehicle, students are able to make predictions, design ideas, test hypotheses, and play out those predictions in simulated world environments.
There’s of course more to fully educating a person than guiding them to mastery of the core K-12 curriculum. Consider, for example, the ability to be connected, empathetic, supportive, and compassionately communicative. Let us look at what physical environments and interactive activities most facilitate human connection. What experiences inspire the imagination and assist us in redefining the boundaries of our understanding and beliefs? What are the fastest and most fulfilling methods of developing self-awareness, persistence, and flexibility? These questions lead us to designing more full-spectrum learning tools and experiences; new methods deeply needed in a society with a severe deficit in social-emotional skills. If our teaching culture were to address the questions presented here, make a claim about what kind of learning activities fit best, and build a practice of designing experiences in this way, what would our teaching become? With such a toolbox fully realized, teachers of the future will no longer be disseminators of facts, concepts, and memorized skills; rather, they will become “experience designers.” Like Yoda, they will design encounters and challenges that are deliberately constructed to reveal what our minds, bodies, and spirits are capable of. Such constructed experiences empower us to explore, to rethink broken systems, and cultivate a daily spirit of innovation. Albert Einstein once said, “I never teach my pupils, I create conditions in which they may learn.” We are the condition-creators, the dreamers of dreams. So rise teachers of tomorrow, become the magic makers you were born to be.
___________
Lucien Vattel s the founder and CEO of GameDesk, a 501(c)3 Research and Technology Development Institute whose mission is to develop the next generation model of education, revolutionizing the tools we use and the way we teach.
As mobile technology continues to steal the spotlight in K-12 classroom methodology, certain areas of study tend to be gravitating towards the trends more strongly. Last week an Education Market Research report found that 28 percent of class time for math-based courses is spent using digital tools or interacting with digital content. The report goes on to outline a strong shift towards digital teaching methods for math since 2009. While students’ positive response is one of the reasons mobile technology is rapidly gaining speed, EMR’s report says that educator enjoyment of the technology is also a contributing factor to its snowballing implementation.
The conversation about the benefits of mobile technology for students is constant but should there also be a discussion about educator preference? It seems the debate is always student-centric but for these students to excel, teachers need to thrive too. This means administrative plans beyond simply purchasing mobile devices, or implementing bring-your-device policies, that include teacher empowerment of the technology.
Mobile technology has potential to change the student-teacher dynamic for the better but only if implemented correctly. Here are a few ways I think all teachers can benefit from smart mobile technology use:
Higher engagement levels. At least at the outset, use of mobile technology in K-12 classrooms will mean more students are interested in the class material. It remains to be seen what will happen once the novelty effect wears off, but perhaps by then mobile learning will be even more advanced than it is today, capturing students’ attention in new ways. Part of the interest in mobile learning from students’ perspectives is the flashy, fun element but the bigger attraction is empowerment. Lessons leave the blackboard and take place at the desk, giving students more control over it. Higher engagement from K-12 students who use mobile technology is a direct result of a feeling of ownership on the part of the student, whether perceived or not.
Convenient progress tracking. Mobile education applications keep electronic records of where students succeed and where they need more help. This provides a great service to teachers who lack the time and resources to create customized learning plans based on student work profiles (though there are certainly some teachers who do put in this time, painstakingly). When students learn through mobile technology, teachers benefit from the convenient reporting. There is no guesswork on what skills need sharpening, particularly in areas like math. If an entire class population is struggling with a skill, the technology reporting signals to the teacher that the topic needs to be revisited. On the flip side, excess time is not spent on topic areas that are already learned.
Less paperwork. Mobile learning gives copy machines a break and amounts to less paperwork for teachers. Instead of students waiting for an in-class assignment to be graded and then redone, mobile applications allow immediate opportunities to try again. This is a practical perk of mobile learning but one that makes the teaching AND learning process less cumbersome. In addition to less loose papers, mobile technology limits the amount of textbooks and other hard class materials that need to be carried around and stored in classrooms.
Anything that makes educators’ jobs a little easier, without sacrificing student achievement, benefits K-12 learning as a whole. The discussion of mobile technology in classrooms as it relates to students is vital but the teaching aspect matters a lot too. Schools need to provide resources for teachers to feel comfortable teaching though in mobile technology formats. This needs to happen in order for educators to really notice the positive impact it makes on their jobs.
In what ways will mobile technology positively change the teaching profession?
Technology continues to make its mark on K-12 learning and teachers need to stay abreast of the many new innovations. Today, I will continue my 5-part series on technologies and education concepts that every teacher should know about. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on these technologies and education concepts in the comment section as well.
Virtual Laboratories. Virtual laboratories are popping up in school districts and online learning curriculum across the country and making it easier and less expensive for students to do experiments remotely. Benefits of the virtual labs include: Flexible access. Perhaps the most often cited benefit of any online learning is convenience. The same is true of virtual laboratories if the experiments are on the student’s own time. In some cases, a virtual lab may be used during regular class time but still, in such instances, there is flexibility for the teacher who is not limited by using resources within a strict timeframe. Instant feedback. Students can redo experiments on the spot if needed. All the results are recorded automatically, making communication between teachers and students more efficient too. Experiments no longer have a “one chance” option and students can analyze what went wrong immediately and critically.
Schools and students using virtual labs have access to cutting-edge technology when it comes to experimentation. Companies that build and maintain virtual labs must compete with each other to stay ahead of technology progression and that raises the quality of student options. With a virtual lab, students do not have to settle on outdated, yet expensive, equipment because a school cannot afford to replace it consistently.
There is a fee associated with using virtual labs but the capital and maintenance costs are drastically reduced. Instead of one school footing the bill for resources, the cost is split among the clients of the particular virtual lab. This allows school to provide a better learning experience for students at a fraction of the cost. Like all classroom technology, virtual labs demand scrutniy to ensure that behind the flashy capabilities, their true purpose is being met. That will take some time and testing, of course, but I think it is possible with the right combination of in-person and remote lessons.
Autism and iPads. Depending who you ask, the iPad has varying effects on children with autism – but most parents and teachers would say that the device has made in-roads in their students’ attitude towards learning. Experts at Apple say that iPads “cure” sensory overload and give autism children control, along with opportunities for effective communication. Using less extreme language, researchers at Vanderbilt University say that speech-generating devices, like iPads, can encourage late-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders to speak. In other words, the basic technology that is readily available in classrooms and many households may also support learning initiatives for children with a specific disorder that impact traditional learning.
In coming posts, we will look at more technologies and concepts that every teacher should know.
The BYOD Listening Project asks: In the rush to control students’ devices, have we overlooked the ‘moment of teaching’?
By Sharon Price Campbel
If you’re a teacher in the U.S., you have likely bumped into BYOD (bring your own device). Especially in recent years, school districts are rushing to “leave no device behind” and education technology companies are coming up with myriad new products and services to deliver the promise of BYOD Nirvana. At conferences and in district offices, educators are spearheading many iterations of teaching and learning opportunities.
What can we learn from the previous megatrends in education technology? The first small wave of technology occurred when computers were installed in public school offices. They were not to be touched by the likes of teachers, but by trained office professionals only. It took another decade for computers to become available to educators in the teacher’s lounge. By the turn of the millennium, computer-literate teachers began to ask for, beg for, and write grants for computers in the classroom.
A flood of federal money available for technology purchases created the second wave, the Educational Technology Tsunami. To cash in on the gold rush, business suppliers slapped “education friendly” labels on business equipment. Manufacturers racing to get their share of the federal bucks cut corners on research, design, and quality control to get products into the marketplace. Classrooms became a nightmare of unsupported, unreliable hardware and buggy software. Classroom teachers who had been enthusiastic became concerned about job security. They feared reporting faulty equipment and feared that they had inadequate computer skills. When the federal funding ended, school districts found themselves unable to financially support their technological machines and dreams.
Riding the same surge was the “No Child Left Behind” legislation. Its unattainable expectations, on top of education’s first attempt to merge onto the digital freeway, nearly crashed education. Systems had been too quickly adopted and inadequately designed, and were incapable of the tasks they were purchased to perform. School districts became the graveyards of metal hulks and husks of educational technology—and federally-driven, data-based, student failure.
Since then, we have learned and improved. Manufactures and legislators are beginning to include educators in the conversation about expectations and realistic outcomes for tomorrow’s teaching tools. Teachers are getting very good at forming their own independent learning communities, and ideas are spreading faster than ever before. It was during this hyper-connected, surging wave of mobile device integration into all aspects of life that we ushered in BYOD.
It will take work. Early concerns about device security/privacy, unrestricted web access, and the potential for distractions in the classroom have driven the marketplace toward an obsession with control. There are now dozens of device management products that offer instructors and districts varying levels of control over student devices; however, these products don’t serve the fundamental purpose of BYOD in education, which is to improve instruction, empower students for self-directed learning, and leverage this generation of students’ technological prowess to turn the current model of instruction on its head.
In the rush to control students’ devices, we have overlooked the “moment of teaching.” Very few teachers are able to accomplish ordinary tasks, such as grabbing a picture from a document camera and getting it to each student device, without having to halt instruction and fiddle with far too many steps to integrate into teaching. So why is instructional software so clunky when we need it the most? The answer is that most companies making this software rarely set foot in an actual classroom. They are so focused on features and functions that they overlook how the product is used in the classroom during instruction. If one of the purposes of device management is to minimize distractions, shouldn’t the product just work and require no active management on the part of the teacher? Yet most device management products require that the teacher be behind his or her computer to share learning resources or to monitor and control student devices.
We can’t rely on product developers to just deliver brilliance. Rarely through history have major innovations been the result of one person or team, instead they have been the result of teams building on the work of or listening to others. The BYOD marketplace should be listening to the visceral and rational experiences of teachers, administrators, and students to make better products.
EXO U is sponsoring the BYOD Listening Project to strike up a dialogue between teachers, students, parents, administrators, and the marketplace, with the goal of pinning down and solving the increasing challenges that teachers and students face when attempting to integrate devices into a daily classroom teaching. I am serving as a moderator for the project, and we’re asking for your perspective on mobile devices in the classroom. What works? What doesn’t? Where are the significant pain points or problems at the interface of mobile devices and learning?
The BYOD Listening Project is asking for your engagement and in return, we will analyze, collate, and report themes and major takeaways. Our aim is to provide highly useful data and models for BYOD implementation that improve that moment of teaching.
Sharon Price Campbel has taught in Napa County Juvenile Offender programs, an alternative high school, and Youth Employment programs. For the last 28 years she has been a middle school teacher. In 2009, she was named a California School Master, the oldest, most prestigious California education award.
“You’re in engineering!?! Wow, you must be super-smart…”
It has been over 10 years since I was a first-year engineering undergraduate student; but when I remember the time a fellow female student made this comment, I can still feel a visceral, bodily reaction: my muscles tense, my heart rate increases, my breath quickens.
Comments like these on the surface appear as compliments. But when unpacked, they reveal subversive attitudes about women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
As I think back to this encounter, there are two aspects that stay with me. First was the surprised, skeptical tone of the other student’s voice that conveyed it was surprising and unusual (or, to put it more crudely, freakish) that I was in engineering. Second was the attitude that since I was in engineering, this could be explained only if there was something exceptional or outstanding (or, once again, freakish) about me. Women remain an underrepresented group in STEM. In Canada, women account for 23% of engineering graduates and 30% of mathematics and computer graduates. In the United States, women are 12% of the engineering and 26% of the computingworkforce.
The reality is that STEM professions are most commonly male and it remains surprising when these professional roles are held by women. The large gender imbalance means that women may naturally feel they’re outsiders at school and at work. This situation is often uncomfortable and mentally demanding, when even just showing up and doing your job comes with constant social stresses and anxiety. Ironically, the difficulties that they (we) encounter often dissuade the next generation of women from joining us. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle that we need to break.
Fight or flight, designed for quick response
Because of their underrepresentation, women in STEM often regularly question their place in these professions. When things feel uncomfortable – like when I was confronted with that comment a decade ago – our brains can overinterpret the situation as an imminent threat. And there’s an evolutionary reason for that physical response.
This stress response evolved in human beings to help us navigate a wild, dangerous and unpredictable world. When faced with imminent danger, like a pouncing tiger, our bodies have evolved an automatic reaction to help us react fast. Stress hormones are released, the heart beats harder and faster, breathing becomes rapid and muscles tense, ready for action.
This automatic response prepares our bodies for possible actions: fight or flight! From the perspective of evolutionary adaptation, it’s in our best interests NOT to distinguish between life-threatening and non-life-threatening dangers. Act first, think later. In the African wilds in which early humans roamed, the consequence of underreacting could mean death.
Good during lion attack, less good during daily life
In modern life, we don’t have to worry much about attacks from lions, tigers or bears. But adaptive mechanisms are still very much a part of our brain’s biology.
The flight-or-flight response is intended to be short-term. The problem comes in when stress becomes a daily part of life, triggering a physiological response that’s actually detrimental to health over the long term. Repeated and long-term releases of the stress hormone cortisol cause changes in brain structure that leave individuals more susceptible to anxiety and mood disorders, including depression. When exposed to long-term stress, the brain structure called the hippocampus shrinks, affecting one’s short-term memory and ability to learn.
These physical stress responses can unfortunately run at a constant low level of activation in people who are made to feel like they don’t belong or aren’t good enough – such as women in STEM. Social situations like my undergraduate encounter – and their ramifications – are a part of day-to-day life.
Sadly, the percentages of women working in these fields have remained stagnant for decades. In 1987, women represented 20% of the STEM workforce in Canada. In 2015, their numbers remain unchanged at 22%. In the United States, the reality is very similar, with women representing24% of the workforce. Confrontational reactions like “You’re in engineering!?!” communicate the message that as a woman, one may not belong in the social group of engineering. The brain perceives these kinds of social interactions as threatening, dangerous and stressful.
The social cues that women may not belong in male-dominated STEM fields can often be subtle. For example, researchers have shown that the presence in labs of objects considered stereotypical of computer science, such as Star Trek and video game posters, are perceived as stereotypically masculine and can dissuade women from expressing interest in topics like computer programming.
Moreover, seemingly complimentary “Wow, you must be super-smart!” comments also communicate an even more troubling possibility that, in order to belong in this group (of men), as a woman, one must be exceptional. Women + Engineering = Super Smart.
But what if a female student is not exceptionally intelligent? What if she is only ordinarily smart? Or, even more troubling, what if she does not believe that she is smart at all? In her mind, she becomes a sheep in wolf’s clothing, an impostor who has tricked those around her into accepting her into a group where she does not belong. From the brain’s perspective, this is literally interpreted as being in the lion’s den.
Women can flourish in STEM, but it can mean shutting out the noise. USAID Asia, CC BY-NC
STEM should welcome everyone
So what can be done? If we are to increase the participation of women in STEM fields, we must make workplace and educational environments inclusive. In order to thrive, female students need to believe that they belong in technical professions, in both academia and the private sector.
The social marginalization caused by gender imbalances in STEM programs can be mitigated. Targeted intervention programs that foster social belonging and coping mechanisms to deal with stress and threat can help women develop skills to handle the mental challenges caused by gender inequality and help women integrate into their male-dominated environment.
Connecting female students with female professional role modelssuch as mentors or instructors has also been extremely effective at improving women’s self-concept and commitment to STEM.
Finally, campaigns like the #Ilooklikeanengineer hashtag disrupt our common stereotyping of STEM professionals and help support a cultural shift.
The rates of female representation in STEM will not change overnight. It will probably be at least another generation before parity becomes an achievable target. But it’s through changing these attitudes and stereotypes that we will reduce some of the social stresses on women in these fields, helping women choose STEM as a career path, stay in these fields, and most importantly, remain healthy and happy.
Submitted by Dr. Barbara Nemko, Napa County Superintendent of Schools
“The children love [the program] and in fact they ask daily, ‘Is it my turn on the iPad today?’ Also … we as teachers are learning too.” – Marianne Stegman, Site Supervisor, St. Helena Child Development Center
Tackling Achievement Gap Before Kindergarten
Research has shown that children from low-income families come to school typically lagging two years behind their more privileged peers on standardized language tests. This achievement gap, which has been called a 30 million word gap (Hart and Risley, 2004), affects their ability to learn to read, and persists throughout their school careers. Identified as equally important in learning to read by researchers is access to books in the home. Again, children from low income families frequently have few or no books at home, and enter kindergarten not knowing that books in English are read from left to right, or being able to identify the letters of the alphabet.
To prepare these at-risk students for kindergarten, The Napa County Office of Education (NCOE) began collaborating with local non-profit NapaLearns to launch the first countywide offering in the nation of a digital early-literacy program. The program primarily uses the Footsteps2Brilliance “app” on tablets and other devices, and is provided at no cost to preschools and to parents of preschool age children in the county, including those not enrolled in a preschool program. The digital early literacy tools include libraries of books that are engaging, animated, and capable of reading themselves to children in either English or Spanish. These books teach the 1,000 most important Dolch words, as well as phonics and comprehension skills, through stories and games that motivate children to want to read the stories again and again. Once downloaded onto a device these books can be opened with or without wifi. For those families who cannot afford a device, NCOE has partnered with NapaLearns to offer a rent-to-buy HD Kindle for children.
The Results are Immediate and Impressive
NCOE’s Digital Early Learning program was piloted in 2011 as a 4-week summer boot camp for four-year old English language learners. Impressive results in language use led us to administer the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, pre- and post, to kindergarten students the following year, producing statistically significant results in both expressive and receptive language. The countywide launch for all preschool students came in February 2014, and Napa County preschoolers were challenged by me to read one million words by June 30. Instead, they topped five million, and have continued their astonishing rate of growth. A kindergarten teacher recently administered the DIBELS test and discovered that the children who scored the highest were those who spent the most time reading their digital books at home. There are currently over 1,200 children enrolled who have been exposed to over 12 million words, and have correctly answered the comprehension questions on their first try 67% of the time. These children are using the program at home 55% of the time.
The Family that Reads Together…
The staff working on our Digital Early Learning initiative have conducted extensive bilingual and multicultural community outreach, and opportunities for parent training, to ensure the widespread participation in this free program. In one year we have provided more than 30 parent workshops, as well as workshops for preschool and kindergarten teachers. Outside of Napa, we were invited to the White House Summit on Early Literacy to share about the positive impact of digital early learning in our county. Moving forward, we are excited to begin an ongoing five-year longitudinal study, to determine if children who use our digital early literacy in preschool are more proficient readers at the end of third grade than children who do not.
For more information on this program, contact Seana Wagner, Public Information Officer at [email protected] or 707-265-2351.
According to the STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Math) Coalition, there are 26 million STEM jobs in the U.S., comprising 20 percent of all jobs. By 2020, there will be 9.2 million STEM jobs in the U.S. Despite the need for these workers, only 45 percent and 30 percent of high school seniors are prepared for college-level math and science courses, respectively.
As the American K-12 system continues to look for ways to increase student interest and aptitude in STEM learning, technology is playing an increasingly pivotal role. Children who come to classrooms today have an inherent aptitude for technology and educators should encourage that skill set with resources that integrate STEM learning. Just a few of the ways to do that include making use of:
Virtual laboratories
Scientific experiments are no longer just reserved for physical labs. Through interactive technology, students can now do experiments remotely through use of virtual laboratories. The virtual labs at New Mexico State University, for example, give high school and college students access to food-based experiments. Students can test for corn mold, milk bacterial contamination and prevent C. Bot growth in salsa from a remote website. There is certainly something to be said of in-person experimentation, but student access is usually limited based on actual class times and resources. A virtual lab means that a student can do an experiment multiple times, and learn from mistakes in real-time and make adjustments. It also means that experiments are not limited to a determined class time and can be done on a student’s schedule. So students with an appetite for experimentation have greater access to it, and the others are not easily discouraged by “one shot” experiments.
In-class mobile devices
A student with a tablet or smartphone in hand has a portal to hundreds of apps that support STEM learning. There are a lot of things that students can do on basic tablets and phones, but there are also products like the einstein Tablet+ from Fourier Education that have a specific focus on STEM initiatives. Instead of going out and searching for STEM-centric lessons, the einstein Tablet+ comes preloaded with experiments and modules that cover physics, biology, human physiology, chemistry, and environmental science. This STEM-specific tablet can be connected to classroom projectors and monitors so that all the students can participate at once, or can be used as an individual tablet for customized learning in grades K-12. Teachers can search mobile apps for highly-reviewed ones, some of which are completely free, to use on the screens in their classrooms.
Television programming
While statistics show that too much television watching among children leads to higher obesity rates, behavior problems and less interest in things like reading, kids ages 8 to 18 are still watching television programs on various screens for 4.5 hours every day. It isn’t all bad news though. The value of children’s programming is increasing though. Programming is no longer created for the purpose of entertainment alone. On PBS alone, STEM-learning programs like Sid the Science Kid, Curious George, Cyberchase, Nature and Nova run the gamut of childhood ages and interests. In some cases, teachers are even able to incorporate some of these learning programs in classrooms and build entire lesson plans around the content.
Math, science and engineering are all intrinsically linked with technology. This gives educators an advantage with the current generation of K-12 students who arrive in Kindergarten classrooms with a technological edge. As learning technology improves, STEM education will continue to be the beneficiary if educators use it resourcefully.
What do you think can be done to improve student interest in STEM pursuits?
**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**
A guest post by Bevin Reinen
Skype is an instructional tool that provides boundlessopportunities for authentic teaching and learning. It allows us to explore beyond the four walls of our classrooms. As elementary teachers, we sometimes battle to hold our students’ short attention spans. Integrating Skype lessons brings the curriculum to life in ways never before possible. You know that special moment when you announce a class activity, and it’s greeted with claps, screams, and cheers? That’s Skype. It brings pure joy, wonder, and intrigue to your students.
Here’s a list of ten ways to utilize it in the elementary setting, followed by some logistical tips for success.
1) Take a Virtual Field Trip: Is there some place you’d like your class to visit, but can’t swing the funds or it’s just not geographically possible? Find a guide to ‘take’ you there by visiting a historical landmark, museum, zoo, etc.
2) Invite an Author: Set up a Skype session with an author you’ve been studying to discuss a book. Or, set one up with any author so that your students can learn about the steps of the writing process. No, real authors do NOT write one and done! Here’s an awesome list of Authors Who Skype With Classes and Book Clubs for Free.
3) Share a Project: Have your students been working on some kind of a special project? Give them the chance to show/share it with a distant class. This provides motivation and will help them develop confidence in the value of their work.
4) Put on a Performance: Is there a poem, song, skit, or reader’s theater script your students need to present? Give them the opportunity to perform to a unique audience via Skype!
5) Interview an Expert: Invite an expert to speak with your class on a current topic of study. Conduct a Q and A session. This is definitely a step up from the basic Google search!
6) Cultural Exchange: Learn about various cultures by connecting with a class from abroad. Check out the site ePals, which allows educators interested in Skyping or using other web-based tools to connect globally.
7) Meet Pen Pals: To encourage meaningful writing opportunities, write back and forth with pen pals throughout the year. Set up a culminating Skype chat so that students can finally meet their pen pals ‘face to face’.
8) Mystery Skype: If you register for Skype in the Classroom (instead of regular Skype), you can play Mystery Skype. Mystery Skype is an educational game that allows two classes to guess each other’s locations via questioning.
9) Including Students with Medical Issues: If a student has to miss school for an extended amount of time, Skype is the perfect way for the class to connect with their classmate. While not all class activities are workable on Skype, including the student in some key lessons will help prevent him/her from falling behind.
10) Share Travel Experiences: If you have a special trip to attend during the school year, have your substitute connect with you on Skype to touch base, allow you to do a mini-lesson, or show/share about your location.
Tips:
1) Install Skype on your computer.
2) You’ll need a webcam, speakers, and microphone also.
3) Be sure you and your person both add each other as Skype contacts.
4) Run a test call to ensure everything is working properly.
5) Outline a plan and discuss logistics with your Skype contact.
6) Walk through expectations/procedures with your students beforehand.
*Remember, time is of the essence when working with little ones. Make sure all kinks are worked out prior to the chat to maximize engagement.
Here are a few photos of my class chatting with our pen pals/digital learning buddies from a nearby school. To launch our science unit on animals, we had each student bring in a stuffed animal and fact to show/share. Afterwards, I assigned her class to research and observe penguins on Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Live Web Cams, while she assigned my class to do the same for giraffes using Houston Zoo’s Live Web Cams. This generated excitement and motivated students for the next fact/opinion pen pal writing to come!
This post originally appeared on teachtrainlove.com and has been republished with permission.
Bevin is Nationally Board Certified as an Early Childhood Generalist. She considers herself a teacher by day, writer by night. Some of her work has appeared in national publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul; Married Life, Hallmark’s Thank You, Mom book, and Boys’ Quest magazine for kids.
Computer programming is growing at twice the average rate of national job growth according to Code.org —and by 2020 there could be nearly a million more IT jobs than U.S. college graduates available to fill them, representing a $500 billion economic opportunity waiting to be realized.
Living in Silicon Valley, I see firsthand the impact that technology skills make on one’s earning potential. Often times a college graduate with an IT degree can find a job with a six-figure salary right out of college.
Growing up with access to technology, and the opportunity to learn key IT skills such as coding and app development, gives students a huge economic advantage over their peers. But these opportunities too often are defined by a student’s family income.
While 90 percent of families with household incomes above $100,000 have broadband access at home, only 64 percent of those with incomes between $20,000 and $29,000 have home broadband, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Schools not only have an opportunity, but an obligation, to be the technology equalizer that levels the playing field for all students—but too often, we see a similar divide between schools in wealthier and poorer neighborhoods.
While virtually all schools have basic hardware and connectivity, there is a sharp contrast between those that have the high-speed wireless connections that can support devices for every student, and those that lack this sophisticated technology infrastructure. There is also a knowledge gap between schools that have savvy instructors who can teach students IT skills such as coding and app development, and schools without this expertise on their staff.
We need to do everything possible to get technology in front of more kids at an earlier age, accompanied by curriculum that teaches them coding and other IT skills. Fortunately, there are movements under way to help bring these skills to more students.
A growing number of states have passed laws allowing computer science to count toward math or science credits needed for graduation. Code.org offers free local and online workshops, curriculum, and instructional videos to help schools teach computer programming. Other nonprofit organizations, such as Yellow Circle, offer free online environments for students to learn IT-related skills.
Of course, none of these resources will do any good if students aren’t connected or don’t have access to devices.
Although 2014 marked the first time that the number of apps in the Google Play store exceeded the volume in Apple’s App Store, many app developers recommend starting with iOS first as their platform of choice. “It’s my contention that iOS development is quite a bit easier,” writes programmer David Bolton.
Add in the fact that Apple currently has a 90-percent share of the tablet market in schools, according to education research firm MDR, it’s clear that Apple’s platform is an important tool for students to gain exposure to.
But Apple devices also are more expensive than devices with similar specifications running on other platforms, which raises a significant question: How can schools in economically disadvantaged communities afford these tools?
That’s where companies like Mac to School help. We enable schools to save on the cost of high-quality Apple equipment by reconditioning and recertifying used iPads, iMacs, and MacBooks and selling them to educational facilities for a fraction of the cost of new machines.
Schools can purchase up to four times the equipment by purchasing recertified devices, which allows them to put that extra money toward wireless infrastructure, teacher training, and other essential ed-tech needs.
Given the huge demand for IT-related employees, and the technology divide that exists between wealthy and poor communities, there is both an economic need and a moral imperative to expose all students to technology skills at a young age—regardless of their ZIP Code or their parents’ income level.
Technology is a gateway to future success, but students from impoverished areas will need access to the same tools and devices if they are to be given the same opportunities as their peers from wealthier families—and schools have a critical role to play in ensuring these opportunities for all students.
