April 1998 — Features
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Partners in Learning: Twelve Ways Technology Changes The Teacher-Student Relationship
10. Technology enables opportunities for more depth of understanding, but the breadth of the curriculum is still problematic.
"Technological resources, such as The Geometer's Sketchpad, have freed students from the tedium of calculations and their problem-solving skills become more advanced," observes Doris Buxbaum. In her 7th grade mathematics class, she used Sketchpad to explore the sum of angles of different polygons, without even suggesting to the students that the sum is consistent for a particular number of sides. "The students came to it in seconds! That wasn't even the point of this particular lesson, but in the process of learning one tool on the program, they learned a lot about polygons. So, when I get to that lesson, they'll zoom ahead."
Marcia Singer, who teaches art in grades 5 and 6 in Bayonne Public Schools, says that by integrating Web-based resources such as photographic images into her lessons, students interact more with the subject matter and absorb the information more concretely. Although teachers interviewed unanimously agreed that well-designed, effective technology-supported projects provided students with a more in-depth learning experience than do traditional approaches, they also expressed concern over the time involved in these projects and amount they are responsible for teaching in their curricula: "Teachers are forced to cover a curriculum that's fast and intense," says Rosalie Moran. "But the question is, ‘Do students really learn these concepts that you fly through?'"
Teachers also advocated school and district-wide testing that better reflects the types of learning experiences that these technology-supported projects provide. "If the final test is a rote memorization of facts, then this enhanced learning experience is not rewarded," states Cynthia Addison. "The test must be coherent with the methods of teaching and learning."
11. Technology provides increased opportunities for thematic, interdisciplinary explorations; teachers can use these interdisciplinary connections to further engage and excite students.
In our program at Stevens Institute of Technology, we have focused on Internet-based science investigations that make use of: dynamic, "real time" data, such as weather and meteorological conditions and earthquake and volcano data that change hourly; and collaborative projects that collect data from diverse locations around the globe, such as the boiling point of water at various elevations. These applications not only involve students in the process of science, but in data analysis, modeling and predicting. The mathematical connections for these types of projects are obvious and extremely useful for teachers to demonstrate what scientists really do and how mathematics can be a valuable tool.
But linkages to other subjects are also easily developed. In Cornelia Rogers' Global Water Sample Project, students not only explored the composition of pond water in various locations around the world, but they enhanced their writing skills and learned much about the cultures of their partners. In introductory e-mail messages, P.S. 22 students heard from students in a primarily Afrikaner school about the recent changes in South Africa and from students in a Zulu school who gave their own unique perspective about the recent events. Also, one budding artist from P.S. 22 drew a picture of the macroscopic organism found in their local pond, a May fly nymph, and it was posted on the project Web site. These connections to social studies and art grew out of a science project!
