Bringing Technology to the Classroom

EDUC 5313 Week 1 Blog

Part 1: Introduction – Current and Future Professional Goals

    I am working towards my master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. I plan to graduate next summer. My current goal in education is to support new teachers as they enter the career field as I work as an instructional coach for the state department. I also am beginning a career as a national professional learning facilitator for LETRS. 

    As my career continues, my goal is to combine my range of experience with my ability to be a compassionate, enthusiastic, intelligent teacher who will positively contribute to the school district and the greater community. I hope to become more confident as a national facilitator for LETRS. I want to continue working as an instructional coach for new teachers. I plan to stay in the classroom, continuing to teach science. I would also enjoy becoming a STEM director who works with teachers to bring these learning tools into the classroom or as a school liaison for the military. I plan to work on my doctorate within the next few years and continue my work with curriculum and instruction. I want to continue working with the state department to write and edit Oklahoma's standards and frameworks. Finally, my biggest goal is to work towards our school receiving the National Blue Ribbon for a second time within six years.

Part 2: Learning Activity

    The innovative designer indicator 4c from the ISTE standards asks students to develop and test prototypes in the design process cycle (ISTE, 2017). Students in fifth grade could work through standard 5.ESS1.1 by having students research the distance of the sun and various stars to understand better the distance to Earth and how that impacts brightness (Oklahoma Department of Education, 2022). Students would be asked to develop a satellite out of LEGO and program the satellite to model how an actual satellite would move through space to measure distances between Earth and various stars. Students would be required to program the satellite to move and rotate, being able to avoid debris in space. The students must learn the positions of various stars and Earth to have the satellite navigate and collect data. 

    The teacher would set up a Zoom meeting with a member of the United States Space Force, located in Australia, who can go into more detail about the importance of being aware of and tracking space debris as a career field. The students must understand how to make their satellite adaptable to harsh space conditions. 

    Once the research is collected, students would present their satellite designs to the class, with a Google Slide showing their findings of various distances of stars and how that impacts brightness. They could even incorporate images from NASA to represent images their satellites could have taken while in space. 

Part 3: Insights 

    I chose to look at the phenomenon of creativity through the work of Mark Gura. Teachers must work to fit the curriculum to the needs of the students so that they may thrive as adults. I chose to focus on this because all content areas can incorporate creativity into instruction. 

    Students must learn to be confident in their development of responses when responding to teacher prompts. According to Gura (2016), teachers should understand that creativity should be seen as an anticipated response to a problem (p. 16). Creativity is a way for students to ask better questions. According to Gura (2016), it is essential to build in-class time for students to wonder about a topic (p. 19). Teachers can accomplish this relatively easily in science class by presenting a phenomenon to create that curiosity in students. Allow students to develop a driving question board to help guide the learning process. This allows students to reflect on what questions still need to be answered and formulate ideas on how to set up an investigation to find the answers they are looking for. 

    The design process is such a vital part of learning for students. According to Gura (2016), students need to know how to identify a problem, brainstorm ideas, and then begin to design (p. 33). From here, students need to be able to build their model, complete tests with their model, evaluate, and then redesign as required. Finally, students need to present their work to others. 

   

References

Gura, M. (2016). Make, learn, succeed: Building a culture of creativity in your school. International Society for Technology in Education. 

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017).  ISTE Standards for Students:  A practical guide for learning with technology. ISTE

Oklahoma Department of Education. (2022, December 19). 2020 grade 5 unit progression. OKSci Framework. http://okscienceframework.pbworks.com/w/page/144329610/2020%205-ESS1-1