Technology K12 conference

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=717

I watched a presentation by a science teacher who is avidly incorporating technology into his eighth grade science class in Australia. He starts by going around and asking students where they are in their project and all the students seem very anxious and excited to talk about the script they are writing and what they are learning. They seem to be almost talking over each other and very engaged in the lesson and learning their specific subject.

The teacher then shows some of the projects that were made by the students. They made short videos using puppets and taught the class about what the researched. The presentations really show how creative the students can get with projects like this. I know a lot of teachers can get a little intimidated by using technology, but with this lesson plan the children can do it all. They are able to use computers and cameras and produce something of their own. It is also a lesson plan that the students can remember. I remember one of my teachers had us do a similar project and I still remember it do this day.  The students are clearly learning and they are also having a lot of fun and they will remember the whole experience including the information they learned as well as how their video came out.

Roland, the teacher, also showed a few mistakes the children made and had them at the end of the presentations. It was fun to watch and I wasn't even in the class so I can only imagine how much the students enjoyed it. It is very nice to see a teacher using so much technology in the classroom. He also said prior to this lesson he taught the students about cyber bullying, privacy, programming, copyright, freedom and ethical behavior when using technology. This is a great way to knock down two lessons in one, a science one and an important technology one!