Story Time with Toontastic

Cognition, Education and Technology

This summer, I learned quite a bit about technology in the classroom and how it can help our students. In order for me to truly understand how technology can help, our professor had to present us with articles that were for and against the tech. Articles such as that written by Matthew Wisnioski,  How digital technology is destroying your mind., allude to Susan Greenfield's book, in which she, 

"asserts that the digital revolution exploits our biological propensity for mindlessness. She cites laboratory studies finding that social networking and video gaming trigger dopamine in the same manner as junk food and Ecstasy...Because cyberspace lacks causal sequence, is devoid of immediate consequences and gives instant access to information without guidance, our attention spans shrink, deeper thinking declines and interpersonal bonds wither." 

Though there are quite many people who think just like Greenfield and uphold that technology will make people less intelligent, there are others who completely disagree. For example, in his article, How Digital Technology Has Changed the Brain, Taspcott notes that "scientists are beginning to document the traces that the Internet leaves on sensitive young brains. People who play a lot of action video games, for instance, process visual information more quickly than people who don't, according to a seminal 2003 article in Nature." 

Our class debate further strengthened my belief that technology is good for all of us if and when used appropriately. As educators, it is our job to ensure that we are properly teaching our students how they are supposed to use technology to get the most out of it. Also, technology can increase our higher order thinking skills because with it we are able to create new ideas from information we have synthesized. There are many websites and applications that have been created so that individuals can continue to develop their cognitive abilities, depending on their age. I have noticed this after having my child go on an interactive website where she learned how to write out her ABCs and read some basic words. 

As far as our culture is concerned, technology is embedded in it. A Huffington Post article expressed that "social networks -- and the gadgets they run on -- aren’t a distraction from real life, but a crucial extension of it.” We cannot run away technology. It will continue to follow us indefinitely from now on. Those who find that it is detrimental to our society, will not see it that way as long as they learn that it can actually be good for us. We just need to learn to use it the right way for the right reasons.

Most importantly, technology, especially in the classroom, can increase students' motivation. The Self Determination Theory says that students develop motivation when they are able to use technology which caters to the students' autonomy, relatedness and competence. I believe that if I continue to implement technology in my class, I will see my students' intrinsic motivation continue to develop.As a result, students' learning will increase and this will show that technology is actually good for our society because we are going to be using it appropriately.

I am glad I chose this track for my M.Ed because now I can truly make a difference in my students and their learning. I can't wait for the next Ed Tech class!

Technology's Impact on Teaching and Learning

Technology impacts us in many different ways and those include teaching and learning. When we use technology to teach our students, their learning experience is enhanced because this is what they know and feel comfortable using since they were born into the Digital Age. 

Technology can utilize the brain's reward systems to reinforce learning. This is accomplished when we let our students use a technological device, in which they can use different apps, that are motivational and fun for them with which they can create or expand on new ideas they have learned. I have noticed within my own classes, that when I have my students using technology for a performance assessment, they get super excited that they are able to create something on their own and then feel proud of what they accomplish. Even adults feel that way when they finish creating a Power Point or anything that normally can give them a bit of a hard time completing. 

The aforementioned can be linked to engaging student's emotions when learning. When individuals feel a sense of accomplishment, they will want to continue feeling that way in their future endeavors which is where technology can still continue to play a big role. Most of my past students, for example, would always ask if they could complete their assignments using a certain app instead of just using pen and paper because of the way they felt when they were able to use it. I noticed that their intrinsic motivation increased because they felt competence, relatedness and autonomy as they used technology which further caused them to develop more positive emotions in their learning and our class environment.

As we continue to appropriately implement technology in the classroom, our students' learning will increase along with their motivation and self determination because we are facilitating their learning through more than just the traditional lectures.

HOTS- Higher Order Thinking Skills

Have you ever wondered why your teachers made you critically think instead of just memorizing information?These higher order thinking practices as they are commonly known as today are being noticed more often in our classrooms recently. Bloom's Taxonomy is a reference to where we can find all the higher order skills with the appropriate verbs that will help the students attain the level of knowledge you would like for them to achieve. On Bloom's Taxonomy Revised you can find all the levels of thinking with the many verbs that can be utilized. 

Two of the levels I often implement in my lessons at the end of every unit taught are evaluating and creating. When I want my students to evaluate information, they need to have a base where to start synthesizing all I have taught them, which they then use to defend or assess a "so what" statement. Also, I use the creating level when they are going to do a performance assessment. This is my favorite level of thinking as the students really make an effort putting together all their lower order skills to build up on the higher order ones which helps them to create an idea through different means. For example, on a unit about how communities were created in UT, my students had to create their own community with a brochure to convince people to move here. They needed to include vital parts of a community, based on the geography and geology of our state along with what they had learned in that particular unit. Their creations truly amazed me.

When we focus more on higher order thinking skills, as I was taught by my education professors to do with my students, they are able to transfer knowledge among different subjects. Students have become so comfortable with simple memorization for tests that when they are done taking those, they recycle the information and it is gone forever. It doesn't even make it into the long term memory bank. That is definitely not the case with higher order thinking skills. With the latter, students learn the information needed in different ways that they process best and will be able to remember the information as well as apply it when they need it in the future. 

This leads to the question that many people wonder- which is "how to use technology for the development of the higher order thinking skills?" There are many apps and resources out there that are great to use with students or our own children. Our Ed Tech professor recently introduced us to Kathy Schrock the Genius and I am amazed at how many apps there are out there that have been categorized by the Bloom's level of taxonomy they meet. If we start using these apps when teaching our lessons, we won't only be implementing technology in our classroom, but the students will be more engaged and most importantly, they will retain the information they will learn forever and will be able to transfer it into other fields as well. For all these reasons, technology and the higher order thinking skills benefit each other hence we should use them more often when the technology is available.

Technology's Impact on Identity

We live in the digital age in which technology is even impacting the development of identity, specially in our younger generation. Identity as expressed by Altheide is, "the part of the self by which we are known to others" (Zhao, 2008). Before all of the technological advances, mainly the internet, people would identify themselves face to face based on their physical appearance and intellectual. That has changed in today's world. Now the internet gives people a protective shield by which they can share with others, through social media, only what they want others to know about them. In his article, Zhao mentions, "As the corporeal body is detached from social encounters in the online environment, it becomes possible for individuals to interact with one another on the Internet in fully dis-embodied text mode that reveals nothing about their physical characteristics" (Zhao, 2008). He further states that because people are not required to share any of their personal information such as background or address, it creates a sense of "anonymity and disembodiment" which in turn "creates a technologically mediated environment in which a new mode of identity production emerges" (Zhao, 2008). 

Social Media further allows people to practice role playing since they are able to choose what they would like to depict of themselves to others. This further allows people to explore other parts of themselves they weren't aware of in turn helping them to identify who they truly are (Zhao, 2008). While many people may find negative consequences attached to this, others see it as an opportunity to be able to truly express themselves free from any of the impediments, such as stuttering or shyness, that may prevent them from socializing with others (Zhao, 2008).

As educators, we too can provide students with the means to help them explore and develop their identity while working on projects in our classes. This of course can be done utilizing technology.  As Mesch states, "the internet has created a new generation of young people, who possess sophisticated knowledge and skills with information technologies, express values that support learning by experience and the creation of a culture in a digital space, and have particular learning and social preferences" (Mesch).  Today's Net generation is creating such a big impact on our culture and that makes up part of their identity too as these younger people are the ones creating and providing more internet content (Mesch). Not only are we allowing for our students to role play through social media or other interactive apps in which they can communicate with people who share the same interests as them, but we are making them feel like they matter in society because they are the gurus in digital technology.

In my own middle school classroom, I plan to have my students complete performance assessments for every unit we study in UT Studies. After we cover the content of the different groups of people who came to UT, I will have my students ask themselves, "How am I making a contribution to UT the way these different groups of the past had done?" The performance assessment they will have to create is a virtual museum exhibition in which they explore their lives through the most meaningful moments and then analyze how those meaningful moments can potentially shape who they are or will become.  I did an example of what I expect of them, using my own life and how I identify myself and my contribution to society, which is my previous blog.

What would you have your students do, to tap into their curiosity and help them find their true identity?

Who Am I? Virtual Museum Exhibit

This is a sample of a project I will implement with my students next year in which they will learn about UT's different groups who have influenced the state or country in one way or another. After we study the different groups, the students will complete a performance assessment in which they will analyze the most memorable moments in their lives and then decide which one is or will be the most influential one in their lives, family, community or society. I am excited to have them complete their own virtual museum to accomplish this analysis because it was extremely simple to use and the process was quick and fun.