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.

Impact on Culture

One of the most controversial topics out there currently is how technology has made our teenagers different from their predecessors. Have you ever heard of adults saying, "Back in my day, we didn't play on iPads or gameboys. We spent all our day playing outside." Unfortunately, I was one of those people too. I would express myself this way when seeing kids spending all their day playing video games and not even interacting with their own siblings. I would think, "What is happening to society? We are all going to be illiterate in 10 years from now!"

But, when we talk to teens about their technology usage, I feel that they compare it to their phones or tables being like their heart-without it they can't survive. In a Huffington Post article, it was expressed that "social networks -- and the gadgets they run on -- aren’t a distraction from real life, but a crucial extension of it.” Huffington Post article. Adults may frown on this but they do not really fathom what the younger generation is feeling with or without technology. In a way, I feel that adults underwent this same issue during their day when TVs and radios were introduced. The grandparents must have probably made the same comments as to how people would stop reading out of newspapers and books because the younger generation was too immersed in TV viewing and radio listening. Well, that young generation of TV and Radio users survived and they turned out just fine. Wouldn't it be the exact same result with the teens of the Digital Age?

Teens get a sense of belonging when they have technology in their lives. My tech professor shared an excerpt in class last time out of the same article above, Huffington Post article which really expressed a teen's viewpoint on technology and how it shapes her life. 

“Not having an iPhone can be social suicide, notes Casey. One of her   friends found herself effectively exiled from their circle for six months because her parents dawdled in upgrading her to an iPhone. Without it, she had no access to the iMessage group chat, where it seemed all their shared plans were being made. "She wasn’t in the group chat, so we stopped being friends with her,” Casey says. “Not because we didn’t like her, but we just weren’t in contact with her.”

After having read this excerpt, I really thought about how hypocritical we can be with our younger generation sometimes. I remember being given a computer with dial-up connection for the internet in the late 90s. I would spend countless hours on the internet searching random stuff and chatting with strangers on group chats for N'Sync and Britney Spears. Isn't that what our teens today are doing, except for the fact that they use different social media? What is the huge difference between our time period and this new generation? We survived; I am pretty sure they will too.

It all comes down to how efficiently teens use the technology they have. If they use it correctly, they will get so much out of it! But, it is up to us to guide them on how to use it.

Cognition and Development are Affected by Media

Have you ever wondered how you ever learned to do things such as balancing yourself, walking or learning to analyze the meaning of life? Many studies conducted by famous psychologists such as Piaget and Vygotsky proved that we when we are young is when our brains begin to develop and this tends to occur starting at the brain stem and ends in the frontal lobe where we conducted our higher order thinking skills (Cox, June 2015). 

Jean Piaget, for example, arranged a child's development into four different stages. These stages are known as the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. 

           Sensorimotor 0-2 years old: child uses sensory and motor skills to 
                   explore surroundings. object permanence

           
           Preoperational 2-6 years old: no logical reasoning yet. words and 
                     pictures are used to represent things egocentric

           Concrete operational 7-12 years old: no longer egocentric. other's 
                    opinions are taken into account; child can think logically and the 
                    concept of conservation is understood.                                     

           Formal operational 12 years-adult: can use higher order thinking skills 
                     to analyze and think abstractly.

All these developments certainly do not happen overnight therefore our brains are not fully developed until we are between 25-35 years old. Even when we reach this age range, it has been found that the brain is still developing. It is a never ending process which is supported by Vygotsky's theory of Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD. The ZPD is in effect when an individual can master a task if given the appropriate scaffolding and support by a more knowledgeable other, usually a teacher or an expert in that specific content, who provides the means to acquire new knowledge and skills. 

Though we know the stages of development, how can children develop more knowledge in today's world- the digital age? Technology usage, of course. However, many articles still only focus on the negative impact technology is causing in our youth from lack of social skills to physical health issues such as obesity as stated by Kaveri Subrahmanyam in The Impact of Home Computer Use on Children’s Activities and Development. As we continue to discover more ways that media usage can help students learn better by providing concrete research, more people will be willing give the technology the credit it deserves.  Subrahmanyam also wrote about how parents are buying their children computers because they think it will help their children academically. I think the problem is that parents just don't know all the tools and resources out there that can actually provide their children with appropriate learning techniques. Many parents are still under the impression that the point of computers, laptops, or tablets is to just surf the net or to write papers. If they actually took the time to learn about educational apps that can further aid the child's brain development by encouraging them to use their higher order thinking skills, then their view on media will change for the better. 

A site that my Ed Tech professor mentioned that is quite helpful to children, and has different activities depending on their grade level, is UEN Educational Interactives for your Kids. I tried a few of these and it is safe to safe that I was a bit addicted to them for a few minutes. I am going to have my 4 year old try these and see how she enjoys them at the same time that she is improving her cognitive development. Go check it out!

My Thoughts on Technology's Impact on the Brain

We have all heard the misconceptions on how technology can be quite detrimental to our brains but that depends on how we use the technology. I was very skeptical for a long time regarding anything positive that technology could potentially contribute to the development of our brains. In her book, Susan Greenfield, "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." This was quoted in Matthew Wisnioski's article found here How digital technology is destroying your mind. Just like Greenfield's findings, I always found myself thinking about technology the same way. 

But, we live in an age where the average amount of technological devices a human owns are at 4 currently. I am one of those people fits into that statistics and have decided to focus on the positives in having so much technology around me which I use daily. If we are going to have that many devices, then we might as well use them to the fullest! The new generation of young people who are using technology have shown us, through research that has been conducted that technology isn't so bad after all. 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." The "Net Generation" as Taspcott refers to young people who have grown up in this phase of the digital age, doesn't really read as much out of books anymore as we used to in the past. Many think it is a waste of time. With the facility Google provides us it is much quicker and easier to type in a question and have an answer for it in less than a 1 minute.After having read the above mentioned article, even I prefer to turn to technology when researching anything. I don't have time to waste and if it is online then why not use it. 

Not only are we able to spend less time looking for information but it has been found that people who utilize technology more often are able to task switch and won't get distracted as they are interacting on social media at the same time they are listening to music. Taspcott says, that this generation of people can, "keep up their social networks while the concentrate on work- they seem to need this feel comfortable. I think they've learned to live in a world where they're bombarded with information, so they can block our the TV or other distractions while they focus on the task at hand." I identify with these findings as well since I am constantly task switching to check all my social media in the middle of doing others things.

So how do we use the new information about how great technology is in our own classroom? There are many ways that we can implement this great tool with our students such as through digital stories, infographics, and other visual means developed through tech. All of these affect the students' brains by sending the information they gather from all their senses and synthesizing it into one full picture which all occurs in the parietal lobe. The more ways we can present them with new information, the more neuron connections there will be; hence they will remember more and be able to apply it to their daily experiences. 

Stay tuned to see how to further implement tech in the class because technology isn't so bad after all!

My Media Usage

My Shocking Media Usage



Never in my life, would I have ever thought that I would be so enveloped in using technology. Obviously, I have not really been utilizing it for important things lately- like research. Instead, I have been obsessing over my Instagram feed, taking selfies and uploading those, hashtagging my little life away and reading some rather ridiculous statuses on Facebook. 

It wasn't until I had to complete an assignment for my Ed Tech Class, that I had to record how often I use media in a day. In my particular case, media consists of my phone. I can do everything on it, from socializing to streaming Netflix. Still, I felt that since I have a family to take care of, schoolwork to complete and a full time job, that I would not be a heavy media user. Boy was I wrong! 

In one day, I checked my Instagram alone 25 times. That in itself is ridiculous! I estimate that I spend five minutes every time I check it so looking back, I waste 2 hours of my precious day liking everyone else's selfies. That's Instagram alone without including Facebook which is another 1.5 hours of my day. Here I am thinking of how I could have used 3.5 hours of my day playing with my child, completing a homework assignment or even just enjoying the warm weather. 

As I type this blog, I feel the urge to check Instagram yet again and see if anyone else has liked my latest picture. The more likes the more beautiful my pictures are, right? Right. The time I spend on this kind of media is passive because I don't feel that I am learning anything from it if all I am doing is scrolling down the feeds liking pictures or statuses. 

Though I do admit I must check into a Media Anonymous group, I have to give credit to technology for helping me teach my students better by giving me ideas on how to present new information to them. It has also aided us all, in my classroom, to transmit our knowledge through different apps that make it easier and more entertaining for everyone to attain the information. 

I may not be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, but I feel that I use media for the most basic things- to keep in contact with family and friends, to search for the latest fashions and to research topics to be able to complete school projects. Hence, when compared to today's children and teens, I feel that I am right there with them too as they use media for similar things. As far as adults are concerned, I think that most mid-aged adults use media in some way- many use Facebook to reconnect with high school or college friends. It has been my experience that the older generations, are anti media since they feel it is nothing but a waste of time and neurons. 

I can see both the good and bad side of media and technology, but the good is currently in the lead. I feel that if we can be more disciplined when using media, limiting ourselves to only 30 minutes a day of maybe just social media, our lives can be better spent doing more active things. Not all media usage is passive, of course, but it is up to us to be more disciplined and choose to use it actively and learn from it.

This week, I am going to challenge myself to limit my usage of media by half. I will record how my daily routine has changed, whether I am happier or not, and if I missed out on anything important. 

Will you do this too? Will you challenge yourself to shorten the time you spend watching "funny" youtube videos and instead find something that can be more edifying? I dare you!