Technology Application Trends

Objectives:

At the completion of this project the student will...

• use Google Search to identify technology trends that are seen and may be seen in science classrooms and add sources to an annotated bibliography in Google Docs.
• summarize and then predict future trends in science education after synthesizing findings documented as a report, presentation, or diagram.

Google Search - Technology Trends in Science Education

Conducting an online search using Google allows you to find current information about a topic. Although this can often be frustrating you may want to visit sites that can help you to conduct efficient searches. Hint: Change "Science Education" to "Science Classrooms". Later you will use the research tool in Google docs to do a similar type of search.

As you try several search terms a large amount of information can quickly muddy the water. Here are some useful hints:

• Begin by identifying credible sources to read and save searches that you believe have value for more in depth investigation. 
• Consider using as few words as possible. The more words you add, the more specific you search becomes. At some point you may want to do that, but it would probably be better to add quotations to note key words.
• Use the minus (-) in front of a word to remove search terms. Your search is focused on K-12 education, so you may want to remove "college" from your search. If so then add a minus (search term - college).
• Use "or" to broaden your search like (this search term or that search term).

Once satisfied with your search, write a summary of your findings on a Google Doc and add it to the "Artifact Folder" you created in Google Drive. You will later will have the option of using the summary as a report for selected summaries which you will submit to TK20.

Google Plus Communities

Open up Google+ and check out the communities. Subscribe to one of the communities and post your thought on any that interests you. Check out this article on using post-it notes HERE. This article comes from Edutopia and takes a technology twist on an old standard. Write a summary of this article and add it to your artifact folder.

Synthesis Product

To be a successful and innovative science educator you must be able to predict where science education is headed with a certain amount of accuracy. Nothing is for certain, but you can develop skills to see what may happen.

For example, many of you know that I'm a fisherman and some of you took my Reading the Landscape course. As a fisherman, I have to be able to read the environment to decide where to cast my bait. A fish may be there or not. As a naturalist, we have learned that the current state of the environment and the actions of living things give us a good idea of what will happen. Ants with wings reveal that the weather will change or a passing flock of geese means a change in season.

From the readings, synthesize your ideas about how technology will change education. Don't feel limited by the status quo. That may change also. Create a product using a reporting format such as a timeline, chart, presentation, drawing, or any thing else that will help you tell the story.

Add this product to your "Artifact Folder" in Drive. Again, you will be able to use this product to use in a report of selected summaries submitted to TK20.


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