P4 – Practice the integration of appropriate technology with instruction. Technology has become a part of our daily lives, both recreationally and professionally. As teachers, we need to prepare our students to be active members of a technological society. To accomplish this, we need to teach students to use technology in meaningful ways that enhance their academic experience as well as their technology skills [1]. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show a data collection project that my students created using a computer program called Kidspiration [2]. Our math unit focused on collecting, organizing, and analyzing data. As a part of this unit, students chose survey questions and gathered data from all students in the class. When it was time to organize the data, I guided them in using the Kidspiration software to create a graph displaying the data they collected [2]. Students had prior experience using the Kidspiration software, but they had not previously used it to create graphs. Following the computer lab activity, students analyzed their data, wrote 3 observations, and presented their findings to the class.
Various technology tools are used all the time to show data. Using technology to organize and display data is a task students will need to be able to do all through school and likely in their future careers. Practicing this skill at an early age will prepare them to do the same task in a more advanced way in the future [3]. This activity allowed me to gain experience using a technology project to enhance the work we had been doing in our everyday classwork. I had previously used the program Kidspiration, but only to enhance my writing instruction. By completing this project with student, I learned that the software also lends itself well to mathematics projects [4].
Through this activity, students were not only able to use technology to organize data, but they were also able to experience a real world application of data collection and organization [5]. While this activity went very well, in the future I would probably have students complete a second similar task. This would allow them to gain additional practice with collecting, organizing, and analyzing data. It would also allow them to become more comfortable using the Kidspiration software to create graphs, which is likely to be a technology skill they continue to use [6].
Figure 1
Figure 2
Ashley Dugovich bPortfolio 