Here I go blabbering about again.
I'm with my brother and childhood friend at Barnes, reading up on various methods of literary criticism and getting totally jacked (not joking) and Andrew, childhood friend, looks up from his paperback to ask, "Hey. Remember dioramas?"
I did. Usually putting together a scene from English class (Sign of The Beaver), a historic event from social studies (Underground Railroad), a certain species from science (leafcutter ants in the rainforest) or (my favorite) a moon colony. I remember these projects, stuck in a shoebox, or a cut-away from pieces of posterboard fused together, were as detail-oriented as you wanted and you needed to have done your research before you start putting the visuals together. You also needed to gather your materials, have some sort of a plan, be able to work around problems and miscalculations and convince your parents and older brothers to help you.
"Do you think kids still do that? Or is it more on computers now?"
And that question concerned me so I looked to facebook to find an Ed. major and ask.
Alvin
Hey wake up.
ha ha ha
at least im being productive....ha..ha..the hills
3:45pmAlvin
HEy! SCREW. YOU.
Right up the...
No, I have an ed question though.
heyyyy!!
k shoot
3:46pmAlvin
My buddy and I were just talking about making dioramas for school projects and we're wondering if kids still do that, or if it's more on computers now...
depends on how hands on the teacher is..some teachers(like I will be most likely) tend to do a combo of technology and "old fashioned", but we are taught how to use computers in our lesson plans, and that hands on stuff like dioramas is good for kinesthetic and visual learners
more than you ever needed to know
3:49pmAlvin
That was kind of vague.
"...she said it depends on the teacher."
ha! nooooo..read more
the trend is towards tech stuff though
smart boards with 3D stuff and hand held student boards to interact with the main one
we now have a whole class on it
3:50pmAlvin
SCREW that.
(tech in the classroom that it)
ha!
3:51pmAlvin
I mean, practically, they need to learn how to operate a keyboard and tech... 'cause that will keep exploding... but, in a sense, they'll learn that themselves, but critical thinking and creative problem-solving... is more hands on.
true..which is why i think a mix is good...you cant replace making a plaster of paris volcano or a paper mache solar system
3:56pmAlvin
...paris volcano?
plaster-of-paris
ever use it?
to make a volcano
4:01pmAlvin
...Ohhhhh. OK. I was just thinking that you were an idiot for a sec.
haaaaa
riiiiiight
guess what i found?
farmville
Emily is Emily Huston. This concerns me still... and I guess it will always depend on the teacher and age of students, but I feel that challenging younger students through the frame of a complex computer algorithm/game/interactive quiz is still challenging them through a limited frame. And I remember working through those exercises by finding the loophole, so we wouldn't have to be challenged anymore. Another hands-on, awesome and exciting project was the egg drop - we design a vessel to protect an egg from surviving a two-story drop. A lot of kids used parachute-esque devices, with or without a whole bunch of padding. (I stuffed mine in a teddy bear). But imagine how that project would go if it was computer simulated... and there was a limited, but vast, option of materials and applications to protect your digital egg with? "This game blows. See if you can use 'dick' on your egg.'" 3D boards and smart classrooms are cool, but I think the general idea is that tech classrooms are designed to instruct the teachers on HOW-TO operate these tools for learning, but the danger (I hate the way I'm acting like I know what I'm talking about) is that the tools become substitutes or deceptions of the original intention: innovation. To use a cliche, thinking outside of the box is - from what I hear - what keeps the cubicle drones in their cubicles.
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Grand Rapids is terrific.
Posts
I know it depends on the teacher :D, but I try to use both.
ReplyDeleteHands on- modeling cells with play dough, atoms with gum drops, disections, blood pressures, calculating speed/acceleration with toy cars, etc.
Technology(I have a SMART Board, it's wonderful)-I use it for when I do want to take the challenge (and danger) out- breeding fruit flies, reactor simulations, oil spills(http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/clickandclone/ or http://simbio.com/products-college/ecobeaker)
The real danger is taking out the interactive completely. "Here, copy these notes, memorize them, and then regurgitate them for your test."
Ok I'm reviewing like you asked...I agree with what you said. I think the pattern of society is to be cost and time effective, which leads to education often being impersonal and ineffective. While hands-on projects might not be as time and cost effective as computer simulations, I think they're necessary for kids who might not be able to relate to the computer images, and part of what keeps teachers connected their students and the lives/interests of those students.
ReplyDeleteOk, done, nice post:D
(except for the added sections on either end..hmmmm)