Week 13 Happy Thanksgiving

 Teachers are always acting like designers. By creating lesson plans for class activities, they are designing what the class is going to do and what learning activities that take place. Not all students learn the say way, teachers have to design specific lessons to fit the needs of each student. Sometimes lessons don't go as planned so teachers must quickly come up with something else to when the original plan doesn't work out. As a P.E. teacher, I will create various movement skills and games to keep my students engaged in physical activity. Hopefully, this will help students realize that P.E. is not just a blow-off class and you do have to work to achieve physical benefits.

As a P.E. teacher I would not use any of the tools listed in Chapter 8. However, a Science teacher would benefit from the Trebuchet Simulator. This tool is good for lessons that deal with physics and math. "Trebuchet Simulator is software that simulates a throwing device and the students have to manipulate it" (Jonassen, 2008). This is a perfect activity for students to engage in for a science lab. Scratch would be great for theater or music. This tool has programming graphics and sound tools to help students create scripts. This would really come in handy when rehearsing for musicals and theatre plays.

"Digital Storytelling is a software or program that put more focus on the activity than the technology" (Jonassen, 2008). With this software, the students work as a team and come up with a story to put together. As a P.E. teacher I would not use Digital Storytelling because my focus is on physical activity. However, this would be great for a reading teacher and an English teacher. This gives students the opportunity to be creative and edit their own work. They are learning to write, read, and correct mistakes while becoming more familiar with technology.  

Visualizing formulas with graphing calculators and tinkering with data sets are other tools that can help make math more real to students. Using graphing calculators has always helps me understand linear equations and functions better. You can play with the calculator and see what certain equations and angles look like. In the tinkering with data sets, the data is visually represented by mobile icons. According to our book, "Students develop mathematical understanding of attributes, logical relationships, place value, and plotting and learn to perceive the stories and patterns that lie within the data they collect" p 200 (Jonassen, 2008).

 

I think that it is possible to learn from watching TV instruction alone, but I don't agree with just using TV to learn how to do something. By just watching TV alone to learn how to do something limits students ways of learning. Students should be able to use computers and hands on experiences to help them learn how to do stuff. It is a good idea for students to learn how to do something just by trying to figure it out. There are times when technology is not around to use so it is good for students to experiment and learn on their own as well.

Jonasse D., Howland J., Marra R. M., & Crismond D. (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Chapter 3 Assignment

The three principals that I think would be important for education are Committed Learning Principle, Discovery Principle, and the Practice Principle. The Committed Learning Principle gives learners alot of effort and practice. In this principle students get to experience the best of both worlds. Some commitment is still involved in order for the student to accomplish a task. The Practice Principle gives learners a chance to master a skill. For example, in P.E. students have to practice shooting free throws in basketball in order to perform it accurately. The skill or context should not be boring to the student and it should keep them engaged in learning the task. The Discovery Principle is the most important in my opinion. Students should be allowed to experiment and make discoveries in order to enhance their learning experience. Students should participate in varying hands on activities that relate to real life situations which will allow them to get a better understanding of what is being taught.

The activity that I would support for my simulation would have to be related to physcial education. If I was covering muscles of the human body, I would give a simulation where students become a professional body builder performing different types of weight lifting exercises while describing which muscles they are using in the process. My focus would be to teach the students what muscles are being used during each weight lifting activity. This will give students a better understanding of the muscles they use during physical activities.

To conclude, Gee's principles and simulations can play an important role in education. They both focus on keeping students engaged and experiencing hands on and real life situations. As a physical education teacher, I may not use simulations in my classroom but they are useful for other subject areas such as biology or anatomy. 


Jonasse D., Howland J., Marra R. M., & Crismond D. (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.