CultusDo you think that integrating technology in classrooms is enough to boost the practical learning and ad critical thinking of students?
As a teacher, I always feel that there is still an apparent gap between what we teach in the classrooms, and what children encounter in their daily lives. We teach mathematics, which is imperative, but is it more important than the social interactions between students?
We teach presentation skill, but is it more important that helping that teaching how to help children with special needs?
The answers to these questions are not in black and white, but it is imperative to give more attention to these grey areas for educating our children in the real sense.
The SAMR model has been introduced in schools, to track students’ progress and learning through technology implementation. SAMR is an acronym for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.
Teachers are asked to take manual students’ feedback and then give their responses in order to figure out that which aspect of the SAMR model the school has progressed and which aspect needs more emphasis.
The problem with this model is that it bonds teachers in evaluating the progress of students and monitoring their learning in terms of their academic skills and scores alone. The R-part (Redefinition) does not simply imply the use of a new technology, but also implies the procedures and approach towards the use of a technology.
In a US high school, students were introduced to a boy with a missing right hand. The boy, who was born with this physical disorder, was currently carrying a prosthetic hand attached to his shoulders. Though useful, there were many limitations of that hand, including the excessive weight and intricate joints, which made it difficult for the kid to perform tasks that require quick arm and finger movements.
The high school children in their science and technology class were given the motive to make something more handy and simple to use for the kid with special needs.
This was the R-part of SAMR model, in which the technology was not redefined, but the learning procedure and approach was changed. There are enormous things that students can make in their science class, but educating them to innovate something useful not for them, but for others, is what the real meaning of education is.
What implies for teachers here is to devise, plan, and structure new approaches for the use of the available technology. A number of teachers have been observed using social media websites and blogging forums in order to foster the writing skills of students.
Mostly students write their reflections about their classes and their experience. Again, not discarding the benefits of these approaches, but asking students to research and talk about issues and taboos in their schools and cities, etc. can open new horizons of learning and social development for students.
A soccer ball can be used for playing, for hitting others, and for gifting someone who have always longed for a football, but could not afford it. With technology in hand, there are enormous possibilities for its usage, and it’s up to the teachers how to exploit it.
Author’s bio: Sara Jones is a graduate from the University of Sussex, with majors in Education and Student Psychology. She currently works with Done Assignment in designing and editing research papers related to classroom improvement strategies. Further she can also be searched by “do my assignment online for me”.