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Technology Workshop
The “Teaching With Technology” workshop was held on January 16, 2008 and was designed to provide hands-on technological training to middle and high school teachers interested in improving their technology skills and incorporating these skills into their classroom. The five NSF GK-12 Fellows conducted the University of Cincinnati Project STEP Technology Workshop. The workshop offerings were based on feedback concerning current classroom needs. Our vision was for the educators involved in this series not only to learn about and practice with a variety of software and hardware, but also be able to create technology-based lessons for use in their own classrooms in the coming school year. STEP Fellows, who are currently in classrooms throughout the city, presented these technology lessons and helped teachers to develop lessons that related directly to the standards based on these technologies.
This workshop series consisted of several seminar periods where teachers were able to experiment with these tools and reflect on how they could incorporate them into their classroom. In each seminar (on the back), teachers were guided through applications of a particular type of technology and encouraged to examine ways in which the students could utilize each program for improved math/science learning.
Aimee Frame—Graphing Calculators
I led the session on calculators at the technology workshop in January. The session involved several
problems that covered a broad scope of what could be done on a TI-84 graphing calculator. These topics
included such things as finding the intersection of two graphs, using matrices to solve systems of
equations, fitting a line to a set of data, and the use of tables. The feedback from the session has
been positive, and I believe that everyone in attendance learned some new ways to use the calculators
in their classroom. Furthermore, the interaction between the teachers created a good discussion about
what they have done in their own classes.
Colleen McGannon—Podcasting
Podcasting is an emerging technology that many students frequently use for recreational purposes.
Educators at all levels are exploring different avenues for the application of this technology in their
classrooms. The goal of the workshop was to provide attendees with information on sound file creation
and posting. The most valuable insights came from those attendees who were actively using this
technology as they discussed the ways in which students are incorporating podcasting into group
projects.
Michael Starr—Microsoft Excel
The Internet was used to collect information from a data table and pasted into excel. Luckily my
groups were small enough that I didn’t have to lecture about how to use Microsoft Excel in a general
sense thus leaving the attendees with not much to take away from the workshop Several statistical
and other mid-level operations were performed to manipulate and graphically represent the data.
I presented it in a fashion that would benefit the teachers in a way they could use for both their
personal and professional needs. I think the method was well accepted by my ‘students’. I enjoyed the
workshop.
Carol Clinton—Wonderful Webquests!
Webquests are a powerful tool for using the internet in a structured inquiry-oriented activity.
They get students involved with technology, teaching them a structured process for efficiently finding,
assessing and using internet information (which is increasing the source of our most current
information). Through webquests, students can link with subject matter experts and with other students
around the world.
The concept was invented by Dr. Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University in 1995 and has been quickly
and widely adopted. Webquest libraries now exist covering a panoply of topics. A searchable refereed
matrix of webquests is available at http:/bestwebquests.com or you can easily build your own webquest
from templates.
There are two main levels of webquests: short term (generally 1-3 days) which focus on knowledge
acquisition and integration; and longer term (one week to one month) where students can extend and
refine their knowledge.
Major steps in a webquest include:
Introduction - orients students and captures their interest.
Task - describes the activity's end product.
Process - explains strategies students should use to complete task.
Resources - the Web sites students will use to complete the task.
Evaluation - measures the results of the activity.
Conclusion - sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process
and results.
In the workshop we did a Webquest about Webquests.
You can find it at http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestwebquest-hs-mathsci.html.
Another great resource is www.webquest.org. It contains information about webquests, a database of
existing webquests, templates for creating new webquests, rubrics for evaluating a webquest and for
evaluating student performance, and online training in conducting webquests.
Safa Herfat—Movie Maker
The technology workshop was a great way for both teachers and the STEP fellow to add a new tool to their
arsenal. I had the opportunity to instruct the workshop on Windows Movie Maker. The teachers that
attended seemed to enjoy the workshop. A few teachers commented on how easy the software was to use.
Therefore, I found that my preparation paid off. It also gave me another source of technology to use
in one of my future STEP lessons. I am sure that Introduction to Engineering Design students at
Western Hills Design High School will enjoy learning how to make and edit movies.
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