Bob Berkowitz with
Ferdi Serim — Page 16
May/June 2002 • Volume 9, Number 3
This article discusses the use of technology to build students’ prior knowledge for class work and assignments. A fourth grade teacher wanted her students to read the book titled, Teammates. However she knew that her students would not have the prior knowledge of events that would support their productive learning of the story. So she decided to use technology to let the students do research about the characters of the story. She used programs such as Power Point, Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Word. She set up pages in which the students could just click and link up to a specific website. She also used a digital camera to create baseball cards of the students. The authors reported that the most important aspect of this fourth grade teacher’s lesson was use of Power Point. Students were able to learn about historical events that took place during the characters lives through this program. As a result, the students were able to productively read Teammates and learn important aspects.
It is very ironic the timing of this article. Today, I just experienced this situation. My school is an expedition school which means hands on real life learning integrated through all contents and subject areas. All specialists were in charge of creating an expedition for grades 4-6. They chose to do Africa Heritage. Among, the academic areas, Physical Education, Art, and Music aspect, technology was a major piece. The technology teacher worked with students to create a presentation of Africa through Power Point. As my students walked through the gymnasium, the Power Point presentation caught their attention, even with all the dancing, reading and musical instruments present. I was even amazed and impressed myself. As a teacher, I couldn’t have done a more professional job as the intermediate students did. The students presented all the material because they knew it well. The guiding teachers were present but were able to be a shadow along the walls. It was evident the students gained a great deal of knowledge. Books are always a great resource but today I was shown that technology is a dynamite “jump out and can’t take your eyes off” resource.