After Ms. Rose started using
IPT, she noticed that some students who were usually behavior problems
became engrossed in the use of the IPT program. In my fourth observation,
the students were working on the degree of angle measurement by using
the angle-measuring tool for the activity "Polygon Patterns".
The students were so wrapped up in their work of measuring real life
objects like the roof of a house that they did not hear the dismissal
bell when the class period was over. Ms. Rose found the IPT software
highly motivating.
"One of the things
I like about the program so far is that I can take the child who normally
has no interest, no motivation at all and they start using the program.
They become extremely motivated" (TI: CPS: Ms. Rose, p.8).
Eight students I interviewed
expressed their desire to use IPT more than once a week. They also wanted
to use IPT in other subject areas such as Social studies, Language Arts
and Math.
The students were aware of
the importance of visual learning and the use of technology in their
classroom and commented that reading from books and class notes was
boring. They observed that it is much easier to store written information
in computers. Andy said:
"…. Sometimes
I lose my notes, but the computer cannot lose that unless somebody
takes it out or somebody erases it on the computer" (SI-5: CPS:
Andy, p. 4).
Most of the students emphasized
that learning with IPT had been more fun and effective than learning
from books and class notes. Almost all the students reported that their
grades had improved as a result of using IPT. Ms. Rose also indicated
that low achievers had made significant improvements in their grades.
The students also mentioned that they did not easily forget the things
they had learned using IPT. On the other hand, one of the biggest advantages
of IPT is that it allows students to study in the class or the lab without
worrying about adverse outside environmental conditions. As stated earlier,
Ms. Rose noted that due to the weather conditions in the middle of winter
they could not go out to do a living sundial program, but they were
able to do it in the lab without going outside.
Effects on teacher-student
interactions
Since Ms Rose had been using some other software in her teaching she
could not say much about the interpersonal communications in her classroom.
She did not feel that the students' interactions had changed. She described
her students as technology friendly, they are used to working with technology
and they are used to working with a partner or working in a small group.
According to her, the students were comfortable
with using technology alone, with other things, such as a textbook or
whatever else might be necessary to reach for solutions. In her case,
IPT was another tool she could use to effectively convey information
and knowledge to her students.
Except for two students I
interviewed, all of them preferred working with a partner or in a group.
They believed that they could complete tasks faster and more effectively
within a group, especially when they had difficulty in understanding
any part of the instruction. The other two students described themselves
as the kind of person that preferred to work alone. They found that
when they worked in a group or in pairs they were more easily confused.
Nevertheless, the teacher was always available for
assistance. The students' attitudes were highly positive towards IPT
and they liked everything about it. The IPT software encouraged the
students when they were having difficulty with the steps to ask questions.
Major strengths and weaknesses
of IPT
Strengths
Ms. Rose had used images in her teaching before, but she had never used
a program that allowed her to manipulate the images. She had never been
able to have the students go in and take measurements of real life things,
rotate them, or manipulate the images. This was a completely new approach
in her teaching. Her enthusiasm was obvious when she gave an example
of one of the Physics activities. She said, "this has excellent
animation sound waves and it is perfect to use without any additional
preparation."
One of the biggest advantages
of IPT is that it is highly motivational, as mentioned above in Ms.
Rose's excerpts from the interview. It uses real life images, which
are in real life settings not imaginary or made up settings and also
helps students to understand abstract ideas visually. Ms.Rose showed
the Math activity "Polygon Patterns" to one of the Math teachers
before she took the students in there. The Math teacher's comment was:
"I like the way
they used real life images instead of color geometric shapes
which are what they would normally do" (TI: CPS: Ms. Rose, p.13).
Ms. Rose and Jenny mentioned
that the most effective parts of IPT was the measuring tool that allowed
students to measure any kind of real life objects, no matter what the
shapes were.
"… If we could
never have been able to measure, if we were looking for angles and
things like other geometric shapes like taking real life groups of
houses and patterns of kitchen tiles. That would be difficult for
us to do the measurement even if we had gotten to where we could have
seen them by taking a trip to down town or something…This program
allows us to do that and I think, that's wonderful" (TI: CPS:
Ms. Rose, p.14).
Through my observations,
I realized that science education is an activity-based process that
provides an exciting method of teaching and learning. However, experiments
and demonstrations may involve inherent risks for both the teacher and
the student. On the other hand, field trips require special vigilance
with respect to traffic and road safety, safe practices in study areas
when obtaining samples, and an awareness of changes in weather. IPT
is a safe way to learn in this aspect to create a
positive environment with the use of real life objects.
Class A's students liked
drawing their contour map using the IPT software. Ms. Rose explained
that the students could draw their contour map with paper and pencil.
But the biggest difference was; they were drawing it on the computer
with the IPT program that allowed it to be projected so they could actually
get the 3D images of the contour map they drew. Again, Ms Rose clearly
stated that this hands-on approach to the instruction of science developed
positive attitudes in science teaching that encouraged low achievers.
It was easy to illustrate things with building stacks, and then animate
the images. Ms. Rose noted:
"The State of Ohio
list 'how man's (outlook) changed over time'…we look at our solar
system how different astronomers looked at it. You know our solar
system changed and how going all the way back to Aristotle and Ptolemy
and bringing it up a little bit. One of the people they have trouble
with is [Replor] he has these epi circles. It is very difficult for
the students to visualize it abstractly, so I tried to use the program
to draw and animate an illustration of epi circles. …. But it
certainly seemed to help them understand much better about the pattern
and how it follows" (TI: CPS: Ms. Rose, p.4).
Ms. Rose emphasized that
IPT was compatible with the competency based education objectives of
the State of Ohio. It helped the students make inferences and draw conclusions
from the activities they studied. Furthermore, Ms. Rose and the students
described the IPT software as an interactive, and investigative approach
of learning science, especially this program encouraged the students
to pursue asking questions of why, when, how, and "what if?"
scenarios in biology, physics, and chemistry.
IPT has a good quality of
science content in which activities were designed for both individual
students, small groups or the whole class. Neither Ms. Rose nor the
students I interviewed detected any major errors in the materials. Ms.
Rose found the IPT program was approachable for the less experienced
computer users and the appropriateness for the activities depended on
the students' level.
Weaknesses
As I mentioned earlier, the
most uncomfortable aspects for the teacher and the students was the
user interface of the IPT, which was not friendly at all. The directions
were not student-oriented and so many steps in the activities made the
process very confusing. Ms. Rose described the activities in IPT as
a great tool to teach, but sometimes they were too complicated for her
seventh graders.
"…. Some of
the activities are way too complicated for my middle school
kids, but it is like the 'Roller Coaster' activity, I tried very seriously
to
figure out how to break it down, ended up doing it in the whole group.
That was a perfectly fine way to teach to the whole group, but not
put
them into individual computers, it is just too complicated, the steps
were
too much for them" (TI: CPS: Ms. Rose, p.11).
Moreover, she emphasized
that IPT had neither rubrics/guidelines for assessment for the teacher
or self-guides or checklists for the students. She also found Physics
and Chemistry areas were weak in respect to images, therefore, they
needed an additional bank of images and clip arts.
