Technology Integration
inTASC 8: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
Introduction
The overarching goal of technology integration in my classroom is to give students new ways of accessing content. More tools in their toolboxes means that they have more ways to approach challenges inside and outside my classroom. Integrating tools like the G Suite allows me to expect more from my students academically while also teaching them real-world and employable skills. These tools, Google Sheets especially, play a central role in my challenge-based learning curriculum.
Table of Contents
G Suite Tutorials
Guided Exploration
One of the hidden curriculums in my classroom is the introduction of G Suite tools. There are many applications of these tools beyond my classroom, and I want to help my students develop generalizable and employable skills. This includes scaffolding with basic assignments and allowing students time to explore the tools for themselves.
I provide students with very rudimentary tutorials on each tool as we use them in the classroom, but some of the best learning comes from students exploring the tools themselves. Students need to be invested in a complex goal that requires the use of technology.
Above is the supplemental resource I provided students to help them learn how to use Google Sheets to make their work easier. They could complete the accompanying assignment without it, but these tips made the process much easier. Learning in these "Application" assignments is driven by the students. They are learning new skills as they need them, rather than from instruction. It is important that students are supported throughout these types of assignments to ensure they are still meeting the content goals.
Google sheets for data analysis
Data Analysis
Math plays a large role in students’ abilities to both create and understand data. I use Google Sheets to add a layer of complexity to problems that can be represented in tables. This is a more tangible and real-world use of data than the t-chart tables used in a typical math classroom. The learning curve is steeper, but looking at data this way extends to many more applications outside of Algebra II content. For examples of this, see “Career Research and Exploration.”
On this portion of the project, students used Sheets formulas to simplify a rather menial task. Rather than manually calculate the total net worth after each year of employment, students could see that they were repeating the exact same process iteratively. Using functions built into the spreadsheet makes this problem rather simple. Students could use this table to answer the questions in the accompanying Google Doc without realizing they wrote a slope-intercept formula. In the top left of the image above, the formula this student used can be seen. They have essentially written a slope-intercept equation within Google Sheets. This builds upon their math content knowledge while also pushing them to build additional skills that help them apply that knowledge.
Conclusion
Technology allows students to build tangible skills that benefit them both inside and outside the classroom. The tools I use in my classroom allow my students to engage with content in new and meaningful ways. Students can develop deeper understandings of math through application in various tools.