Digital Badge #4--Chapter 7

Digital Badge #4--Chapter 7

On page 163, the authors reviewed lower-order thinking vs. higher-order thinking skills.  The list that I memorized when completing my BA in the mid-1970's included "knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation" (Maloy, et al.), from lower to higher skills.  The list has been revised to "remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating" (Maloy, et al.), again from lower to higher.

Many educators think that by incorporating technology into their classroom, they automatically move from lower to higher order thinking skills.  However, we must be careful to examine carefully what the students are required to do with the technology we choose.  Is the activity simply a worksheet of practice problems on a computer screen (remembering, or at most understanding), or are the students required to apply, analyze, evaluate, or create through the exercise?

Even more importantly, if we decide to use any sort of computer or video games in our classroom, we must be absolutely sure that the content is educational, and not simply entertainment (p. 170).  When I think of the desensitization to real-life violence attributed to violent video games, I think of my mother's reaction to our first color TV.  She became nauseous any time she saw blood on the color TV, after watching the same shows in black-and-white with no problem.  It didn't take long for her to become desensitized to the sight of blood on the color TV, and she now watches all sorts of programs with no queasiness at all.

Moving the focus back to academics, I was intrigued with the section on intelligent tutoring systems (p. 176), since this sounds a lot like the programs we use at Sylvan Learning.  Lessons are presented on iPads, and the content is adjusted based on the individual student's responses to the questions.  Even though teachers work with a maximum of three students each session, in reality the student gets one-on-one instruction through the personalized lesson of his/her iPad, with assistance from the teacher when needed.

I cannot leave Chapter 7 without commenting on a wonderful math learning game:  Math Blaster http://www.mathblaster.com/, which was mentioned on p. 177.  I have used Math Blaster with great success throughout the years, and even used it with my stepson to polish his math skills in high school.  He loved it so much, he even used it when his dad and I weren't around!

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.