Empowering Technology for Teacher Education

Abstract

STAND still and look until you really see. These simple, but provocative, words were the theme of a 30-year-old environmental education program called the Environmental Studies Project. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project was headed by an innovative educator, Bob Samples - I suspect the words were his as well. Over the last three decades or so, these simple words have become the central undergirding principle of my philosophy of teaching. Here is an example from the elementary science methods course I teach. On the first day of each new science methods class, we go outside for a nature walk. One of the first things we encounter is a pine tree. I ask the class what kind of a tree it is and never get answers much more specific than evergreen or pine tree. I then ask the class to observe the tree more carefully. After a short time, the students usually note that the tree is tall and has rough bark. Occasionally, someone will say it looks sparse. I have to prompt them to observe and describe the length of the needles and the way they look at the end of each branch. After a little discussion, we conclude that the needles are a foot long or longer. I then help them describe the arrangement of needles at the end of a branch, which is like a barber's brush. Then I direct their attention to the size of the terminal branches, which are stubby and never thinner than a cigar. Eventually, someone will notice one of the pinecones either on the tree or on the ground. And the cones are very large: 10 to 15 inches long and of the classic pinecone shape, not long and slender. After about or 10 minutes of such observations, I tell the students that they are looking at a longleaf pine, a tree that once covered the Deep South but that is now becoming endangered. Obviously, this lesson is more about observation than it is about pine trees - although the Lorax might disagree. But the theme of Stand still . continues throughout the methods course and quickly affects how the students view their world. They soon begin to do similar activities with their own children and with their students. By now, you are probably wondering, what does this theme have to do with technology? Well, it's this: technology empowers you to stand still and really look at teaching. Furthermore, I am not sure you can study teaching effectively without using technology. The best lesson I've ever taught was heavily dependent on technology. The lesson was an inquiry lesson in a graduate class called Improvement of Instruction. I should explain that this class differs from the one we call Models of Teaching. The models class deals with instruction at the macro level, studying such things as step-by-step methods of guided discovery. The improvement class studies instruction at the micro level, dealing with such topics as proximics (purposeful movement toward a student or around the classroom) and subtle classroom routines and rituals. The lesson was delivered in a university classroom that had a computer-equipped podium, a fast Internet connection, and a large video projector. To start the lesson, I wrote the following question on the white board: What are some effective and efficient techniques master teachers use to make starting an activity go smoothly? Next, class members offered their hypotheses - closely related, I suspect, to how they started activities in their own classrooms. Here are their hypotheses: 1. Use a signal, for example, clap hands or turn off the lights. 2. Say Give me five (teacher holds up fingers, each of which has a meaning in the classroom). 3. Introduce the lesson and put it in perspective. 4. Have stuff ready. 5. Use a routine. 6. Wait for quiet. The third step in a general-inquiry model is to gather data. For this step, we used the classroom computer and projector to access streaming digital video clips from the Study of Teaching section of my website (www. …