Reflection for TPACK Chapter 9- The Specific Challenges of TPCK in Science
I found that most of this chapter pertained more to upper elementary, middle, and high school science. I didn’t find any examples of any units we do in our primary classrooms- living things, seasons, life cycles, staying healthy- that was geared towards young children.
What I identified with was the necessity to understand students understandings and misconceptions, and the necessity to understand the curriculum in order to begin finding a way to integrate technology into the classroom. Without those two necessities it is difficult to meaningfully and seamlessly integrate technology in with any content area.
I have not used technology to support the science curriculum since I have been teaching first grade. I have used it more with other areas, such as language arts or social studies. I think I will need to do some further reading before using it to teach science. However, I liked the sentence on page 198 “Using something new means risking failure.” I think this is important to remember and remind myself that it is okay to fail. Even more than once!
As I was reading this chapter I was trying to brainstorm ways I can use technology more when teaching science. I thought about life cycles. It has been difficult to watch all of the insects we study go through the life cycle due to our seasons. So I hope to find a place online that may show it on video. We also do a weather unit. I may search for age appropriate weather sites and weather forecasting sites we can explore.
This chapter did not give me a whole lot of examples to use. But it did get my wheels turning. I will look further for some things to assist my lessons on some of these topics.
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I have never used the Journey North site with my first graders, so I am anxious to do that next year. I love how it also incorporates Social Studies as I pull my hair out teaching geography. I also liked Jake's BBC site. I will try using that site to label some things, as we teach that with our nonfiction conventions. We also teach plants and their life cycle, which I saw on that site. The drag and drop labeling would be doable for my kids too!
ReplyDeleteThe Journey North Website is a great way to integrate technology into the Science content area. It incorporates Social Studies, Language Art,and Math. This is a great resource when the living organisms do not survive. This website becomes interactive when connected to the Smartboard.
ReplyDeleteLisa, I am glad that you may be able to use the BBC Science site. I have enjoyed using it with my kids. Great video today. I really like the eating healthy theme your project has. What a great habit to encourage early.
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