Re: pedagogical versus technological

[danmacisaac <Dan.MacIsaac@NAU.EDU>]

On Sunday, December 14, 2003, at 05:36  PM, Bob LaMontagne wrote:
> The thing that is is most satisfying is how the students spontaneously
> start discussions amongst lab partner groups as to how to best format
> the data and graph. Someone who is familiar with trendlines will place
> one on the data - this snowballs into everyone doing trendlines. The
> same thing happens in our labs involving error analysis and error bars.
>
> I mention this ins response to the claim that computers are best when
> used as discovery tools. That is exactly what we find. Canned learning
> programs and CD's provided with textbooks fall flat pedagogically. But
> just leaving the computers available as a tool for analysis does more
> than we could ever deliberately set up in our lab write-ups.
>
> Bob at PC
>
> John Clement wrote:
> >
>
> > So I would say the issue is there, but it really boils down to approp=
> > riate
> > uses of technology.  You can get superb results with research based

Amen.  Much of the discussion regarding technology use in learning
(and educational research in general) on this list is so ill-formed as
to be incomprehensible.  There is no general "computers is better"
finding, as we would not expect an "overheads is better" or "yellow
chalk is better" -- these are meaningless statements.  A well-formed
curriculum like modeling that makes appropriate use of technology
in a meaningful way with lots of student dialogue can be seen to
make a measurable impact on student conceptual learning as
measured by interviews or by a pre- and post-test design
with a refined, valid instrument (not student or teacher opinion).

There are other uses of computers that promote skills acquisition --
drill and kill promotes basic calculational prowress, for instance.

Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics, SUNY Buffalo State College
222 SCIE BSC 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY 14222 716-878-3802
macisadl@buffalostate.edu http://PhysicsEd.BuffaloState.edu