In my last blog, I talked about how education is in a revolutionary stage right now with a focus on becoming more customized to a diversity of learning. In this last blog, I would like to bring that topic together with my original question (how to create a meaningful science classroom on a low-budget).
As I was researching, I found a website that talks about science in the classroom and defends a low-tech education and talks about the benefits of such an education. This article is written by Dr. Daniel Barth, a science educator and former research scientist. (http://www.funderstanding.com/science-is-fun/science-in-the-classroomin-defense-of-low-tech-education) Dr. Barth talks about the benefits of both high- and low-tech learning. He states that both types of learning create a new culture of learning and learners in school and that students are able to experience new levels of achievement that they were previously unable to experience. I think this aligns with the focus on personalized and customized education, it's taking students to "places" they've never been before. Using low-tech materials allows students to build solutions to problems in ways that they personally understand. It is unlikely that two students would come up with the exact same solution to a scientific problem if they are working with low tech household materials that make sense to them. This type of learning allows each student to express their talents and what they have learned about the problem and also allows them to experience the learning of other students. Perhaps this is the way to reach everyone's needs in a classroom. By building models and solutions, students' understanding of principles and theories can only deepen. It high-tech learning beneficial? Yes, it is! In cases where money is not an option and technologies cannot be afforded it's nice to know the benefits of low-tech learning.
Crystal,
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting blog. I think a lot of teachers get stuck when they have a low budget and don't know how to teach with it. It would be easy to just read out of the book with a low budget or something like that. But a good teacher will do what you said and take homemade things create a hands on science activity... This is beneficial for the students because like you said, no student will create the same thing. This shows that there are a lot of right answers with science and there's not just one right answer!
I really enjoyed this blog because I am not much of a tech savy person. Technology is great when the money is available to purchase it. A teacher that is able to use both technology and low-tech learning really helps to round out all students.
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