Blog #1: How Technology Changes the Method

"Anyone know what this is?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Anyone seen this before?  Anyone?  The Laffer Curve.  Anyone know what this says?"--Ben Stein, in the role of the Economics Teacher, in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

And so it was back in 2000.  Well, perhaps there were a few new developments in technology.  Of that I'm not certain, as I was nowhere near an educational institution then.  However, I am familiar with what was at hand in the 1960s through 1970:  Not much.  Sixteen millimeter film with audio track (don't even imagine there was high fidelity--we were fortunate if there was any fidelity at all), and mimeograph machines, most notably those made by A.B. Dick.  The overhead projector was still a fantasy.

Visual Learning

From wikipedia.org

Many was the time that neither textbook nor lecture could explain a concept.  However, an animated GIF of, say, a four-stroke cycle internal combustion engine would have perhaps gone much further in explaining its operation more efficiently.  Lynell Burmark deals with visual literacy in a THE Journal interview in December 2012.  Indeed, her remark concerning the wonderful fact that "color is free" struck a chord.  The only visual learning, if one can call it that, we experienced in classroom settings, was the biology dissections and physics labs.  Perhaps one can extrapolate out that same concept in industrial arts classes.  But other than threadbare maps in the history classrooms, visual learning was almost nonexistent.  Consider the picture above.  Good enough on its own, but an animated image would be an even greater improvement.  Fortunately, those are available.

Flipped Learning

We up north have to deal with snow days, and the flipped classroom could be one solution for those pesky schedule setbacks.  At least that is one idea for using the flipped classroom.  At the same time, John Bergmann and Michael Gorman, in their podcast, describe a flipped classroom which, especially in the study of, for example Hammurabi's Code, would prove invaluable.

Elsewhere I have reflected on my student teaching time and how my cooperating teacher and I assigned to each table of four sophomores portions of various codes, with each table assigned to advocate for its particular code.  We also determined to provide some extra learning, by making it a mock session of the US House of Representatives during their floor speeches.  The preparation time, as well as learning how the House floor debate process "flows," all could have been done in advance, which would have given us more time in the classroom to dedicate in learning why Hammurabi's was so important, and why the American system of justice is superior to all previous systems.  That preparation time, put to good use, would have aided the class in the problem-solving process, whether we should replace the US justice system with something older.  Simple learning of Hammurabi's Code would certainly have occurred.  However, much more would have also occurred.

Some Cautions

There are some caveats, however, with every change.  We have to remember that just visuals is not always sufficient.  Sometimes we need some explanatory notes.  At least for this grumpy old geezer, newer consumer equipment is more frustrating if only icons are placed on switches and controls.  This also goes for programs, such as web page software and other such technology, often because symbology has not become universal.

Switched classrooms are an excellent tool, provided all the students have access and also have the infrastructure that will enable them all to participate.

Resources

1. THE Journal interview of Lynell Burmark:  http://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/12/19/Picture-Perfect-Teaching-to-Visual-Literacy.aspx?Page=1
2. Wikipedia article on airplane wing lift:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_%28force%29
3. John Bergmann and Michael Gorman podcast concerning flipped classrooms:  http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WFLP.Gorman.cfm