Technology Use in Classrooms

The Best Multimedia and Technology Use in Classrooms

A lot of students still find difficulty in learning math and science. The decline in the numbers of college graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines in the US, for instance, is partly attributed to the weak performance of the US children in international assessment of science and math. While personal aptitude can be part of the problem, it is also due to insufficient or poor teaching-learning environment. One solution to this is the use of interactive and effective multimedia software.

As education evolves, a number of researches have been carried out, linking the human cognitive process with the use of multimedia in order to improve performance in these subjects. It is considered very important that individual learning traits be taken into consideration if every student is to be helped acquire knowledge. Unfortunately, due to big classrooms, high number of students, limited teacher time, this is usually difficult. To solve this problem, it has been argued that interactive multimedia can facilitate individualized instructions to students, and can help those who find it hard to learn by conventional means. This has effectively been used to teach other subjects, including mathematics.

The performance of learning is influenced by the interaction between one’s cognitive style and the instructional materials used, including the content type and mode of presentation. Adopting methods which suit the students’ specific learning styles helps the students acquire a positive attitude toward the taught subject, thereby improving performance.

The success of a teacher is measured by his/her ability to ‘engage’ the students in the learning process in a way that excites and encourages them to be curious for learning.

When students take active part in constructing new ideas from their experiences, interpretations and interactions with teachers and peers they easily acquire expert understanding of concepts of mathematics and science.

Although it is hard to pinpoint a particular multimedia and technology as the best for teaching Mathematics and Science, as these tools do complement each other, the key characteristic(s) of the tools used must be their ability to facilitate interactive learning.

This involves project based learning (providing in-depth insight into mathematics and science and facilitates critical thinking); solving real-world problems (facilitates investigative processing of information for finding solutions to problems through discrepant events/experiments and case studies in math).

In Mathematics, some of this interactive multimedia includes application packages such as search engines (internet), word processing packages, presentation software, spreadsheets, drill-and-practice software. Other programs such as simulation programs, Java applets, et cetera.

In science, theses include the use of technology tools such as models of scientific processes such as protein folding, simulations and virtual labs, video conferencing, e mail and other collaborative tools. Some of these integrative multimedia and technology include;

a) Podcasting.

Today, students daily use Podcast tools: smart phones, ipods, etc. Integrating these tools in teaching math and science will facilitate using digital devices for mobile and/or student learning.

b) Online tools.