HORIZON SCIENCE

ACADEMY DENISON
ELEMENTARY

Technology
V O L U M E

1 ,

I S S U E

S E P T E M B E R

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2 0 1 5

IPads In The Classroom

INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Clickers In the
Classroom

More Is Less

The Joy of Blog- 3

ging in the ClassTechnology in
the Elementary
Classroom

References

According to Ostashewski,
N. & Reid, D. (2011) interactions on an IPad are
more visually presented
then small smart phones.
IPads allow students to be
more engaged in
the lesson. IPads
have more features
that students are
able to use and they
are larger than
smart phones and
are the size of
books. For this research they looked
for two upper elementary
school classes that had
students that were withdrawn and disengaged in
the lessons. They project
was completed in two 6th
grade classes from different schools. The three
strategies that they implemented in the classroom
were mobile small group
demonstrations, large
group demonstrations, and
student-controlled playback-and-practice activi-

ties.
In the urban classroom the
teacher setup a blog and
students were able to research information using
the IPads. When the stu-

dents had questions they

were supposed to use the
blog to ask the question
rather than going to the
teacher. This helped eliminate a lot of the questions
for the teachers because
the students were able to
find their answers on their
own. The teacher also noticed that the APPs on the
IPad helped the non-verbal
special education student.
The student was able to

have the APP ask the questions she had aloud.

In the rural classroom the
teacher struggled at the
beginning with implementing the technology because the teacher
lacked the knowledge
needed to use the
IPads. However, once
the teacher became
more comfortable
with the technology
then everything
flowed more smoothly. Students started
completing book report
and using graphic organiz-

ers. The use of IPads

got the students more
engaged in the lesson.
Based on the researcher
from these two classrooms, Ostashewski, N.
& Reid, D. (2011) have
concluded that implementing IPads into the
classroom is work the
effort.

PAGE

Clickers In The Classroom

According to Cadwell,
J. (2015) many schools
have begun to use audience response systems also known as
clickers within the
classroom. Audience
response systems are
hand held devices that
allow the students to
answer questions that

the teacher is asking.

By using this system all
students are now required to answer the
question. This allows
the teacher to immediately determine the
students understanding of the topic that is
being discussed. Typically while the teacher

is preparing the lesson

for the class the teacher will imbed questions
into the lesson for the
students to answer.
However, teachers are
able to add question
immediately if necessary.

Less Is More
According to Bennet, K.
(2012) just because IPads
are expensive doesnt
mean that a school
should not get them.
Teachers can implement
the use of IPads in many
different ways within the
classroom even if they
dont have a classroom
set of IPads. Students
can work on IPads independently or in small
groups. This allows the
students to be actively
engaged in the activity
that they are working on.
One example from the
article was about a student that was normal off

task at the beginning of

the day. However, once
the teacher started
handing the IPad to the
student every morning
for him to work he became more focused at
the beginning of the day.
Below are activities that
can be done with IPads if
there isnt enough for
classroom teachers to
give one IPad per student.
Centers: Setup the same
activity for each center.
Make sure each center
has the same guideline.
Then the students use

whichever electronical
device their group has
such as laptop, IPad, IPod,
Desktop, etc.
Partners and Trios: Students work in groups of 23 with their IPads.
Teacher Only: The teacher has the IPad but passes
it around as needed.

VOLUME

1,

ISSUE

PAGE

The Joy of Blogging in the Classroom

According to Davis, A. &
McGrail, E. (2009) a group
of 5th grade students participated in a yearlong
blogging project. The sixteen students would meet
weekly to blog. This program was designed to help
improve the students writing and communication
skills. The teachers had to
prepare a meaning blog
lessons for the students to
participate in. This began

with the teacher creating the

first blog that required the

ter understanding of what

was expected then the
students were provided
with writing prompts. The
students became engaged
with the lesson by communicating with each other as well as other that
comment on their blogs.

students to research different items on the internet.

Once the students had a bet-

Technology In the Elementary Classroom

According to Kenney, L
(2011)eight elementary
school teachers were interviewed about the use
of technology that is being used within their elementary school classrooms. The most common use of technology
was the interactive whiteboards. The second most
common use of technology was interactive clickers
which allows students to
answer questions using
clickers. The third most
common use of technology within the classroom
was the internet. The
eight teachers interviewed agreed that without the use of technology

in the classroom the students would not be as

interested in the topic.
Technology is helping the
students become engaged in the lesson.
However, though the
teachers saw the benefits
of technology in the classroom that doesnt mean
that there arent any
glitches with technology.
The technology can
sometimes have errors or
the computer can freeze.
Technology in the classroom has become woven
into classroom lessons.
Since technology is a
large part in the students
everyday life it is important to include tech-

nology into their daily instruction

so that students remain engaged
in the lesson. The students
should not be having all of their
lesson out of a textbook. However, teachers are concerned
with obstacles such
has limited resources.
For example, 10 computers for a class of 20
students. Teachers
now days are able to
work around these
issues but as technology advances it will
be difficult for
schools with limited funding to
keep up.

Horizon Science Academy

Denison Elementary
2261 Columbus Rd
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: 216-661-8840
Fax: 216-661-8850

Mission
We foster an environment of inquiry and a love of learning so
students are prepared to thrive
in STEM-focused high school, college, and the world.
Vision
Our students will enter high
school ready to tackle any academic challenge and will excel in
the STEM subjects.

References
Bennet, K. (2012). Less then a classroom set. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39
(4), 22-25.
Cadwell, J. (2015). Clickers in the large classroom: current research and best practice
tips. SCB Life Science Education, 4 (1), 9-20.
Davis, A. & McGrail, E. (2009) . The joy of blogging. Educational Leadership, 66 (6), 7477.
Kenney, L (2011). Elementary education, theres an APP for that: communication technology in the elementary school classroom. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communication, 2 (1), 67-75
Ostashewski, N. & Reid, D. (2011). iPads in the Classroom New Technologies, Old Issues: Are they worth the effort?. In T. Bastiaens & M. Ebner (Eds.), Proceedings of
EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2011 (pp. 16891694). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).