Simulation in Education

According to Wikipedia (2009), an instructional simulation is a simulation of some type of reality (system or environment) but which also includes instructional elements that help a learner explore, navigate or obtain more information about that system or environment that cannot generally be acquired from mere experimentation. Instructional simulations focus learners on specific facts, concepts, or applications. Simulations in and of themselves are not educational. They must incorporate instructional elements that help expose the learner to key parts or concepts of the system or environment.

Simulations provide opportunities for learning in a flexible environment that can be accessible from any place and any time. The goal of a simulation is to give an experience as close as possible to reality that would otherwise not be accessible due to various factors. Simulations are based on some reality and are intended to provide the user with a pseudo-experience without the danger, expense, or complexity of real life issues.

With increase accessibility to computers, access to the internet, and availability of resources, the use of simulations is expanding rapidly in all types of settings. Simulations are being used in education to provide learning experiences to help expose the learner to key parts or concepts of the system or environment. Simulations are currently being used in educational settings to provide access to distance learning. These learning environments have the potential to provide many opportunities for communication and collaboration.

Games In Education

Learning through video games had been largely ignored by the education community. It has not yet been widely accepted as a powerful tool for academic learning. Current research is very limited and remains largely unexplored. The little research that exists states that learning through video games has multiple advantages because it is user-centered. In other words, they can promote challenges, co-operation, engagement, and the development of problem-solving strategies. For this reason, it is important for the educational community to begin considering the learning possibilities offered by video game based learning.

Video games center on visual learning through iconic and spatial representations. Research indicates that children develop particular spatial skills since video games focus primarily on reading images, such as pictures and diagrams. Pictures are far more important than words in this type of learning environment. Children develop visual attention skills as they are continuously keeping track of a lot of different things at the same time. However, there is not sufficient research that links video game playing to higher developed attentional skills.

A number of studies have been completed to explore the role of games in supporting educational goals. Forty-six educational videogames were designed, covering almost the entire educational program in language and mathematics. Findings indicated that teachers responded positively to the use of video games in learning. They considered the videogame to be an easy-to-use educational instrument with potential as backup to other teaching material. Even though the response was positive, teachers stressed the difficulty of using videos games in their teacher due to pressure of time and the need to cover the educational curriculum outline. Most teachers, however, acknowledge that games contribute to the development of a wide variety of strategies that are extremely important for learning: problem-solving, sequence learning, deductive reasoning, memorizing. The following conclusions were an outcome of this study:

1. Videogames aid the development of strategies for reading three-dimensional images.
2. They help to develop learning through observation and hypothesis testing.
3. They broaden the understanding of scientific simulations.
4. They increase strategies for parallel attention.

The inclusion of video games in education has not been widely explored. Research begins to point to the benefits but a large body of research is still needed to fully understand the impact videos games can have in student learning.

Online Video Resources for Educators

This site provides a collection of learning videos for teachers seeking professional development or research information on the following topics: arts, foreign language, literature and language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies and history. There are plenty of videos that provide information about child development and topics that relate to learning. This is a great site for teachers to use because it’s easy to navigate (organized and clean look), it provides videos on K-12 topics that are directly related to education, the videos are high-quality and professionally made, and best of all they are free! This is a must see website for all educators. As a new national board candidate, I know that this will be a useful resource for science and mathematics concepts, which I recognize as an area that I need to learn more about. The best part of all is that this will be a fun way to learn. I am very much a visual/auditory learner and this will definitely benefit me in my professional development. The previously mentioned features are all pros. I am not area of any cons. The only con that I noticed, that specifically affects me, is that there are less videos for K-5 teachers.

21st Century Students

In the morning, students are so excited about school that they can hardly wait to get there. Upon entering the classroom kindergarten students become highly engage in active learning. The teacher has planned learning that centers on their interests, experiences, talents, and real world problems. On the active board, the teacher begins the day by connects students to another group of students in a different country. As they communicate with each other in real time, they collaborate, exchange ideas, and learn together about trash and recycling while developing 21st century literacy skills. Students learn how an abundance of trash affects people’s health and uses up natural resources (trees) which are homes to many animals. Students then use the information learned to work collaboratively on a project to help other’s become aware of this issue around their communities. Project-based learning opportunities spark their curiosity and creativity, increase their global awareness, and promote higher order thinking skills. Students also work on creating ways to increase recycling at their school. During literacy, the teacher leads students to create a letter (writing and/or pictures) that promotes recycling. Copies of their letters and/or pictures are made with recycled paper and are distributed around their schools and communities to increase awareness. A group of involved parents help students get a recycling bin for their classroom and label it with what can be recycled. Students are excited and engaged in their learning because they have worked on something that interests them and they have made a difference. There next step is to continue this project within their school community.

Throughout the day, students would also have multiple opportunities to use the classroom computers to connect to online story books, practice letter recognition, learn a new language, and receive individual literacy instruction through a website that monitors their learning. Reading, writing, math, art, social studies, music, etc. are always structured around topics of student interest.

Cell Phones in the Classroom

Teaching at the kindergarten level has not required specific knowledge of cell phone use in the classroom. In fact, I have not yet encountered a situation in which I’ve had to address the use of cell phones. In order to familiarize myself with my district’s cell phone/technology policy, I searched online for anything that mentioned the use of student technology in the classroom. I found nothing. The only information that I know is that teachers have individual classroom policies. This presents a need for clear, district-wide policies, guidelines, and rules that enable students to use technology in productive and efficient ways.

I am not against the use of cell phones in school but I do see a large need to educate students on the appropriate use. Currently, cell phones have not been widely accepted in education as a result of misuse. This includes students texting during class, passing answers during tests, bullying, or taking and distributing inappropriate photos. As a result, many schools have simply banned them entirely.

Cell phones are part of today’s society. They are not going away! So instead of fighting them, we should be looking at how we could take advantage of students having cell phones for educational purposes. We need to begin by educating our students in the ethical uses of these tools for life-long learning. I think they can be of great education value since they are common and can provide opportunities for accessing the Internet (Googlemaps, Wikipedia), documenting (field trips, experiments, etc. through audio and/or video), blogging, for digital photography, and as a resource for dictionaries and calculators. However, there is a lot that needs to be accomplished before we can start seen the true benefits that current technology has to offer.

Visual Learning

Visual learning can be defined as the acquisition of knowledge or information through the use of imaged-based technologies such as the television or computer. Visual learning has continued to evolve in the last few decades with the increase of mass media and the availability of emerging technologies. Its accessibility has increased drastically as new developments in technology allow imaged-based technologies such as the computer and TV to become easily accessible by people around the world. Slowly, people have gravitated away from text-based communication to visual-based information. It is not surprising since research shows that the human brain can process visual information 60,000 times faster than text. Many educators argue that this has caused an intellectual decline to our culture due to the fact that less time is spent reading which, in return, reduces vocabulary. Educators agree that students in schools need to be taught about media literacy. Media literacy can prepare students to develop analytical and critical thinking skills to positively interact with all types of media.

Students nowadays spend numerous hours connected to the electronic world. As a result, teachers who integrate visual learning into their teaching are realizing that students are finding more relevance to what they are learning and their excitement is increasing. Visual learning is occurring in every classroom as technology in schools continues to increase and is becoming accessible to all. Teachers are incorporating visual learning through the use of visuals to strengthen communication and develop skills. Many believe educators have the primary responsibility to teach students to become media-literate members of society since young students are currently the most vulnerable to mass media’s marketing strategies. Young students are the future and for that reason schools need to invest time in preparing them to be able to critically analyze and evaluate image-rich media.

Action Research Article Summary

Summary of the article Action Research: Authentic Learning Transforms Student and Teacher Success

The article illustrates how teacher involvement in action research projects in their classrooms can improve their teaching practice and lead to positive impact on student learning. Background research supports the use of action research in the classroom as a way for teachers to become involved in authentic learning experiences. Action research is a form of learning that not only gives teachers an opportunity to reflect on and transform their own teaching but also focus on improving student achievement.

The teachers in this study focused their action research projects on exploring various methods of literacy instruction and finding out which methods worked best with their group of students. All teachers attended training and received ongoing support throughout their experiences. Vignettes were collected from all participating teachers as they implemented an action research project in their classrooms over the course of a year. The teacher descriptions consistently highlighted their new insight about literacy learning which in return resulted in greater student learning. Their action research projects also emphasized how their understanding of teaching evolved over time. Their learning and understanding gained over the course of the year allowed them to be more intentional in their teaching.

Action research can lead to change in the classroom by giving teachers an opportunity to focus on asking a question and exploring it within the context of their own classrooms or school. When the teacher is exploring something of interest, she/he becomes engaged in the learning process. Within the context of their own classrooms, teachers guide their own learning as they examine their teaching and student learning. Not only do teachers become involved as reflective practitioners but this experience allows them to begin to see the impact of their decisions on student learning. In the end, both teachers and students gain valuable learning as a result of successful action research in the classroom.

The quote "In education we often mistake motion for movement" can be interpreted from different perspectives. My understanding of it in terms of action research is that motion represents an attempt to remediate a problem without any sign of progress. In other words, action does not guarantee success.

Developing Ethical Direction

Ethical Direction Summary and Response

The article Developing Ethical Direction brings to light a very important question: Is it the teacher’s responsibility to teach students digital citizenship? In exploring this article, the authors discuss the idea that everyone has an internal compass which instinctively helps a person determine right from wrong. However, many children nowadays don’t know how to find and use their “internal compass” when using digital technology. The authors argues that “learning digital citizenship is rooted in discussion and dialogue and not in acceptable use policies (AUPs) that are simply lists of dos and don’ts.” If teachers are going to teach their students learn about digital citizenship, they can use the digital citizenship compass to stimulate student dialogue and reflection. The authors state that teaching digital citizenship needs to become a priority for educators. Technology misuse and abuse among students has become a societal problem that continues to grow. It is now a problem that needs to be addressed particularly among young students as they are tomorrow’s future.

My response to this article is that yes, I believe educators play an important role in helping students understand the appropriate use of technology but I’m not all quite sure if it is a responsibility that every educator should carry. I don’t think educators should be the remedy in fixing all of society’s problems. There must be other ways that people are held accountable for their actions. Ideally, parents should be the ones responsible for teaching their children how to use technology appropriately as they are the ones paying for it. However, in current times children spend far more time out of their homes than they do with their families. As educators we can set a good example for our students when we use technology as it is a large part of our instruction. If we are expecting our students to use technology in our classrooms we need to do our part in helping raise a generation of students that understands and practices the appropriate use of technology.

Bailey, G. & Ribble, M. "Developing ethical direction.” Learning & Leading with Technology 32.7 (2005): 36-38.

Web Publishing Project

My primary focus for this project was to create a user-friendly classroom website to maintain ongoing communication with parents. The parent population that I work with prefers communicating by email and therefore I thought a website would be a great way for them to stay informed about what’s happening in the classroom. The Bellevue School District uses SharePoint as the web application for teacher websites, so I logged in and began exploring. I quickly realized that SharePoint has some great features but also some limitations. It was easy to use to upload documents, post announcements, and create a calendar of events. However, it took me a while to figure out how to add another list of links. When it came to organizing the web parts on the main page, it was not simple and straight forward. I had to play around with it for a while before I created a design I was happy with. One nice feature about using SharePoint to create my webpage is that parents don’t have to see any ads and they are required to log in.

Only parents and student in the Bellevue School District can view my webpage.
Using SharePoint to create a website was simple and easy to use. In the future I see myself creating a website through a different source that offers more flexibility in terms of what I can add and modify. SharePoint was somewhat limiting in that I’ve only been able to add pictures and videos as attachments under folders. Ideally, I would like to be able to add picture slides and short videos to the main page.

The link to my webpage is below. However, you will probably not be able to see it since you would be required to log in. I included a small picture down below for you to see.
https://myportal.bsd405.org/personal/villanueva,%20delia/mysite/default.aspx

Best of Web 2.0 in Education

The link I selected is Tikatok™. Tikatok allows students, at any grade level, to transform their imaginations into stories and then publish those stories into books. First, the stories are written and then students create their illustrations. The illustrations are scanned and uploaded. At this point, the final project is ready for printing! While there is not cost to joint the site, there is a $20 fee to purchase the work in hardcover or paperback format. This website is designed to be used as part of a writing project in which students can create stories. The overarching goal of this website is to motivate and scaffold storytelling in children.

Tikatok…

1. Provides database of hundreds of interactive story prompts that help a child get started in the writing process and get help when they need it.


2. Connects kids to a community of passionate storytellers like themselves, but in a safe and parent-moderated environment.


3. Helps motive students to write.


4. Can turn a child’s stories into real printed books that can be shared with families. Students build a sense of pride and confidence in their own writing abilities and in return the want to continue writing and creating.