Jen Proce - PME 811

Upon reflection, I have used this blog more as a way of exploring things I'm wondering about than a reflection of the week's events or learnings. I have found it therapeutic to have this outlet, and it has felt like an escape in a way. I enjoyed taking the time to discover new research and knowledge, and to be in charge of the guiding question I wanted to answer each week. Rarely do I make time for self-regulated inquiry in my own life and practice, so this blog was something new for me.  My original guiding question (found in Post #1) was " How can technology be utilized effectively to promote critical thinking in elementary-aged students?", and I think I effectively explored many avenues of this. After exploring the differences between higher and lower-level thinking, the benefits and downfalls of technology and the many modern-day innovations being developed, I have decided upon some key factors which influence the way I will use technology in my classroom: - Techn...

 In researching for my final paper in this course this week, I came across an interesting piece of technology called "Teachable Agents".  With this instructional technology, students assume the role of a teacher. They add information and create causal connections on a digital mind map which teaches the “agent” character in the simulation. Artificial Intelligence technologies then “enables TA to use the concept maps to answer questions, thereby providing interactivity, a model of thinking, and feedback” (Doris et al., 2010, p. 649). Here is a video of the technology in action: I found this technology particularly intriguing because of its simplicity, and my thinking about how much my Grade 3 students would love to use it. They love feeling like experts, and I know they would be extremely motivated by the idea of being the "teacher", and having to understand content well enough to teach their "student". I think it's so neat how the technology makes them ...

Some of the technologies I've researched for this blog are things I've heard of previously and wanted to learn more about. This week, my aim was to discover recent innovations in technology that I had truly never heard of, and found particularly innovative. Here are some of the innovations in technology of today that really sparked my interest: Uncharted Play Uncharted Play is a company that developed playground items that can transfer kinetic energy into stored electrical power. The SOCCKET is a soccer ball that gathers energy each time it’s kicked and the PULSE is a jump rope that collects energy with every swing. The kinetically charged battery helps provide power to people without access. And the playground items encourage children to play and exercise.  Classes in shipping containers These are just as they sound. Around the world, especially in overpopulated countries such as India, shipping containers are being enabled with the Cloud, internet access and HP hardware, and ...