This is really a continuation of yesterday’s post regarding “real” experiences for children. The “contra” example addressed in that post concerned the position that children need more opportunities to explore their own environment (outdoor environment in Dr. Monke’s example) and the damage that would be done by substituting virtual for real experiences.
Rather than promoting technology as an alternative to “real” experiences, we promote technology as a way to increase the probability that physical experiences are real learning opportunities. Again, experiences without thinking are ineffective learning opportunities. It is our contention, shared by many other scholars I believe, that when used properly technology can involve students in thinking about virtual or physical experiences.
Cindy provided the following images from her experiences of the past week. All middle school students in Grand Forks have an opportunity to attend an Eco-ed Camp at Turtle River State Park. This has been going on for several years. The tech group goes along and works on the “invertebrate study” which involves issues of water quality and presence of invertebrate species.
Students collect specimens – sometimes taking them back to the classroom in physical form and sometimes in digital form.
Once back at school, students continue to work with the images by creating multimedia projects based on their experiences in the field. The projects continue student involvement with experiences from the field.
Aquatic worm
Riffle Beetle Larva
Podcast from South Middle School.
