Technology is a major part of everyone's life. Every
day we encounter technology at home, school and at work. We use this technology
to make work easier and more productive. Machines, microwave ovens, computers
and refrigerators are beneficial for people to make things easier and to save
time. However, when we look at the other investments such as atom bombs and nuclear
reactors new questions arise. Is
technology always useful? Are there any drawbacks or malfunctions? In this context, we can say that technological
advance can affect our lives in a both positive and negative way in many areas.
Education is one of these areas and technology has become a very important part
of the learning process for students. Most homes have connected computers
or Internet-enabled devices. It is easy for students to reach technology
everywhere. So why don’t we use it in a classroom? When effectively integrated
into the curriculum, technology tools can extend learning in powerful ways. Therefore, students
not only become more engaged, they begin to take more control over their own
learning. According to me, effective technology integration changes classroom
dynamics and encourage student centered learning. However, I knew from my experiences
that some teachers only use projectors to show power point representations. It
sometimes makes me bored and careless to the topic so, a teacher should not
only use technology but also integrate it to the learning process. If you use
technology only to say ‘’I use technology.’’ The learning process may
end with unexpected results because, every technological application has its
own affordances that you should take into account. For example, ED-Puzzle is designed
to pick a video and GSP is designed to manipulate dynamic models. Their
affordances are different so their uses and aims can differ in classroom, so
while planning instruction teachers should think whether the application is
appropriate for the topic, encourages students and make abstract things more
concrete to understand well or not. In this respect, I recommend the TPACK
(Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) model for teachers to prepare more
effective and technology integrated lesson plan. This model allows teacher to
decide which technological application overlap with the topic and welcomed by
students.
As a math teacher candidate, I want to talk
about the use of technology in math classes. Math concepts sometimes come more
complex and difficult to understand for students since, math theorems, ideas
and postulates are abstract in nature. Students couldn’t get the whole idea
even if they can make calculations easily. We can use many technological applications
to make abstract topics more concrete and understandable. For example, I design
a game for fractions and their decimal and percentage representations by using
Articulate Storyline2. In the game, a student is shopping and have some money,
s/he tries to buy more product with less money. In the game students see the
both real world examples such as discount and do some computations. Also, depicting
a video from ED-Puzzle and integrate anchored instruction type to the classroom,
using GSP to make easier the visualization and orientation for geometric
concepts or making pop up quizzes by using Kahoot to keep students attention on
the topic can be examples of integration
of technology.
All in all, while writing this paper I feel a
motivation that when I become a math teacher, I want to integrate technology to
my lesson plan if it fits to the topic and motivate students, so that not only to
excite students but also to excite myself and feel interest.
