Category: Weekly Reflections

This weeks class refelction is about the benefits and negatives with phone/tablet use in the classroom, which is incredibly important following the recent phone ban in BC.

Here is an example of the use of an app called “Science Journal” where I chose an activity based on light and specifically brightness using your phones sensors as a way to represent it. This is a prime example of how devices can be used appropriately as well as beneficially in a science lesson plan. Below is a short video about the crazy tools hidden in the Science Journal App.

When I think about smartphones and tablets in the classroom, especially for grades 6-8, it’s honestly a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, they’re incredibly helpful tools. These devices give students access to a world of information right at their fingertips. Apps like Google Classroom or Kahoot can make learning interactive and engaging. For example, students can collaborate on projects in real-time, research topics for assignments, or use apps that cater to their learning needs, like language translation tools or speech-to-text features. Plus, for kids who struggle with traditional learning methods, tablets can be a game-changer with accessibility features like screen readers and customizable text sizes.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Smartphones and tablets can also be major distractions. Let’s be real—most sixth to eighth graders find TikTok, YouTube, or gaming apps way more tempting than a math lesson. Even with the best intentions, students can easily drift off-task. And there’s also the issue of social dynamics. Sometimes, devices in the classroom can intensify feelings of exclusion if not everyone has access to them or if they’re being misused, like for cyberbullying.

Another con is the dependency on technology. While it’s great to use these tools for learning, I worry about students losing the ability to focus without a screen in front of them or relying too heavily on digital resources instead of critical thinking.

Ultimately, I think smartphones and tablets can be powerful in education if used intentionally and with clear boundaries. It’s all about striking that balance—leveraging technology to enhance learning while teaching kids how to use it responsibly.

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For this weeks class, we went over coding in the classroom and the benefits it may have in a classroom!

One aspect that we got the opprotunity to go through was using THIS coding website and test out different coding games. I of course chose Minecraft as I am a die-hard fan.

There are plenty of ways to integrate coding and computational thinking into subjects beyond math! For example, in language arts, I could introduce students to storytelling through coding by having them create interactive stories or digital narratives using tools like Scratch. This would let students think about sequence, logic, and problem-solving in the context of building a story. In science, students could code simple simulations to model natural phenomena, like the water cycle or plant growth, helping them understand systems thinking. Even in social studies, students could use computational thinking to analyze data, like mapping historical events or tracking trends over time. These activities not only support the subject matter but also build critical thinking and digital literacy skills that are invaluable in today’s world.

Games are powerful learning tools because they engage students actively, offering an interactive and often hands-on way to explore new concepts. The best learning games are structured to provide immediate feedback, allowing students to understand mistakes and learn from them in real-time.

They’re also designed to be motivating, often incorporating elements like rewards, levels, and challenges that encourage perseverance and a growth mindset. By presenting information in a fun, relatable way, games create a low-stress environment where students feel more comfortable taking risks and trying again. Additionally, many educational games support collaboration, enhancing social skills and building community as students work together to achieve shared goals.

This week, we covered different types of technology theories and models that are used to evaluate technology integration in eduation.

This was an example of sketchnoting, a tool in which you use drawings and doodles to relate to your notes, therefore creating a more creative and visual note-taking style. My group that I was working with used an article about cats and how/what they dream about. I used my extra time at the end of class to perfect this which isn’t very realistic to what sketchnoting is for as it’s supposed to be quick simple sketches. Due to how quick you need to be to relate doodles to notes when in a lecture setting, I can see how this may be a more difficult note-taking style as many people may want to perfect it/ get distracted with the drawing portion.

The age group I would like to teach is grades 4-7 ideally. I can see how sketchnoting can be useful for these age groups as it can created a more engaging note-taking experience as well as assist in postive study sessions in the later grades like middle school.

A large con of this method is similar to what I have written above; it is easy for those students who may be more prone to doodling and drawing all ready to focus too hard on the drawing aspect and miss out on the notes itself. A side step of that is also it may become distracting, especially with elementary school students as they may want to share colours, walk around and show there friends, or potentially lead to talking and interrupting during a learning time.

The TPACK model would help me choose the right tools for my class by ensuring that technology aligns with both my content and teaching strategies. It would prompt me to first consider what I want students to learn (content) and how I plan to teach it (pedagogy). Then, I would have to think about how technology can support both. Instead of using tech just for the sake of it, TPACK would help me select tools that enhance the learning experience.

For example, if I’m teaching a unit on geometry, I might use an interactive app or website that allows students to manipulate shapes and explore properties like area and perimeter. This tool complements the content as well as the teaching approach because it provides students with hands-on experience that reinforces the concepts I’m teaching. Without the TPACK, I might have chosen a less effective tool—like a video—that doesn’t allow for the same level of student engagement and creates a less valuable lesson.

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General AI platforms, although relatively fresh in the education scene, have managed to sweep there way through most if not all schools and post-secondary institutions. It tends to get a bad wrap as, unfortunately, in the schooling system it is often used as a way to cheat and avoid doing the work on your own and instead using this tool to create it for you. Although it appears as a device only to cheat and create whole items of work, it actually has many potential aids in the schooling system that can help in a way that does not result in cheating. General AI platforms are excellent at summarizing long and difficult peices of writing, and can create a summary in a specific way that different readers can understand and therefore understand these peices of work better. As Maria Radeva states in the article “The Benefits and Risks of ChatGPT for Education” Gen AI tools can also help students start an assignment by creating prep sheets, guidelines, and rubrics students can follow to build an essay or assignment off of (Radeva 2023) and help them organize there ideas in a way that makes completing said assignment simple. Ideally, I would like to teach middle school aged kids, so grade 6-8. In my case specifically, I think using gen AI tools could greatly increase the grade level in my classroom when used appropriately. Not only are middle schoolers already going to know and most likely understand how to use tools such as ChatGPT, but restricting that from them may lead to more inappropriate usage as they may feel the need to sneak it into different assignments. By allowing the access of general AI tools and proper techniques to use it affectively, it can create an excellent and inclusiev education environment.

“In summary, AI tools like ChatGPT could lessen teachers’ workload and foster interactive and adaptive learning environments.”

Maria Radeva 2023

My personal experience with general AI tools, more specifically in the education system, has been exteremly positve. I find these tools very helpful and they create a broader understanding of a variety of subjects and assignemnts, from a long scholarly journal entry to a calculus question.

I find it incedibly useful and it has genuinely helped my grade throighout highschool and now post secondary. Most commenly, I use it to summarize long readings as I struggle understanding lots of text on a page and find myself just getting overwhelmed.

I even use it to jump start professional emails and resumes as often times, I use the incorrect format. All in all, gneral AI has its perks and its disadvantages. it is up to the user to determine which outways the other. I feel as long as you undertsand the precautions of AI use (how much of the “facts” AI uses tend to actually be false more oftne than not for example) and are weiry that it may happen to you, AI is an excellent tool for your educational needs as well as professional needs. General AI is definitely not going anywhere so it is better to work with it than against.

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When faced with the question “do we need to reimagine education?” in the simpliest terms, the answer is yes. There is always room for improvement, especially in a growing and constantly changing world that should ultimately effect how we educate a new generation. Due to standardization and (honestly) fear, the education system has remained the same for over a century. In order for our world to not only advance to its full potential but each individual learner as well, a call for a newly reimagined education system across the globe is well overdue, and I feel it is approaching.

Changing pedagogy is a necessary step to reimagine the education and schooling system as a whole, but that process is not a simple step by any means. The brave educators who put themselves out there and attempt to change a century-old process and way of life face many obstacles inside and outside the school space. Just to start the process, the approval of not only the higher-ups but other teachers who see the benefits is something needed, and often many teachers and leaders may not initially see the benefits. Instead, they may only see the potential for failure and collapse of a once very stable pedagogy. If the initial change is successful and manages to be placed into a school system, there is now the obstacle of aiding the students and even parents into this new way. Not only will it initially be confusing for the students, but the majority of the parents may be worried for there child’s education and not believe in the new pedagogy at the start.

With more and more reasons to change our current education system adding up each year, my excitement and worries about the education future rise with it. There truly are so many positives: more skills that apply to our futures, a more positive mindset in school, higher growth rates in students and creating more positive and mindset-driven students. Alongside those positives, there are the fears of having to change the university requirements or even the classes, which can cause a chain of problems, the time that it would realistically take to effect the schools and countries that need this most, and maybe even a loss of students due to a fear or anxiety around the new pedagogy.