[DOWNLOAD] "Interactive Whiteboards: Creating Higher-Level, Technological Thinkers?(Technology in the Classroom) (Essay)" by Childhood Education ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Interactive Whiteboards: Creating Higher-Level, Technological Thinkers?(Technology in the Classroom) (Essay)
- Author : Childhood Education
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 197 KB
Description
A group of my preservice teachers recently observed a middle school social studies teacher teaching geography in an urban school in Texas. The teacher, who emphasized inquiry learning, assigned groups of middle school students to work together in designing pamphlets and travel brochures of Quebec. In the middle of the room, a large interactive whiteboard (IWB) was prominently displayed. As groups of students questioned where Quebec is located, the teacher used an overhead projector, and displayed a map on the wall, to instruct and scaffold instruction. Throughout the rest of the semester, the teacher used the overhead projector often, and the IWB was never used. In response to questions about her instructional choices, the teacher explained that her current computer was not compatible with the IWB. The preceding vignette illustrates what often happens when schools obtain new technology, but have inadequate resources, or professional development, to use that technology (Higgins, Beauchamp, & Miller, 2007). In some cases, teachers are not prepared to make technology a critical element, or an interactive component, of classroom instruction (Knight, Pennant, & Piggott, 2004). Across the United States, many school districts are investing large sums of money to install IWBs in classrooms. For example, the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) aims to become a "digital district" by installing IWBs into 5,000 classrooms over the next two years. This particular implementation of IWB technology in schools is the largest in the United States--and a "key component of FWISD's 593.6 million bond program" (eschool news, Oct. 15, 2008). Other schools highlight how they are using IWBs within their district, such as the Tucson Unified School District (http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/iw/ index.asp). This district provides a lesson planning website for IWBs. Great Britain leads the United States in the number of IWBs in use in the classroom. In London, for example, interactive whiteboards are used in about half of all classrooms (Paton, 2008). However, there is much criticism about the use of whiteboards in Great Britain's classrooms--including the charge that IWBs make students "spectators" instead of critical thinkers (Paton, 2008).