When the technology skills are taught as curriculum, integration is
beneficial in two ways. By integrating technology skills into the math
curriculum, you could be more efficient. You can teach both skills in the
same lesson. So, instead of having to teach a lesson on pie graph and a
lesson on spreadsheet, the students can learn these in the same lesson. The
second benefit is effectiveness. By integrating the two, technology
skills are learned in context of meaningful application in math, and vice
versa.
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Technology as Aide
In classrooms where technology skills are not prescribed by curriculum,
teachers are not obligated to teach them systematically. However,
appropriate use of technology could enhance the learning experiences of
students in their math lessons. Several technologies can be used as
complimentary or aiding tool for learning math concepts.
Technology can help instruction in two ways. The more common practice is
to use a piece of technological equipment for application and efficiency
after the students have mastered the concepts. For example, the use of
calculators to speed up basic arithmetic operations are often encouraged
after the students mastered the calculations by hand. A second way to
utilize technology is to include it as part of the learning process. Some
technologies are designed to help students to visualize and understand the
concept better from the beginning.
It is important to identify which of the above two uses your curriculum
resembles. A word of warning: integration does not mean time efficient.
It usually takes more time for the teacher to prepare and involves more
carefully planned lessons to implement an integrated lesson.
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Rules of Thumb
1. Planning, planning, planning. Use simple charts to help you organize the
skills and the correspondent activities. See the Planning
section for some examples of charts you can use.
2. Keep in mind the learning objectives, both math and technology, when
planning for your lessons. Do not include an activity simply because it is
cool or cute.
3. Think "less and not more". The point of integration is not to give the
students redundant work. Instead, it provides a variety of learning venues.
4. Plan the lessons with three stages in mind: before the computer
(or any other piece of technology), during the computer, and after the
computer.
5. Give all students equal opportunity to use the technologies. One of the
biggest fear in the use of instructional technologies is the "digital divide".
If you don't have enough computers so that all students have one. Schedule the
computer time so that every students gets approximately equal amount of time
to use it.
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Planning for
the Lessons
These are some of the steps and tools that you can use to help you prepare
for your lessons.
Fill out a
Content Analysis chart for this lesson.
Fill out a
Planning Grid for this lesson.
Make an activity card for your
students.
How could you adapt this
lesson to fit your classroom, grade level, available technology?
How could you extend this
lesson?
How would you continue the
learning?
What instructional techniques
can you use to accommodate all learners?
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