Student Engagement and Technology

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

I teach high school biology at a severely low-income inner-city school. My students place value in their education when they learn about things that interest them and have some impact on their lives. Unfortunately, many of the students that I teach simply hear the word 'science' and completely shut off, closing their minds to things that may be of great interest to them. Students become antagonized by vocabulary and seemingly boring concepts demonstrated on a two dimensional whiteboard with dry erase markers. Concepts are difficult to portray at times, but with the aid of technology and the Internet, there are many resources available to very easily explain a difficult concept through sound and animation, which stimulates curiosity and inquiry-based lessons. The goal of this grant is to obtain an LCD projector. An LCD projector is a very valuable tool that will empower ALL of my students to display visually stimulating presentations (sound and video integration) that they will be creating throughout the entire year to their peers in the classroom, and the entire school. Not only will this expose students to technology that they do not have at home, but they will become a part of the learning process by taking responsibility in showing others the importance of science concepts that previously had no value to them. Science is so much more fun for the students when they can interact with it, and really SEE what is being taught instead of trying to visualize ‘mysterious and magical' processes. It is difficult to get the big picture when using a 2 dimensional surface. The LCD projector will allow students to thoroughly investigate all aspects of science from molecular shapes to the minute workings of cellular process, all the way to environmental issues. Not only will this LCD projector be used for presentations, but students will be able to interact with web sites projected on the classroom wall if they need to clarify any misconceptions. This is such a versatile multipurpose classroom tool. Example activity: Students will use the library to research and extrapolate media files to integrate into a multimedia presentation for the class. Students will use my laptop to present their research and media to the entire class using an LCD projector. This activity will proceed throughout the entire year. My laptop has a permanent internet connection in my classroom, and the LCD projector will be used by my students to look up any concepts that may need reinforcement on, while engaging the entire classroom.