The main focus in our class is the development and utilization of critical thinking. The students are introduced to the basic principles and background of a unit, and then spend the majority of their time answering a larger question through scientific discovery.
Our school is a Charter School in St George, Utah.
In fact we were Utah's Charter School of the Year last year. We also obtained exceptionally high year end achievement scores, scoring in the top 5%. A charter school is a public school and accepts any and all students on a first come first serve basis. The Federal Government funds our school just like your typical "Public" School. Ironically though, we do not receive as much funding as a public school, nor do we receive technology grants to provide additional resources to our students (Like I-Pads, Interactive White Boards or even computer labs). Due to the absence of this funding, parents and children alike must be dedicated to their studies and education. Not only do the parents volunteer 40 hours a year, they must drive their child to and from school daily. To top it off our curriculum exposes the students to apx 30% more content/material than the traditional public school. This equates to rigorous study/academics.
My Project
We can expand scientific experiences through the use of a Chromebook. Science, math and technology should be utilized in conjunction with one another in order to assist students with identifying relationships and cycles. This knowledge is the foundation of deductive reasoning and the student's ability to "Think" their way through presented problems. Currently, we utilize Hands on Labs, book work, video tutorial and written problem solving skills. With the introduction of technology the students will be able to conduct online research, complete virtual labs, develop flow charts, populate Excel worksheets and implement graphing. Each of these skills should be included in every science unit, and the availability of lap tops will provide these tools to the students on daily basis. The most important factor of utilizing these tools is the fact that students will be developing the ability to utilize deductive reasoning, while gaining exposure to the tools they will use in their future careers
The implementation of technology in the science lab will expand the tools available to myself and the students.
With my main focus of developing the student's critical thinking skills, the implementation of technology literally provides endless resources. These resources will provide the students daily opportunities to think through problems in real world settings.
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