ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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We are resubmitting a proposal to NSF for funding to extend our Digital
Discovery Lab program, which is intended to integrate technology into
5-20 hour science workshops.  We have been doing this under a private
grant for a few years, and have found that using digital tools such as
video, audio, and gps has greatly improved our retention of middle
school kids in after school programming.  Our digital media summer
camps are sold out (a school district and the Partnership for After
School Education bought up all the slots).  The program developers have
done a great job of integrating real inquiry science activities with
digital media.   The key to our program is *sustained* contact ( 20
hours or so), and real world science experiences.

  It appears to me that the tools for integrating "technology" into
classroom learning have matured to the point where they are pretty
useable.  The AHA moment for me came when I was "Principal for a Day"
in a middle school in Queens three years ago.  The teacher had taken
the kids to the NY Aquarium.  The class was broken into four groups,
each of which was assigned a species, and each group was given a DV
camera (along with a chaperone...).  They filmed their species and used
a precursor to imovie (I think it was called hyperstudio).  Then they
came back to the classroom and I think the geekier kids edited the
video, complete with silly Pee Wee's playhouse magic words and rockin
music.

The kids *owned* that trip in a way I had never seen, and were totally
proud of their accomplishment.  This was a regular, low income,
high-stress urban middle school, with a creative, tech-friendly teacher
10 ibooks and five dv cameras.  Nowadays, that is a capital investment
of about 15K

If anyone would like more info about our planned submission to NSF (we
can use all the support we can get), please contact me off list.

Eric Siegel
Director, Planning & Program Development
Connections Project Director
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Queens, NY 11369
[log in to unmask]
www.nyscience.org
On Jun 7, 2004, at 8:07 PM, David Taylor wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> ***********************************************************************
> ******
>
> Jonah,
>         Me thinks you protest too much...  It's not a matter of not
> believing learning can be fun, but that just having fun with
> technology doesn't = learning.
>         Doing experiments is a good thing, but just doing something
> fun with technology doesn't necessarily mean they are doing an
> experiment. Playing a video game is using technology to have
> fun, but it doesn't necessarily translate into experiencial learning.
>
> Good teaching has always involved motivating the learner, as
> well as providing good content, and good process.  It's also what
> makes the difference between a good, interesting and meaningful
> exhibit and one that is an empty activity.
>
> Dave Taylor
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>> From: Jonah Cohen <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: Informal Science Education Network
>> Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 19:26:50 -0400
>> Subject: Re: technology in science
>
>> Feel free to flame me for this if you wish, but....
>>
>> On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 08:46:24 -0400 "Swiston, Bethany L"
>> <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>>> I was completely psyched about how the technology was impacting my
>>> instructional program, but I've recently read an article in which
>>> the author perceived technology in a negative light.  She saw that
>>> using technology that is enjoyable promotes the perception that
>>> education should always be entertaining, although learning is
>>> sometimes a difficult and taxing process.
>>
>> See, this is why I'm dubious about "professional studies" or whatever
>> they call glorified op-ed pieces like the one Bethany refers to. Let
>> me
>> get this straight... the author in question perceived things "in a
>> negative light" --- because the students enjoyed them? The author
>> feared
>> that they might find education enjoyable, when they >should< think of
>> it
>> as taxing and difficult? What a pile of @#$%^&*!
>>
>> Hey, I know. Let's not let kids do any experiments; instead, let's
>> make
>> them memorize factoids and formulas and analyze huge reams of data!
>> That
>> ougta pare down their expectations that learning is enjoyable. And it
>> doesn't end with science. Let's ban the Harry Potter books (kids seem
>> to
>> LIKE those, so you know they've gotta be bad news!) A more appropriate
>> book would be Finnegan's Wake, or perhaps Atlas Shrugged. Now THOSE
>> ought
>> to teach the young uns the important lesson that reading is not
>> enjoyable!
>>
>> OK, I'll turn off the sarcasm. But seriously, a word to Bethany:
>> you're
>> the one actually working with these students, you're the one who knows
>> the best how well your approach is or isn't working. Don't doubt
>> yourself
>> just cause some "expert" is mouthing off. And for what it's worth, I
>> think your initial assessment is right: bolstering students'
>> enthusiasm
>> about learning can only be a good thing.
>>
>> Rant over,
>> Jonah Cohen
>> Outreach & Public Programs Manager
>> Science Center of Connecticut
>
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