Results are in: students using probeware in their science classes are outpacing peers on standardized test. What is more, companies are donating the equipment to schools to spread the word of the value of probeware to enhance the teaching of science. To learn more about the state of the arts with probeware, check this Education Week article that ran on March 24, 2008. Be sure to post your comments about where you see the teaching of science heading and whether you believe new technology will revolutionize the teaching of this discipline and contribute to student engagement with it.http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/26/29tech_ep.h27.html
Image is taken from the article itself, found through the link above and is offered courtesy of PASCO scientific, a maker of probeware.
2 comments:
I am interested to find out more about this new gadget. It does show some very promising statistics about what students are learning. I have to admite, I was not the brightest science student, however I was able to take a genetics course at my high school. I had finally found out that I liked learning hands on...we studied fruit flies and it was amazing. If students can have the same "ahhh" moment I did, maybe our students would start becoming more interested in the sciences. LEt face it, we needs some serious brain power to fix some of the problems we have today.
We have all these probes at my school. I used one for our software lesson here in this grad course. They do allow you to do amazing experiments, and the kids really find the gadgets neat. The battle I typically find myself fighting is the struggle to make sure they understand the data that the equipment is giving them. I truly believe the metersticks, stopwatchs, and what-not still have an integral role to play in the classroom. I always try to do some initial activities with the conventional tools, then move into the probes software. But I am always cautious about the black box problem: the kids get information, but they have no idea where it came from. I don't want it to be rote learning and data manipulation. It has to mean something, and that is sometimes where the more traditional equipment fits in.
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