Q1: What are the benefits of using problem-solving or educational software?
Schools have been using drill-and-practice since before computers were invented so it is a natural progression to use drill-and-practice software in the classroom today. Our school subscribes to Study Island and it lets students practice various subjects at theirlevel of aptitude. Many of the teachers at the elementary school where I work also use Discovery Education.
Study Island (www.studyisland.com) provides for both practice drills and lessons and instructions on computers. Students open their file which is tailored for their grade-level and aptitude, and work on problems in test-mode or game-mode. As a resource, some students use study island lessons to reinforce what the teacher has taught. The lessons and practice are engaging and random, so the student will learn the content and not just memorize the answers. Study Island uses the State guidelines of the Common Core and Benchmarks when designing their lessons and activities.
Reference: https://www.studyisland.com/web/NC/middle-school/index/ copyright 2012 Study Island.
The other software that I would like to recommend is Discovery Education. (www.discoveryeducation.com) Many of the teachers at my school use this as a resource for their classrooms. Students can read about the science content for their grade and see view illustrations of science in action. Student comprehension is tracked by assessments or very short "Brief Constructed Responses, BCR's)" The science curriculum includes some math lessons regarding the collection, interpretation, and presentation of data. Reference: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/administrators/curricular-resources/science/copyright 2012 Discovery Education.
DE logo retrieved from: http://www.cblohm.com/news/DiscEd/DE_090209/ Copyright © 2012 • C. Blohm & Associates
Q2: How do I choose the correct software?
I chose Discovery Education; www.discoveryeducation.com/ ; because it was created by the Discovery Channel, which is a leading source of non-fiction science communication. (2012 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one non-fiction media company.) We use discovery ed at my school because it has many free teacher resources. One of the resources that I use weekly is Puzzle-Maker, where I input a vocab list and customize a cross-word or word search puzzle for my language/spelling units. This would be great in a middle school science classroom, let the students each make their own crossword puzzle using their definitions and unit vocab, then exchange the puzzles with classmates.
Another website of note is TEEM: http://teemeducation.org.uk/; Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia. One link in this website addresses STEM: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths. This website is written by teachers and evaluates specific software from outside publishers. It is a place where teachers can search for software to meet a specific need, such as a product called Essentials Online for science. The reviewer gave this product a thumbs up for many strengths including preparing students to pass their exams.
For Study Island, the lesson is taught in the classroom before the students get on the computers. So before the computer use, the students know the basics of the lesson, and they carry that knowledge with them to the computer. Our school has one computer per class for student use, so the students can get on Study Island during centers, after they have completed the research center for that week. Students may also use Study Island for a few minutes at the end of their Computer encore classes. The student gets immediate feedback as to their aptitude and growth in a specific topic. They love it when they get a blue ribbon because that means they have done very well.
Centers are a great way to integrate computer use of educational software. The teacher has already introduced the topic, and may have covered the basics of the lesson. Then the student can get on Discovery Ed for additional exposure to the content of the lesson and reinforcement of the new subject. Results are tracked by the software, so the teacher can look at a students progress at a later time.
picture of student and teacher retrieved from: http://newsletter.schoolbox.com/2011/12/14/get-out-the-pre-holiday-wiggles-aka-keeping-your-students-attention-in-december/
Q3: When I integrate problem-solving or educational software into a lesson, what changes will be needed?
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Centers are a great way to integrate computer use of educational software. The teacher has already introduced the topic, and may have covered the basics of the lesson. Then the student can get on Discovery Ed for additional exposure to the content of the lesson and reinforcement of the new subject. Results are tracked by the software, so the teacher can look at a students progress at a later time.
picture of student and teacher retrieved from: http://newsletter.schoolbox.com/2011/12/14/get-out-the-pre-holiday-wiggles-aka-keeping-your-students-attention-in-december/
References
Lowther, D., and Morrison, G., (2010). Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Skills for the 21st Century. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. USA
Teresa, I have background experience with Study Island as well. I used to feel a type of way about it when I first was introduced to it. I realized that it was that I was not using it the correct way. This past year was my first time in which the students used it more of a resource and they loved it! They looked forward to being on it every opportunity they could. I think it's a great program.
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