Digital Edge Project

The project I picked was a primary math lesson idea. Students go about their regular school day looking for fractions. For instance, during lunch they could see a pizza half eaten and see that as 1/2. As they find fractions they are told to take photos, using a digital camera, of the objects. Students then after the photos are taken, use the photos and import them using iPhoto and organize them. Then they use imovie to sequence the clips in a timeline, maybe for instance when they saw them throughout their day. They can add text to the photos in Keynote or iMovie or even narration. They also can add music to iMovie from itunes. Once the students have produced a short clip of their fraction findings they are to present them to the class.
This project familurizes students with the i-programs. Using these technological devices help students produce their own films using a variety of special effects and material.

Mitchel Resnick- Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age

This article presented ideas of digital technology with a focus on computers as transforming our way of learning. It talked about how the computer is a valuable source by how it connects the world. Now and more consistently in the future we can learn from others all over the world with world collaboration projects. One concern the article had was that teaching strategies are not changing, yet computers are. One way to look at computers and learning is to think of them both as expressing our creativity and learning from design and creation. Rather than thinking of receiving information, as we are doing this, we also need to be looking at using them as tools in order to broaden our creative thinking. It also talked about the near future and how it will be important to be fluent with all aspects of the computer. It may become a criteria for future jobs to be somewhat fluent with computing. The article made a strong point in saying: "we need to transform curricula so that they focus less on things to know and more on strategies for learning the things you don't know." Instead of memorizing, learning new ways to learn became a focused priority. It stated that we should also put emphasis and encourage childrens creativity at a young age.

When reading this article it came clear to me that knowing the computer as a means for collecting information is not good enough. In order to be fluent and use the computer in it's entirity as a teacher, I need to know websites I can use to help my teaching. I myself am not very creative but I feel okay about that. The computer is a device that can help me become creative. It enables me to make posters, show videos, and other things that can enhance my teaching. Also I liked the point Resnick made when he said, " Instead of dividing up the curriculum into separate disciplines, we should focus on themes and projects that cut across the disciplines, taking advantage of the rich connections among differnet domains of knowledge." I liked his way of thinking because who is to say what instruction we teach and do not teach children. What if we let students chose what they want to learn and develope their own style of learning? This way students might become more passionate about school and develope into more creative individuals which the article says is what our future is looking like. Resnick says that the work force will be looking for those that are creative versus those that have memorized and are factually knowledgeable.