Technology+In+Education


 * Technology to Support Higher Order Thinking**
 * **How can technology be used to support higher-order thinking?**
 * **Give an example of a technology that supports higher-order thinking and be specific in describing HOW it supports higher-order thinking.**

Technology can support higher-order thinking by making the students interact with their learning. It covers all of the learning senses and can make students think before they jump.They have to problem solve and if they fail they have to suffer the consequences.Besides teaching the subject matter it also teaches life skills and moral values. You can incorporate this in the classroom by assigning students to complete it and even giving them objectives that must be completed before they can continue. Problem solving tasks can be extremely valuable for all subject matters. In mathematics you must do several different steps to complete a problem, informational games like "Supreme Decision" bring out that problem solving trait and expand on it by making it an actual situation or a real court case. Now the student is learning about historical court cases and is actually evaluating the case and taking a stand. This game would be very helpful in the middle school level social studies classes. Many things are taught all at once and it will keep students interested. If an informational game has problem solving ideas, strong subject matter, and interactiveness then it would be considered higher-order thinking. "Supreme Decision" fits all of these traits and could be a great template for over informational games.These simulations can also be very cost effective and allow tons of creativity. Games that do not focus a lot on winning and more on how your decisions affect the overall outcome are definitely higher-order thinking games.


 * Using Technology to Affirm Diversity 

How can technology be used to affirm diversity? **
 * Give an example of a technology that affirms diversity and be specific in describing HOW it affirms diversity.

Technology is like the Rosetta Stone, it can be used and shared between many different cultures. For instance, an American student who needs to find information on Afghanistan cultures can go only and watch interactive tutorials and articles on his topic. However, places in the world like Africa for example, may not have the technology to research American cultures so this can be one sided. Books are some times unreliable and even in the worst places in the world books do not exist. Technology is a world wide tool that can allow anyone to learn about any culture around the world. Interactive sites like the PBS kids: A Day In the Life Of: A Historical Game is a good example. You can explore a different time period in which different cultures were criticized and discriminated against. You can travel into a life of an Irish immigrant or an African American that was just freed from slavery. You can learn the religion of the far east or explore the rebellious nation of the Spartans in Greek mythology. Technology is the best way to affirm diversity, if it could be spread to the far coroners of the earth every living being could understand one another. People could be more open to new ideas and overall be much more excepting.

How may a lack of access to technology impact a school or classroom? What are some ways to increase the technology in your classroom? List some strategies for increasing students’ access to technology in your future classroom **
 * Using Technology to Support All Learners

A middle class family cannot afford the new technology to help their children succeed. Parents have to worry about feeding and clothing their children. Some parents even ignore the fact that technology is so important in today's society. Children need to say they need a computer because they have been using them in the classroom. Technology can be bought at a discounted price by parents if the technology is bought for the classroom. These kids need this technology to help them keep up with society. There are lots of programs who will donated computers to students in need. "Computers for schools" is another program that helps supply older parts of computers to schools who need them. You can get something very similar to Microsoft word for free just by going online and downloading it. There is virtually no excuse to deny your child a computer for higher learning purposes. As the schools push computer technology on their students it will be adapted into the home. When I become a teacher I will make sure all my students have access to computers. Almost all high schools have computer labs that are open after hours if students do not own a computer. i will stress heavily to parents about how important having a computer at home is. My old high school had something called COWS. COWS stands for computers on wheels and each classroom could have access on certain days to laptops directly in the classroom. If the high school that i work at does not have these I will highly suggest that they invest in them.