Electronic Portfolio The University of Pennsylvania's Science Teacher Institute Master of Integrated Science Education Program

Integration of Available and Appropriate Technology into Classroom Practice – The participant has become more skilled and sophisticated in his or her use of appropriate technology in classroom practice.

The pictures that surround these words are evidence of the technology that I have used in my classroom as a result of being in this program . . . .

In hopes to keep my students computer savvy, I allow them opportunities to do research on the internet. The student in the middle picture is performing interactive knee surgery on LearningScience.org with the Promethean Interactive Board. It is surprising to me to see the progress I have made in terms of my use of the Internet as a teaching resource. I used to label myself as an "anti-Internet"person. That had to change in order for me to survive through this program. I have learned how to use the Internet and the computer programs to my benefit, and I am passing that information on to my students. I have them doing Powerpoint presentations of individual surveys that they conducted. I want them to be prepared for high school, and mainly to be prepared for success.

You can see students using hot plates and protective gloves as they do a math lab. I teach math and this activity integrated math with science. In this lab, students had to measure the changing temperature of their solution in the beaker, then graph the temperature and use the graph as a comparative tool to determine which solution had the fastest boiling rate. (Link here to read more about this activity, which was funded with  a Penn STI mini-grant.) Prior to this program, I have taught about rates of change and used graphs as a teaching tool, but I never did a math lab with science equipment. I was thrilled to integrate math with science. I had a personal goal to do science labs in my math class, and I was able to meet my goal with this activity. The students LOVED using the equipment, and one student said, "I felt like a real scientist!"That gave me such a great feeling.

As often as possible I try to integrate science into my math class. Because our math curriculum uses metric units, I thought that would be good place to start. I knew it would be beneficial to have the students experience measuring using triple balance beams and graduated cylinders. I let them find the mass of everyday objects so that they could get used to using metric units of measurement. Although this is simple, I think this is a valuable experience for them. After going through this program I gained a deeper understanding of the things that make science fun, like doing labs and using equipment, but without feeling comfortable with the units of measurement or knowledge of how to use the equipment, science can be very intimidating. I was accepted into a very competitive high school, as many of my students hope to attend, and I remember my first week of science. I felt stupid because I did not have the background in science that my teacher expected me to have. I don't want my students to leave my classroom feeling that way. I want to provide them with as many experiences as possible.