Digital Badge E: Chapter 7

For chapter 7 I decided to take a closer look at (1) how technology generates problem solving and inquiry learning, (2) the different types of software for problem solving learning and (3) some examples of learning games. Problem solving and inquiry learning takes situations that students might face in real life and engage them to participate actively in the solution process. George Polya is a Hungarian mathematician, who after going to school for law, biology and literate, found that problem solving is as easy as 3 steps. First you need to actually understand the problem and what it is asking you to do. To truly understand the problem you need to be able to comprehend all the words and be able to state the problem in your own words. Second you need to devise a plan it could be a guess, looking for a pattern or eliminating options, in this step is were problem solving is implemented. The final step is to carry out the plan and check your results.  The way technology enhances problem solving is by letting students figure everything out and not by giving them organize information that contains all the answers. This will teach the kids more since real life situations require a lot more then given, structure, organize information.

The book talks about 3 main software for problem solving and inquiry-learning

            Composing and calculating software- are tools that allow the kids to write and evaluate their writing. This is very important because the more practice students get at writing the better writers they will become. Some examples are Microsoft, excel and blogs.

            Building, inventing and creating software- are hands on material that allows you to explore and create with in the software. kid pix looks like a great software, I personally don’t have it but read the reviews and how it works on youtube and it looks like a lot of fun for young kids; you can paint, write and even learn your numbers. Google earth I like a lot, I can look at places that I want and have a street view. Students enjoy it and use it, it is helpful to find directions, visit historical places or just take a look at your neighborhood. With google earth you can also see the moon and stars.

            Visual thinking and concept-mapping software- these are outline software that allows students to organize the information they have. For this section I looked at InspireData and could only download the demo. At the beginning it was a little complex but as I learn a little more it got better. This tool seems great to present students with data and to have them organize their own data or collection of information if they are presented with some research project.

Learning games for me is a doubted subject and I say this because I honestly have a hard time judging whether or not a game presents engaging problem solving that pushes students to participate actively in the solution without giving them organize information. For the option that the book gives, stop disasters game I was unable to play I tried it several times and it said “forbidden you don’t have permission.” What I do agree is that games require a student to be persistent, flexible in his solutions and stay focus on the objective.

Bibliography

Inspiration Software Inc. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.inspiration.com/InspireData

Motter, A. (2012, June). Retrieved from Wichita State University Department of Mathematics and Statistics: http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/men/polya.html

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.