Science Teacher Training
in an Information Society
Teaching with computer models
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Science Teacher Training
in an Information Society
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Workshop 1
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StoriesA I use computers a lot in preparing my teaching materials because it saves time, so I hoped that using computer simulations in the classroom would also save time. However, in practice it does not seem to have worked out like that, because I seem to do things in more detail when I use a simulation than I did before. B Using computer models is not part of the syllabus, and in that sense there is no incentive to use them. They are just going to take up more time because pupils will need to learn how to use the programs. However, I think that it is worth putting in this time, because it will pay off in the longer term. C I don’t think that it is the job of the science teacher to teach pupils the technical skills of how to use a computer or how to write formulae in a spreadsheet. There are more important things to learn with computer models. When I use models with pupils, however, I seem to spend a long time teaching them these basic skills anyway. D I only have access to one or two computers in the science laboratory, and I am rarely able to book a computer suite for a whole lesson. This means that it is difficult to make computer modelling a central feature of a lesson, as it is not possible for all the pupils to do the activity at the same time. Having several pupils on one computer does mean however that good discussions sometimes develop. E When I have used computer simulations, I have always taken the class to a computer room. This can sometimes be a worry, because the whole lesson relies on the computer network working which isn’t always the case. Also, the room is not really ideal as a place for class discussion, so I tend to let them work more independently than normal. I feel that I have lost control over them a bit. F One difficulty of having to use the computer suite is that it is difficult to integrate the simulation activity into the rest of the work. It’s not practicable just to go to the room for a few minutes, so sometimes I feel that I have to make the activity artificially longer than it would otherwise be. It’s not possible just to use the computer in a spontaneous way at the points in the lesson where it would make most sense. |
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