#18 How Do You Infuse Technology into Your Lessons When You Have Just One Computer? by Arati Singh

Background:

As members of the technology cohort, my students teachers (STs) have become well-versed in utilizing the Internet, e-mail, and newsgroups for their own professional development. However, it has been difficult for them to give their students opportunities to use technology in the classroom in a meaningful way. This seminar aims to provide STs with a model lesson plan that integrates technology in a meaningful way in a classroom with just one computer.

Activities:

1. Students will share any attempts they've made at integrating technology into lessons. Discuss benefits of these activities, as well as any barriers to making them even more successful.
2. Discuss the summary of the unit "Wise Spending at the Grocery Store."
3. Students will brainstorm ways technology can be integrated into this unit (e.g., checking out the Randall's home grocery shopping web site, creating HyperStudio stacks that show the steps in wise grocery shopping, read about product testing on the Zillion Kids' Consumer Reports website, etc.).
4. Students will read the lesson plan for Day 2.
5. Students will break into pairs. Each pair will critically examine one portion of the lesson plan, answering questions such as: Could this happen in your classroom? How would a special education, limited English proficient, emotionally disturbed, or gifted and talented child respond to this segment? What would you change about this?
6. Students will share their responses to the group. Students will comment on the section entitled "Why use technology for this activity?".
7. Students will discuss/sketch out a technology-infused lesson plan for their own classrooms, using ideas from the discussion to create computer-access equity in classrooms with just one or two computers. They may collaborate with each other or bounce ideas off of the supervisors.

Summary of Unit

Summary of Unit "Wise Spending at the Grocery Store"
Day 1: Students have parents fill out a Grocery Habits survey which looks like this:

1. List the 3 most common fresh vegetables that you buy:

a. _______________ b. _______________ c. _______________

From which store do you usually buy these items? ____________________

2. List the 3 most common cereal brands that you buy:

a. _______________ b. _______________ c. _______________

From which store do you usually buy these items? ____________________

(Additional categories may include beverages, snacks, lunch meat, etc.)

Day 2: (Lesson detailed below) Students will graph and compare surveys by store, by category, alphabetically, etc., and draw conclusions.

Days 3-5: Students will read sales ads or visit/call grocery stores to compare prices on parents' most common purchases.

Day 6: Students will evaluate how parents make purchasing decisions, and discuss methods to become better consumers.

Lesson Plan For Day 2

Title: "What do We Buy?"

Grades: 3-6

Content Areas: Social Studies, Math, Language Arts

Technology Used: Spreadsheet software (ClarisWorks, Excel, MSWorks), computer projection device (LCD panel or LTV) if possible

Room Organization: Classroom with at least one computer

Objective: Students will graph and compare results from a parent survey on grocery shopping habits.

Focus: Students will discuss their experience getting parents to fill out survey, without discussing results. Students will hypothesize which store, vegetable, cereal product, etc. will be most commonly cited in the survey. Tell students they will have a chance to prove or disprove hypotheses by charting the survey results using a spreadsheet software.

Model/Instruction: Before class, connect a projection device to the computer, if possible. (If a projection device is not available, instruct students in small groups.) Model making a simple spreadsheet and graph. (Novice teachers may wish to create this sample ahead of time; more experienced teachers may make one spontaneously.) Discuss columns, rows, labels, titles, pie chart, line graph, and bar graph.

Guided Practice: Collect all parent surveys. With the assistance of the teacher and other students, a group of three student volunteers will record and graph the entire class' cereal data. Discuss which type of graph would best represent data.

Independent Practice I: Teacher divides class into groups of three. Each group is assigned a category (e.g. vegetables). Put the stack of completed surveys (for data) as well as a sample spreadsheet and graph (for reference) next to the computer. While the class is doing some other activity, one group at a time will create a spreadsheet and a graph for its category. Teacher, aide, or "expert" student volunteer may help groups complete activity. All graphs will be printed out.

Independent Practice II: Groups will prepare and deliver oral presentations on their findings. Presentation should answer these questions:

• How do results relate to hypotheses?
• What are other ways we can compare the data? (For example, comparing the types of fruit purchased from HEB versus the types of fruit purchased from Randall's) Depending on how far teacher wants to go, students may manipulate spreadsheets using copy/paste commands to make different graphs.
• What were some difficulties in making spreadsheets' categories? (For example, in a class of 25 students, 15 brands of cereal may be cited. Rather than making a separate column for each brand, students may discover that a column labeled "Other" might aptly fit for brands that were just cited once or twice.
• Do titles and labels accurately reflect the information? Is proper syntax used?
• Which type of graph best represents the data?

Closure: Discuss/Write the answer to: Now, what can we do with all of this information? (Lead into objectives for Days 3-6.)

Evaluation:

• Formative evaluation throughout (observation, questioning)
• Accuracy of graphs
• Cooperation skills at the computer
• (depending on teacher) Make the closure activity a written assignment, and judge student comprehension on their answer.

Why use Technology for this Activity?

• Students can efficiently manipulate data to make different graphs, thus understanding relationships better.
• Students can see information represented in different types of graphs (bar, pie, line) and decide which ones are most effective for particular types of data.
• Because of features like dialogue boxes and pull-down menus, students may see the step-by-step method of creating a graph more clearly.

Note: This is a great activity to do with students of different ethnicities because of the various cuisines involved. If there is enough culinary diversity, students may want to group data according to cuisine. This could also be a great starting point for a classroom recipe book, menu guide, etc.