Hardware | Peripherals

Describe the technology being used?
(Provide links and references so others can visit)

Smart Board Smart Recorder an aspect of the Smart Technologies Interactive Whiteboard http://smarttech.com/

How was the technology integrated into the assessment environment?
The technology can be integrated by recording student response, assessing reading skills and documenting student learning.
Digital Imaging:
Use Digital Photography to Document Children’s Learning
• Make children’s learning visible
• Document children’s development
• Communicate findings with parents
and school personnel
• Include digital photographs and narrative
descriptions of artifacts in students’ portfolios
• Document students’ achievement on state and
local standards
• Plan appropriate instruction
Digital Video:
Student made documentaries
Travel videos
News casts
Digital Story Telling:

-What method (observation, selected response, written response, personal communication, performance, student reflection) of assessments were implemented using the technology? (Questions, see Stuart chapter ?)

The method of assessment is observation, personal communication, performance and student reflection.

Was this a technology that replaced a current method of assessment or does it provide assessment opportunities previously not available without the advent of this technology. (For an in depth discussion of this, refer to the NAP article)

The technology can replace as well as provide for opportunities previously not available.

In your opinion, what were some of the benefits of the tool?

This tool allows students to demonstrate their learning in a fun and creative way.

In your opinion, what are the limitations of the tool?
The expense of the equipment.

Do you see this as a tool that could be used in your educational setting?

I have used this tool to assess reading fluency. I used the recorder and a webcam to record a student reading a poem.

Where did you learn about the tool (formal evaluation reports, vender case studies, etc.)?
Smart Technologies

Describe the technology being used?
(Provide links and references so others can visit)

The AlphaSmart is a writing tool. www.alphasmart.com

How was the technology integrated into the assessment environment?

This tool is a combination handheld and laptop. It can be synchronized with any computer (pc or mac) and includes built-in wireless. This tool allows the student to complete assessments and e-mail them to the teacher or synchronize to the teacher’s computer, or print out the completed assessment from any printer.

-What method (observation, selected response, written response, personal communication, performance, student reflection) of assessments were implemented using the technology? (Questions, see Stuart chapter ?)

The method can be any or all of the above. In my teaching experience (using a similar model) it was used for written response and student reflection.

Was this a technology that replaced a current method of assessment or does it provide assessment opportunities previously not available without the advent of this technology. (For an in depth discussion of this, refer to the NAP article)

This technology replaced a current method of paper and pencil assessment. It also allowed the student access to technology without requiring the student to be in a classroom or lab.

In your opinion, what were some of the benefits of the tool?

The tool is compatible with Palm software and all MS Office, it has e-mail capability and wireless. This tool does not need to be in a classroom or lab, it can be used anywhere as it has a long battery life. There isn’t any need to install printer software and it has a full size keyboard and easy to read screen.

In your opinion, what are the limitations of the tool?

I have not experienced any limitations.

Do you see this as a tool that could be used in your educational setting?

It has been used successfully.

Where did you learn about the tool (formal evaluation reports, vender case studies, etc.)?

The school already had them when I arrived.

Software and probes for measuring all kinds of things for science classrooms are available. Having students do EKG's and heart rate measurements on each other or measuring muscle function adds relevancy to Anatomy & Physiology lessons. Measuring probes can be plugged into devices that can be used without computers (LabQuests) or they can be plugged into computers via "Go-links" which are special connectors that attach to the probes.

The One Laptop per Child project develops a low-cost laptop—the "$100 Laptop"—as a technology to educate the world's children.

Crickets are small programmable devices that can make things spin, light up, and play music. You can plug lights, motors, and sensors into a Cricket, then write computer programs to tell them how to react and behave. With Crickets, you can create musical sculptures, interactive jewelry, dancing creatures, and other artistic inventions -- and learn important math, science, and engineering ideas in the process.

Real-time Data Collection Tools to Support Constructivist Projects in Science and Math

http://www.pasco.com/pasport/home.html

Intended Purpose: Use for real-time data collection (such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, distance, heart rate, etc.) and use this data to develop and test hypotheses about a myriad of topics.

Resource Requirements:

• Windows or Mac
• 16 MB free system memory
• 50 MB free hard disk space
• USB port, Serial (COM) port, or SCSI port (for connecting sensors and interfaces)
• Windows: Pentium Processor, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• Macintosh: PowerPC Processor, MacOS 9.2 or later
• Cost: From $89 for a temperature probe direct-connected to a computer to hundreds or even thousands of $. Some options include:
  • Match Graph Kit (PS-2706), $138--A kit with a distance sensor that students can use to explore motion
  • Science Sleuth Kit (PS-2717), $229--A portable unit to measure light, temperature, and sound
  • Personal Weather Monitor (PS-2759), $249--A portable unit to measure temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, absolute humidity, dew point, and relative altitude
  • Hydromania Intermediate Bundle (PS-2758), $759--A great kit for exploring stream ecology that includes temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity sensors

Abstract: PASCO makes handheld data recorders, data analysis software, and a wide variety of real-time data collection probes for both Windows and Macintosh computers. They also have an extensive set of manuals and lesson plans.

The sensors and handheld data recorders are relatively rugged and very easy to use. For example, both the handheld data recorders and the direct-to-computer connectors automatically recognize which probe is attached and are immediately ready to begin recording data.

Data collection rates can vary from 1000 samples/second to as low as one sample per day (up to 50,000 data points total), enabling students to measure a variety of natural phenomena.

PASCO probeware can be used in many different projects and activities. Probeware is particularly well-suited to constructivist activities--students collect authentic data and are then challenged to make sense of it, to analyze and interpret that data and construct hypotheses and explanations for what it reveals.

For example, students could conduct a stream ecology research project. They could sample the insects and other aquatic life at different sites on a stream. They could also collect temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, and turbidity measurements at those same sites. Then they could use a data analysis tool (such as Excel or TableTop) to explore relationships between the data they collected in an effort to explain why some creatures are more abundant at some sites, for example.

Justification: PASCO probeware is a fantastic resource for the constructivist classroom (or school). It's not inexpensive, but it's rugged and easy to use. Probeware facilitates and encourages student inquiry. It is a highly motivating tool that enables students to use authentic data to increase their understanding of the world around them--students collect REAL data and then interpret that data themselves. (For example, they don't read about and memorize the impact of low dissolved oxygen on aquatic life, they discover and prove it themselves.) Projects can be adapted to upper elementary through high school students, depending on the students' math and science knowledge and skill levels.