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This project was a walk down memory lane and into the future of education. Remembering the day when we dissected frogs in junior high and seeing the types of digital dissection software that are available today made me realize just how far educational technology has come.
It also gave me a chance to try out Prezi, which I've been wanting to do for some time. It worked well for comparing and contrasting the lesson plans of a 21st century educator and one who has not yet "arrived."
It also gave me a chance to try out Prezi, which I've been wanting to do for some time. It worked well for comparing and contrasting the lesson plans of a 21st century educator and one who has not yet "arrived."
Digital Dissection and Free-Range Frogs
Here is a link to my Lesson Plan Comparison in Prezi: http://prezi.com/imzilpjl6v70/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
At first this project had me stumped. I thought about all the educators I’ve known or had, and most of them fell into the 20th century category because they were teaching then. I’ve been out of the field for a while, so most of my experience—including as a teacher—is pretty “last century.”
How could I put myself back in a teacher’s shoes? What better way than by designing a lesson plan? So I decided to do a lesson plan comparison by creating an old-school lesson—the way I taught and was taught—and one that has evolved for the 21st century, strategically integrating modern technology.
I thought back on lessons I remember from my childhood. One that stuck with me (and probably has not escaped most people’s memory) is the day we dissected a frog in junior high. As is typical with my memories, I can see the place vividly—how the tall, expansive black tables were arranged in the lab room, where the windows were, the overhead screen, and the teacher’s desk. I also recall the smell of formaldehyde and the color of the frog corpse’s sickly looking skin. We were in small groups, and I was most definitely not the leader. I was in no hurry to use our tiny metal instruments to slice, scrape, pinch, disembowel, or otherwise manipulate the body that lay before us. I probably volunteered to take notes.
Although I was the age of Gertie rather than Elliott when the movie ET came out, I remember the scene where a boy around the age of my big brother (I think they did it in elementary school in the film) decides on that fatal school day to free all the frogs in his science lab. Even people who never had the physical experience in school can relate to the emotions this scene invokes.
At first this project had me stumped. I thought about all the educators I’ve known or had, and most of them fell into the 20th century category because they were teaching then. I’ve been out of the field for a while, so most of my experience—including as a teacher—is pretty “last century.”
How could I put myself back in a teacher’s shoes? What better way than by designing a lesson plan? So I decided to do a lesson plan comparison by creating an old-school lesson—the way I taught and was taught—and one that has evolved for the 21st century, strategically integrating modern technology.
I thought back on lessons I remember from my childhood. One that stuck with me (and probably has not escaped most people’s memory) is the day we dissected a frog in junior high. As is typical with my memories, I can see the place vividly—how the tall, expansive black tables were arranged in the lab room, where the windows were, the overhead screen, and the teacher’s desk. I also recall the smell of formaldehyde and the color of the frog corpse’s sickly looking skin. We were in small groups, and I was most definitely not the leader. I was in no hurry to use our tiny metal instruments to slice, scrape, pinch, disembowel, or otherwise manipulate the body that lay before us. I probably volunteered to take notes.
Although I was the age of Gertie rather than Elliott when the movie ET came out, I remember the scene where a boy around the age of my big brother (I think they did it in elementary school in the film) decides on that fatal school day to free all the frogs in his science lab. Even people who never had the physical experience in school can relate to the emotions this scene invokes.
So the challenge for this project became how to create a
“virtual” frog dissection lesson plan that would have the same impact as the
real thing.
An Internet search yielded more than a few fully developed digital dissection experiences. The best one I found was Digital Frog 2.5. Using their mouse, students draw precisely where they would make an incision. If they make the cut correctly, a video of a real-life dissection pops up, and watching it brought back more memories for me. Was this virtual experience as impactful as the real project? Probably not, as smells cannot yet be easily conducted through a computer’s circuitry, and students cannot feel the frog’s skin and organs with plastic-gloved fingers. But it was powerful nonetheless—and probably even more so to the “digital natives” who have not experienced the real deal and tend to draw a very thin line between watching a video and seeing something in person.
In Elliott’s classroom in the movie ET, each student was given a frog to dissect. If I remember correctly, we did the dissection in small groups, where students were assigned specific roles—in this case, surgeon, assistant, note taker. In this environment, no one student gets the full experience from every perspective. However, with virtual dissection software, it is possible to be the surgeon AND record notes, all within one interactive program—and without having to remove the plastic gloves to pick up a pencil. This also allows for differentiated instruction, where students work at their own pace and have a plethora of engaging extension activities to complete when finished with the dissection. What they get out of the experience is not limited to one teacher and one frog; they have access to unlimited experts, peers, and resources online. They can choose to learn more about different types of frogs, to interact with students across the world about the types of frogs in their back yards (and whether it’s standard practice to dissect them in school), to explore the life cycle of the frog through interactive multimedia, and even to join a community of frog watchers in their state.
I must admit that I got rather bogged down (no pun intended) by technology when researching the virtual frog dissection options available. I started thinking about how cool this or that tool was and losing sight of the ultimate learning goal and objectives. For instance, Digital Frog 2.5 offered a comprehensive frog dissection experience, with the ability for students to connect computer-generated dots on the frog’s body to create precise incision lines with their mouse. However, V-Frog had the same functionality, but instead of just showing the line the student was making with the mouse, this software showed a digital scalpel making the line. This looked cool, but it did nothing to advance learning.
What I learned from this lesson plan comparison is that evolving from the 20th to the 21st century is not about changing the technology; it’s about changing your approach as a teacher. How to incorporate technology—and which tools to use—will become apparent when you begin to design lessons with the mindset of maximizing learning potential in the most relevant, appropriate ways. As long as teachers have an open mind to exploring new technologies, their lessons will become part of the technology-rich learning environment where both students and teachers live and thrive in the 21st century.
As Dr. Candace McGregor put it in the direction for this EdTech 554 assignment, “The VAST majority of teachers use a smartboard as a glorified overhead, giving them a bigger screen to continue their lectures. That’s not change—that’s a shift in tools.”
On the other hand, when you’re talking about a shift to technology tools vs. a dissection pan, sharp metal objects, and formaldehyde, I and many other 21st century parents would opt for the change.
An Internet search yielded more than a few fully developed digital dissection experiences. The best one I found was Digital Frog 2.5. Using their mouse, students draw precisely where they would make an incision. If they make the cut correctly, a video of a real-life dissection pops up, and watching it brought back more memories for me. Was this virtual experience as impactful as the real project? Probably not, as smells cannot yet be easily conducted through a computer’s circuitry, and students cannot feel the frog’s skin and organs with plastic-gloved fingers. But it was powerful nonetheless—and probably even more so to the “digital natives” who have not experienced the real deal and tend to draw a very thin line between watching a video and seeing something in person.
In Elliott’s classroom in the movie ET, each student was given a frog to dissect. If I remember correctly, we did the dissection in small groups, where students were assigned specific roles—in this case, surgeon, assistant, note taker. In this environment, no one student gets the full experience from every perspective. However, with virtual dissection software, it is possible to be the surgeon AND record notes, all within one interactive program—and without having to remove the plastic gloves to pick up a pencil. This also allows for differentiated instruction, where students work at their own pace and have a plethora of engaging extension activities to complete when finished with the dissection. What they get out of the experience is not limited to one teacher and one frog; they have access to unlimited experts, peers, and resources online. They can choose to learn more about different types of frogs, to interact with students across the world about the types of frogs in their back yards (and whether it’s standard practice to dissect them in school), to explore the life cycle of the frog through interactive multimedia, and even to join a community of frog watchers in their state.
I must admit that I got rather bogged down (no pun intended) by technology when researching the virtual frog dissection options available. I started thinking about how cool this or that tool was and losing sight of the ultimate learning goal and objectives. For instance, Digital Frog 2.5 offered a comprehensive frog dissection experience, with the ability for students to connect computer-generated dots on the frog’s body to create precise incision lines with their mouse. However, V-Frog had the same functionality, but instead of just showing the line the student was making with the mouse, this software showed a digital scalpel making the line. This looked cool, but it did nothing to advance learning.
What I learned from this lesson plan comparison is that evolving from the 20th to the 21st century is not about changing the technology; it’s about changing your approach as a teacher. How to incorporate technology—and which tools to use—will become apparent when you begin to design lessons with the mindset of maximizing learning potential in the most relevant, appropriate ways. As long as teachers have an open mind to exploring new technologies, their lessons will become part of the technology-rich learning environment where both students and teachers live and thrive in the 21st century.
As Dr. Candace McGregor put it in the direction for this EdTech 554 assignment, “The VAST majority of teachers use a smartboard as a glorified overhead, giving them a bigger screen to continue their lectures. That’s not change—that’s a shift in tools.”
On the other hand, when you’re talking about a shift to technology tools vs. a dissection pan, sharp metal objects, and formaldehyde, I and many other 21st century parents would opt for the change.