·
Discuss the various tools you explored: what you
liked or disliked about each one, and select one that you’ll continue to
reflect on.
This week, I had the opportunity to explore
various creativity tools for use in my future classroom. For the purpose of
this exercise, a creativity tool was defined as “anything that allows a student
to create or produce something”. Unsure of where to begin, I did a general
search on Google and came across a variety of options. One tool that I
investigated was entitled GoAnimate for
schools, found on the website goanimate4schools.com.
This tool allows for the creation of animated videos in the classroom. I love
the idea of using this tool in the classroom because it is low cost, easy to
use with a “drag and drop” format, and has built in safety features that make
it appropriate for use in a school environment. GoAnimate for schools affords
teachers the opportunity to allow their students to create their own videos
showcasing content of their choosing while not having to worry about some of
the safety issues that might accompany the use of other sites to complete the
same task. Some of the built in safety features of the website that I found to
be helpful for teachers and administrators were that: each implementation is
its own private, secure, “walled garden”, teachers can provide class or group
management, there is an option available for teachers to moderate videos to
approve content before they are viewed by others, and all content made available
for the creation of videos has been deemed appropriate for a student
audience. I can see how this tool could
be useful in a variety of subject areas, as it allows students to harness their
creativity to construct videos relaying specific information that can be shared
with classmates and other viewers.
Another tool that I discovered was a free
app called StoryKit. With StoryKit, students
can create their own storybooks that can be shared privately and safely online.
They also have the option to read, edit and add audio to some classic
children’s books. When constructing their own books, students can type text,
add photos, draw their own illustrations, and record their own narration. This
app seems like a great tool to use in the classroom because it could be most
obviously used within the context of reading, but I can imagine it would be
beneficial in other subjects as well. I could see it possibly being used as a
fun way to allow students to create a visual representation of a written
assignment.
A helpful website that I came across in my
research was cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com.
On this site, I found several interesting links to other sites, as well as fun
creativity tools that might be beneficial to students. Of those that I
discovered, I really liked the idea behind a tool called Golems, found on the website golemgame.com.
This tool is a free, open-source, 3D recreational physics simulator. The idea
is that students can virtually construct a variety of devices from robots and
spaceships, to clocks and catapults using simple parts like gears, motors, and
joints. After the students have designed and built their creations, they can
add sensors, timers, switches and motors before being able to engage physics
and interact with their machines. This
tools seems like it would be a wonderful tool for use in science classrooms,
especially beginning physics because it illustrates important concepts and allows
students to creatively test their design theories. After all, what kid has not
wanted to build their own robot at some point in their childhood?
·
Describe how the creativity tool that you
selected might fit into the TPACK model. Specifically, describe the content
goals/objectives, pedagogical approach(es), and technological affordances of
some student work that uses the creativity tool you selected.
Of the tools that I mentioned above, I
decided to further reflect upon the GoAnimate for schools creativity tool and
how it might fit into the TPACK model. If I were to design a lesson using this
tool, I think that I would like to implement it within the context of a history
classroom. I could have students to use the GoAnimate for schools program to
construct an animated story illustrating a specific event in history as
imagined through the eyes of someone during that time period that was the same
age as the classroom student. The goals would be for the students to highlight
their understanding and perspective of the events that took place during that
point in history through the creation of an animated video that could be shared
with their classmates upon completion. For instance, I might ask the students
to imagine that they were an early American colonist during the time of the
American Revolution and they were faced with having to choose to remain loyal
to Britain or support the revolutionaries. I might have them create an
animation on GoAnimate that illustrated some of the events that might have
taken place, as well as their reactions and thoughts about what was happening
during that time. I believe that this is a constructivist approach to teaching
because I am asking the students to take the information that they have learned
and construct or develop their own conclusions. Some of the technological
affordances that I can see from using GoAnimate in a classroom for a purpose
such as this, would be that due to the drag and drop format of the program, it
would be easy for students to use without too much assistance. Also, students
who are do not normally consider themselves artistic enough to create a hand
drawn animation, can use the ready-made features of the program to construct their
designs. In addition, teachers do not have to worry about students using
inappropriate content in their animations due to the fact that the elements
available within the tool have been deemed appropriate for school use and
teachers are also given the ability to moderate assignments before they are
viewed by others. Finally, the animations created using GoAnimate for schools
can be shared safely and securely amongst other students and classes.
·
Why is it important to know about and use
creativity tools? What do they offer that other tools (i.e., drill and practice,
tutorials, instructional games, etc.) do not offer?
I believe that it is important to know
about and use creativity tools because they afford students the opportunity to
utilize their higher level thinking skills in a fun way. There are a multitude
of tools available to teachers to assist students in learning new information
in a variety of subjects. With the ever improving technology that is
infiltrating classrooms, the plethora of tools has expanded significantly over
the past few years. Some tools can be used to simply explain information or
help students to memorize and regurgitate facts. If I had to classify these
other tools, I might refer to them as teaching/comprehension tools because they
help to present information to students or test comprehension of information,
but do not allow students to “think outside of the box” because they often
present the information from a fixed perspective. While these tools can be
helpful in a classroom, creativity tools allow students to think and actively
participate in the learning process. Using creativity tools, students can
construct something meaningful using the skills and information that they have
learned along with their own ideas. Other tools do not usually allow for the
construction of new elements. Instead, they are limited to tasks such as drill
and practice, tutorials, etc. Essentially, creativity tools afford students the
chance to think differently, generate new ideas, and tap into their creative
potential, t hus making learning more meaningful and exciting.
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