We found 107 results that contain "tech"

The classic egg drop experiment gets reinvented as a driving question for physics students to explore a real-world problem.

By Suzie Boss
July 26, 2018
When a teenager climbs atop his desk and drops an object to the floor, teacher Johnny Devine doesn’t object. Far from it—he’s as eager as the rest of the class to see what happens next.

In a split second, the student and his teammates get positive feedback for the object they have cobbled together by hand. A small parachute made of plastic and held in place with duct tape opens as planned, slowing the descent and easing the cargo to a safe landing. Students exchange quick smiles of satisfaction as they record data. Their mission isn’t accomplished yet, but today’s test run brings them one step closer to success as aspiring aerospace engineers.



To boost engagement in challenging science content, Devine has his students tackle the same problems that professional scientists and engineers wrestle with. “Right away, they know that what they are learning can be applied to an actual career,” Devine says. “Students are motivated because it’s a real task.”

From the start of Mission to Mars, students know that expert engineers from local aerospace companies will evaluate their final working models of Mars landing devices. Their models will have to reflect the students’ best thinking about how to get a payload from orbit onto the surface of the Red Planet without damaging the goods inside. While real Mars landings involve multimillion-dollar equipment, students’ launchers will carry four fragile eggs.

THE ROAD MAP

Although the project gives students considerable freedom, it unfolds through a series of carefully designed stages, each focused on specific learning goals. Having a detailed project plan “creates a roadmap,” Devine explains, “for the students to really track their progress and see how what they’re learning connects back to the guiding question: How can we successfully land a rover on Mars?”

©George Lucas Educational Foundation

Before introducing technical content, Devine wants students to visualize what space scientists actually do. By watching videos of engineers who design entry, descent, and landing systems for spacecraft, students start getting into character for the work ahead.

Devine introduces a series of hands-on activities as the project unfolds to help students put physics concepts into action. They learn about air resistance, for instance, by experimenting with parachute designs and wrestling with a real challenge: How will they slow their landers to a reasonable speed for entry into the thin Martian atmosphere?

To apply the concept of change in momentum, students design airbag systems to go on the bottom of their landers—a location aptly called the crumple zone. They experiment with bubble wrap and other materials as potential cushioners for their cargo.

As the grand finale approaches, students keep using what they learn to test, analyze, and modify their designs. “You have to repeat the equations with different trials,” one student explains. “Being able to use that math over and over again helps it stick.”

Much of the hands-on learning in this PBL classroom “might look like a traditional physics lab,” Devine acknowledges, with students learning concepts through inquiry investigations. What’s different is the teacher’s ongoing reminder “to make sure students stay in character” as systems engineers. Each lab investigation relates back to their driving question and creates more opportunities for Devine to ask probing questions and formatively assess his students’ understanding. “We do a lot of framing in and framing out after each of those lessons so students have the chance to reflect and connect it back,” the teacher explains.

EXPERT CONVERSATIONS

When it is finally time for students to launch their precious cargo off a second-story landing, engineers from local aerospace companies are standing by to assess results. How many eggs in each lander will survive the fall?

Even more important than the test data are the discussions between experts and students. One engineer, for instance, asks to see earlier versions of a team’s design and hear about the tests that led to modifications. A student named Elizabeth perks up when she hears engineers using the same technical vocabulary that she and her classmates have learned. “It was kind of a connection—this is actually a thing that goes on,” she says.

“They had really deep, meaningful conversations so that students could practice communicating their justification for their designs,” Devine says. Hearing them use academic language and apply physics concepts tells the teacher that students deeply understand the science behind their designs. “At the end of the day, that’s what I’m most concerned about,” he says.

https://youtu.be/bKc2shFqLao


 

Christopher Savoie, founder and chief executive of a start-up called Zapata, offered jobs this year to three scientists who specialize in an increasingly important technology called quantum computing. They accepted.

Several months later, the Cambridge, Mass., company was still waiting for the State Department to approve visas for the specialists. All three are foreigners, born in Europe and Asia.

Christopher Savoie, founder and chief executive of a start-up called Zapata, offered jobs this year to three scientists who specialize in an increasingly important technology called quantum computing. They accepted.

Several months later, the Cambridge, Mass., company was still waiting for the State Department to approve visas for the specialists. All three are foreigners, born in Europe and Asia.

Careers for iGen'ers - You Need Either Skills or Education
If you are iGen and looking for a career, please pick a major in fields where there will be plenty of jobs and avoid fields where the jobs are limited. Unless of course you are so different and truly one of a kind like: Michael Jordan, Prince, The Beatles, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian (just kidding).
You have two choices - pick a trade or get the right college education. Low skilled jobs will continue to disappear and you can not raise a family on the income from a low skilled job. You either need skills or education.
Healthcare and high tech are the booming fields now and that will continue for decades.
Thus careers in science, engineering, software, and medicine are a good choice.
There won't be many jobs for people who major in English, history, philosophy etc. Sorry.
If you want help choosing a new career, or making those big career decisions, check out my career counseling services.
Electrical Engineering and Software Engineering look really good. As does nursing, and being a family doctor.
Civil Engineering offers very few jobs since we are not building a lot of bridges and buildings. So avoid that.
Automotive engineering is tough. Not many US jobs except in the electric car field.
Jobs that must be done in person such as plumbers, electricians, barbers, beauticians, should still be in demand, although lower paying than jobs requiring a college education. The trades are more stable than many other careers.
Sales jobs will continue to shrink. Retails sales jobs are disappearing as shopping malls close and as Amazon takes over the world. Sales people are usually just middlemen. Who needs them? Sorry... However, sales people that do business development and find new customers are a different story. But the days of being a shoe salesman in a mall store are gone.
Business development and marketing are still good fields, but will see some unexpected changes.
The auto mechanic field is going to go through interesting changes with the growth of electric vehicles and self driving vehicles. EV's have less moving parts and fewer fluids to replace, but they still need tire changes.
Taxi driver jobs and truck driver jobs will start to experience less demand as automated vehicles take over. However, as of 2018, the demand for truck drivers is booming.
As automated electric vehicles take over, the need for individuals to own a car will be reduced. It will become more simple, less expensive, and more efficient to just walk outside, call up an app, have a driver-less Uber pick you up and take you to wherever you want to go. As long as a car can show up in 5 minutes or so, that will be the way to go. Owning your own car is not efficient, nor a good investment. Cars sit around doing nothing for 98% of their existence. They take up space, they consume your money on insurance and repairs even while they are just sitting doing nothing. How this will affect jobs, careers and the workplace will be interesting, and iGen'ers will be the first to experience this.
Space flight related jobs will pick up as we focus on getting people to the moon, Mars, and space stations.
Geology jobs, especially related to finding minerals on other planets should see a rise in demand.
Virtual Reality related jobs (whatever those are?) will pick up as VR technology becomes ubiquitous. Probably creating VR experiences will be popular.
The generation after the iGen'ers will be the ones who grow up thinking virtual reality is normal.
 
 

Key Method
Educator provides evidence of their understanding of communication and outlines and provides evidence of a lesson that uses technology to support students’ use of communication in learning.
Method Components
What are the 4Cs?
The 4Cs for 21st century learning are Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration. They are part of the framework for 21st Century Learning and are designed to support student learning in today’s world and are skills they can use in college and career.
What is communication (and what isn’t it)?
The P21 framework emphasizes effective use of oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills for multiple purposes (e.g., to inform, instruct, motivate, persuade, and share ideas). It also focuses on effective listening, using technology to communicate, and being able to evaluate the effectiveness of communication efforts—all within diverse contexts (adapted from P21). Note that working in partners is a great way to collaborate or build shared understanding but a critical part of communication is sharing with an authentic audience.

What is communication (and what isn’t it)?
The P21 framework emphasizes the effective use of oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills for multiple purposes (e.g., to inform, instruct, motivate, persuade, and share ideas). It also focuses on effective listening, using technology to communicate, and being able to evaluate the effectiveness of communication efforts—all within diverse contexts (adapted from P21). Note that working in partners is a great way to collaborate or build shared understanding but a critical part of communication is sharing with an authentic audience.
Example strategies that use technology to support communication in the classroom:

Host a TED-style conference or showcases for your students to present original ideas on a topic of interest to them to an authentic, external audience. Record and post the videos to a youtube stream.
Provide opportunities to listen and ask questions through backchannel tools like Today’s Meet or even Twitter.

 

Have your students publish their work through blogs, by creating websites, and by building other online resources that are shared with authentic audiences.
For other ideas see the resources below.

https://youtu.be/KUM4AECEcUA
 

Computer science is the study of computers and computational systems. It is a broad field which includes everything from the algorithms that make up software to how software interacts with hardware to how well software is developed and designed.
Some common job titles for computer scientists include:

Computer Programmer
Information Technology Specialist
Data Scientist
Web Optimization Specialist
Database Administrator
Systems Analyst
Web Developer

https://projects.invisionapp.com/d/main?origin=v7#/console/20294675/474484363/inspect 

What if I told you about this magical teaching practice that, done even once, produces large improvements in student final exam scores[1], helps narrow the grade gap between poorly prepped and highly prepped first year college students[2], and might even result in more positive course reviews[3],[4]? What if I also told you this magical teaching practice is something you already know how to do? What if I told you, the secret to increasing your students’ success and  overall satisfaction is……more TESTS!?
Okay…well to be fair, it’s a little more nuanced than that. While adding just one test to a class does indeed improve final exam scores, it turns out that more frequent, graded exercises in general improve learning outcomes for students [2],[5]. Even better – if these exercises are low stakes, they can improve learning outcomes without increasing student anxiety [4],[6].
We often view testing as an unpleasant but necessary way to assess student performance. It may be time for us to instead view testing as a useful teaching tool and to implement an assessment system that maximizes the potential learning benefits. In this post I will discuss the important known benefits of frequent, low stakes assessments as well as some practical tips for how to maximize these benefits without adding undue stress to your life or the lives of your students.

Benefit #1: “Thinking about thinking”
Testing can improve a student’s metacognition, or their ability to “think about thinking.” A good metacognitive thinker understands how their thought processes work and can pay attention to and change these processes [7]. A student with strong metacognitive skills can therefore more successfully monitor, evaluate, and improve their learning compared to students lacking these skills. Unfortunately, many students struggle with metacognition and must contend with “illusions of mastery” (or thinking they understand a subject better than they actually do).  Self-testing is a good way to prevent illusions of mastery, but many students do not incorporate self-testing into their studying, instead electing more passive modes of exam preparation such as rereading texts[8]. Incorporating more testing into the curriculum forces students into the position of making mistakes and receiving feedback, allowing them to frequently measure their learning in relation to expectations and adjust accordingly. Again, note that providing feedback is an essential part of this process.

Benefit #2: Practice Remembering
Testing can improve a student’s long term memory of information presented in class by forcing students to recall what they’ve learned through a cognitive process called active retrieval. Active retrieval strengthens neural pathways important for retrieving memories, allowing these memories to be more easily accessed in the future.
While any sort of retrieval practice is useful, it is most beneficial when it is effortful, spaced, and interleaved.  An example of effortful retrieval practice includes testing which forces students to provide the answers (i.e. Short answer and fill in the blank questions as opposed to multiple choice). More effortful retrieval also occurs with spaced and interleaved practice.
Spaced practice is testing that occurs after enough time has elapsed for some (but not complete) forgetting to occur (i.e. Present the information and then wait a couple months, days, or even just until the end of class to test students on it). Interleaved practice incorporates different but related topics and problem types, as opposed to having students practice and master one type at a time (e.g. cumulative testing where you mix problems from different units together). Interleaved practice can help students learn to focus on the underlying principles of problems and to discriminate between problem types, leading to more complex mental models and a deeper understanding of the relationships between ideas[6].

How to Implement More Assessments (Without Losing Your Mind)
So, all you have to do now is come up with a ton of quiz and test questions and free up a bunch of class time for assessments! Don’t forget you also need to grade all of these! After all, feedback is an important part of the process, and frequent (even low stakes) grading has the added benefits of enhancing student motivation, attentiveness, and attendance.I know what you busy teachers (ie. all of you) out there are thinking….“Your ”magical” teaching practice is starting to sound like a hugely effective pain in my butt.”
Don’t give up on me now though! There are some fairly simple ways to add more assessments to your curriculum. Furthermore, you should be able to do this sans student rebellion because these assessments are low-stakes. Frequent, low-stake assessments as opposed to infrequent, high-stakes assessments actually decrease student anxiety overall because no single test is a make it or break it event. In fact, several teachers have reported a large increase in positive student evaluations after restructuring their classes in this way[3],[4],[6]!

Below I lay out some tips for getting the most out of shifting your assessment practices while maintaining both your own and your students’ sanity:

1) Know that “effortful” testing is not always necessary
While effortful testing is best for retrieval practice, even basic, easily graded recognition tests such multiple choice questions still offer benefits, such as helping students remember basic (but important!) information[6],[9].

2) Create different assessment questions
You can also make assessments more effortful by creating questions that engage higher cognitive processes. Now you can sit back, relax, and indulge in one of my personal favorite pastimes (watching student brains explode) without the stressful grading!

3) Make use of educational technologies to ease your grading
For instance, clicker tests are a quick way to test students and allow you to provide feedback for the class all at once.

4) Make assessments into games
If your students need a morale boost, make a quiz into a trivia game and give winning groups candy. Some good old competition and Pavlovian conditioning may make students reassess their view of testing.

5) Assess participation
Doing something as simple as a participation grade will still provide students with incentive without overburdening them or yourself. For instance, this type of grading would work in conjunction with #3.

6) Keep graded assessments predictable
Making assessments predictable as opposed to utilizing pop quizzes helps students feel at ease.6 Furthermore, if they students KNOW an assessment is coming, they are more likely to study and pay attention.

7) Find ways to revisit old material in your assessments
Making assessments cumulative is an effective way to space out your review of material and has the added benefit of making problems interleaved and effortful, all of which maximize retrieval practice[6].

8) Have students reflect on mistakes
You can help students develop metacognitive skills by giving them opportunities to reflect upon and correct their mistakes on assessments. For instance, have students take a quiz and then discuss their answers/thinking with their classmates before receiving feedback. You can also give students opportunities to create keys to short answer questions and grade their own and several (anonymous) classmates’ answers. This will allow them to think through what makes an answer complete and effective.

9) Break large assessments into small ones
Instead of creating new assessments, break up large ones into multiple, lower-stakes assessments. For example, consider replacing big tests with several quizzes. Consider scaffolding large projects such as independent research projects and term papers. Ask for outlines, lists of references, graphs, etc. along the course of the semester before the final project is due. This might cause more work for you in the short term but can help prevent complete disasters at the end of the semester, which can be time consuming.

10) Utilize short daily or weekly quizzes
If you don’t want to adjust a big project/test or lose class time by adding time-consuming assessments, consider adding short daily or weekly quizzes. These grades can add up to equal one test grade. One could consider dropping the lowest score(s) but allowing no make ups to reduce logistical issues.
These are only a few of the many strategies one can use to transition to a frequent, low-stakes assessment system. What are your experiences with low stakes assessments? Have you made use of any which seem particularly effective in enhancing student learning?

Related Reading:
Much of the information about the benefits of testing is from:
Brown, P.C., Roediger III, H.L., McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Teaching Commons: “an emergent conceptual space for exchange and communityamong faculty, students, and all others committed to learning as an essential activity of life in contemporary democratic society”(Huber and Hutchings, 2005, p.1) 
What Is the #iteachmsu Commons?    You teach MSU. We, the Academic Advancement Network, The Graduate School, and The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology, believe that a wide educator community (faculty, TAs, ULAs, instructional designers, academic advisors, et al.) makes learning happen across MSU. But, on such a large campus, it can be difficult to fully recognize and leverage this community’s teaching and learning innovations. To address this challenge, the #iteachmsu Commons provides an educator-driven space for sharing teaching resources, connecting across educator networks, and growing teaching practice.#iteachmsu Commons content may be discipline-specific or transdisciplinary, but will always be anchored in teaching competency areas. You will find blog posts, curated playlists, educator learning module pathways, and a campus-wide teaching and learning events calendar. We cultivate this commons across spaces. And through your engagement, we will continue to nurture a culture of teaching and learning across MSU and beyond.  
How Do I Contribute to the #iteachmsu Commons? Content is organized by posts, playlists and pathways.Posts: Posts are shorter or longer-form blog postings about teaching practice(s), questions for the educator community, and/or upcoming teaching and learning events. With an MSU email address and free account signup, educators can immediately contribute blog posts and connected media (e.g. handouts, slide decks, class activity prompts, promotional materials). All educators at MSU are welcome to use and contribute to #iteachmsu. And there are no traditional editorial calendars. Suggested models of posts can be found here.Playlists: Playlists are groupings of posts curated by individual educators and the #iteachmsu community. Playlists allow individual educators to tailor their development and community experiences based on teaching competency area, interest, and/or discipline.Pathways: Pathways are groupings of educator learning modules curated by academic and support units for badges and other credentialing. 
There are two ways to add your contribution to the space:Contribute existing local resources for posts and pathways: Your unit, college, and/or department might already have educator development resources that could be of use to the wider MSU teaching and learning community. These could be existing blog posts on teaching practice, teaching webinars, and/or open educational resources (e.g classroom assessments, activities). This content will make up part of the posts, playlists, and pathways on this site. Educators can then curate these posts into playlists based on their individual interests. Please make sure to have permission to share this content on a central MSU web space.Contribute new content for posts: A strength of the #iteachmsu Commons is that it immediately allows educators to share teaching resources, questions and events through posts to the entire community. Posts can take a variety of forms and are organized by teaching competency area categories, content tags, date, and popularity. Posts can be submitted by both individual educators and central units for immediate posting but must adhere to #iteachmsu Commons community guidelines.Posts could be:About your teaching practice(s): You discuss and/or reflect on the practices you’re using in your teaching. In addition to talking about your ideas, successes, and challenges, we hope you also provide the teaching materials you used (sharing the assignment, slidedeck, rubric, etc.)Responses to teaching ideas across the web or social media: You share your thoughts about teaching ideas they engage with from other media across the web (e.g. blog posts, social media posts, etc.).Cross-posts from other teaching-related blogs that might be useful for the #iteachmsu community: You cross-post content from other teaching-related blogs they feel might be useful to the #iteachmsu community.About teaching-related events: You share upcoming teaching related events as well as their thoughts about ideas they engage with events at MSU and beyond (e.g. workshops, conferences, etc.). If these events help you think in new ways about your practice, share them with the #iteachmsu community.Questions for our community: You pose questions via posts to the larger community to get ideas for their practice and connect with others considering similar questions.What Are the #iteachmsu Commons Policies?Part of the mission of the #iteachmsu Commons is to provide space for sharing, reflecting, and learning for all educators on our campus wherever they are in their teaching development. The commons is designed to encourage these types of interactions and reflect policies outlined by the MSU Faculty Senate.  We maintain the right to remove any post that violates guidelines as outlined here and by MSU. To maintain a useful and safer commons, we ask that you:Follow the MSU Guidelines for Social Media.Engage across the #iteachmsu commons in a civil and respectful manner. Content may be moderated in accordance with the MSU Guidelines for Social Media.Do not share private or confidential information via shared content on the #iteachmsu Commons.Content posted on the #iteachmsu Commons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Learn more about this licensing here. Posted comments, images, etc. on the #iteachmsu Commons do not necessarily represent the views of Michigan State University or the #iteachmsu Commons Team. Links to external, non-#iteachmsu Commons content do not constitute official endorsement by, or necessarily represent the views of, the #iteachmsu Commons or Michigan State University.What if I Have #iteachmsu Commons Questions and/or Feedback?If you have any concerns about #iteachmsu Commons content, please email us at iteach@msu.edu. We welcome all feedback and thank you for your help in promoting a safer, vibrant and respectful community.