Tablets in the Classroom: 

Merging Inquiry Based Learning and Technology 

A lot of teachers today (or traditional teachers) may be afraid of technology in the classroom for a number of reasons. Maybe they think that it will distract their students and take away from the traditional learning process. Or others may be afraid that they don't know how to deal with and use the ever-changing technology that gets introduced to our world almost daily! 

Whatever it may be, all of those fears can be overcome if teachers can see and understand the benefits that merging inquiry based learning and technology can have. Upon reading Harwood, Bajovic, Woloshyn, Di Cesare, Lane, and Scott's (2015) paper on tablets in an early childhood education classroom I was inspired to learn about how inquiry based learning and technology can mesh well together. 

Considering children today are growing up in a fully technologically literate society, it makes sense that what they learn in the school system also be conducive to the technological literate society they are a part of. It is most certainly true that educators may be afraid of technology, but we need to embrace that fact that our students are not and we could, in fact, learn a great deal if we become open to what our students have to teach us. 

According to Harwood et al. (2015) inquiry based learning centres around the premise of "active exploration, experimenting, experiencing, problem solving, and multiple representations of understanding knowledge" (p. 54). With that being said, being a teacher candidate who is comfortable with technology, I would consider tablets as a great tool to allow students to actively explore and experience the world in which they live. For example, there may be some topics within the classroom that we can't have readily available at our fingertips. However, with a tablet in our hands, the possible of active exploration are endless.

Another aspect of inquiry based pedagogy is the idea that we are promoting an education that is "balanced around children's emerging interests, play, queries, and natural curiosities" (p. 54). Considering the previously mentioned point about children being surrounded in a world filled with technology, it is without doubt that these children will be curious and interested in the technology that they find themselves surrounded in. Therefore, why would we, as educators, prohibit our students from exploring these opportunities because we are afraid of them. We need to take the professional development/growth steps to learn about new technologies and stay current with the information and tools that are meaningful to our students so as to provide them with a full education. 

However, just because our students are growing up in this technologically literate society, doesn't mean that we can just add tablets and technology into our classroom without understandings its positive and negative impacts. As mentioned, we need to educate ourselves on the technology we are implementing into our classrooms as well as ensure we are keeping an eye on what our students are getting into. Lessons on internet safety are good things to incorporate, no matter what age. Blagojevic, Brumer, Chevalier, O'Clair, and Thomes (2012) article on learning and exploring using tablets is an excellent resource to use when deciding whether tablets are the right fit for your classroom, as well as the steps to take after introducing them. They suggest how to choose the right tool for your class, as well as suggestions given for proper app selection once the tool is introduced, and managing the use of it in your classroom. 

For teachers considering the idea of using technology in the classroom, the references I have provided are great starting points to show you how beneficial technology can be in the classroom as well as how to begin the implementation process. Good luck and don't be afraid! Technology has a lot to offer both you and your students! 

References

Blagojevic, B., Brumer, H., Chevalier, S., O'Clair, A., & Thomes, K. (2012). Learning and exploring tablets. Learn and Grow, 6(1), 18-21. 

Harwood, D., Bajovic, M., Woloshyn, V., Di Cesare, D. M., Lane, L., & Scott, K. (2015). Intersecting spaces in early childhood education: Inquiry-based pedagogy and tablets. The International Journal of Holistic Early Learning and Development, 1, 53-67. 

The Outdoor Classroom: 

Enabling our Indigenous Students

Upon my years at Brock University, it has been brought to my attention multiple times that Indigenous students have seemed to receive the "short end of the stick" when it comes to their education. According to Chambers and Radbourne (2015) Indigenous students experience significant gaps in achievement in comparison with their non-Indigenous classmates, as teachers today are still using a "fragmented and Euro-centric approach" to teach these students (p. 5). This simply cannot continue to happen, in order to ensure this, some real change needs to happen in our classrooms today.

With this being said, I propose that incorporating the outdoors into the classroom is an excellent idea to ensure that all students (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) are getting everything they possibly can out of their education. By using the ecosocial theory, and environment as text proposed by Chambers and Radbourne (2015), students will be able to develop respect and care for the environment in which they live as well as for each other. Taking the classroom outside doesn't mean that science will be the only topic covered. The outdoor classroom can incorporate a cross-cuticular approach, teaching students critical literacy, mathematics and science. The math and science will come in obvious ways from the environment, but critical literacy takes a bit more planning. Students will be able to read their world and answer critical questions that the environment begs us to answer (Chambers and Radbourne, 2015). How does the environment shape us as humans and how do we shape the environment? As human beings its quite clear that we aren't separate from the environment, both have an equal impact on one another and teaching students this importance will allow them to critically analyze what they do and how they do it and why it effects the environment.

Chambers and Radbourne (2015) suggest that Indigenous Elders and artists have an active role in this outdoor classroom by both planning and instruction. With Indigenous community members as part of the learning process, Indigenous students will begin to develop self-esteem and the belief that their traditional identity and culture matter and make a difference to the environment. Indigenous Elders can teach all students about the reliance that their people have on the land and water, and about their own cultural beliefs on what land and water can offer them. These individuals can help everyone learn about the lands ability to produce and support life.

By teaching everyone in the classroom about the multiple cultures that make up our world, we are creating a safe place where every student can feel confident in sharing and appreciating the culture in which they came from. We are teaching a culturally responsive pedagogy, and teaching our students to confront the norm and to accept that it isn't the only way of being. That is critical literacy.

Many teachers being raised in the traditional (or what we see as traditional) Euro-centric hegemonic ways of Western society, may find this idea of a cultural responsive pedagogy difficult to teach, incorporating individuals from the communities we want to learn about is a great way to become more open-minded.

I can see an outdoor classroom being beneficial to every student, specifically the Indigenous students who, for so long, have dealt with being second best. Hands-on, kinaesthetic, and land-based lessons and units can help positively impact students academic achievement, in more than just one subject. I believe it can create a well rounded, culturally responsive student who is appreciative of every culture, not just their own.

Reference

Chambers, J. M., & Radbourne, C. L. (2015). Developing critical literacy skills through using the environment as text. Language and Literacy, 17(1), 1-20.

Financial Literacy

When someone says you need to be literate, what does that mean? Well, when I think of being literate I think of my ability to read and write. But more than that, and arguably most important, is being able to understand what I am reading and writing. Without understanding is there really any meaning to anything written or read? Not really.

With this in mind, what does it mean to be financially literate? To me being financially literate is ones ability to understand the language of the economy. Economy is anything to do with money and the way the world depends on it. So why is it only now that society is deciding it to be an important topic of discussion in schools? When I was in elementary and high school, I don't believe I got any sort of financial education. My parents still do my taxes, I have no idea what life insurance is, or interest on bank accounts, or a house mortgage and how to pay it off. In fact, the thought of having to one day do those things on my own is quite frightening!

Why, then, is it that these things were never taught to me in school? Everyone, at some point or another, will have to deal with any number of these things at the same time, so why is it that its important to teach today? In discussing this with my colleagues in lecture today, we thought that it was because the economy and society now, places a tremendous amount of importance on money, and being able to properly handle it. Kids today as young as 5 years old have their own debit cards, I didn't get one until I was in third grade, and even then I still had no idea what I had in my hands!

So, since I am financially illiterate, now what? As a future educator and with the increasingly important need for teachers to be able to teach students about financial literacy, what do I do to prepare myself? Well, the internet of course! There is so much on the internet that I can use to help make myself financially literate, from YouTube videos on how to calculate interest, to WikiHow's on how to pay off a mortgage, theres nothing I wouldn't be able to teach myself online. However, if the internet isn't the way you want to go, you could always seek out someone who knows what they're talking about! You could go to your bank and sit down with a financial adviser and pick their brain about the ins and outs of the financial world, or ask a colleague to help you out! Can you say professional development?

Although the thought of teaching the unknown is scary to some (like me), there is a limitless supply of information at my fingertips!