Hi there. In this education post, I want to talk about technology usage in teaching.
In today's times, technology is pretty much everywhere. It is in how reach out to people, it is in our phones, it is in our media and we also have become reliant on computers for information, entertainment and productivity.
Technology is popular in the education sector as online teaching has a much larger reach versus local in-person teaching in schools and education centres.
About ten to fifteen years ago, the teacher would sometimes display information on a see through laminate sheet with a yellow lighting projector. Those days are gone as modern projectors display video and images from a laptop screen. It is now easier to show information and media through laptops and projectors.
VHS Tapes, music CDs and DVD players are now replaced by .mp3 audio files, .mp4 video files and Youtube videos. There is no need for physical media for educational purposes when so much educational content is online.
Technological advancements has provided teachers and educators with more options in displaying information and communicating concepts to students. Teaching with just a chalkboard/whiteboard lacks variety and can bore students. Adding in educational Youtube videos, interactive educational games, slideshow presentations and usage interactive educational websites gives the educational experience a more modern feel and can be more effective than the plain 'ol copy notes from a board.
Here are some websites that can be used as supplementary tools for teaching. (Images below are screenshots)
World Map Website
Instead of using a physical flat world map, consider this website from geology.com where the page shows a colourful world map with all the major countries. The countries are clickable which allows for a closer look on the selected country and its subregions.
Learning About The Coral Reef
This website is an example of an interactive educational game. Players can click on various items in the "coral reef" and find out more information about it. Displaying this on a projector helps young students have an idea what the coral reef plant and animal species are like.
Math Teaching With Interactive Educational Websites
There are a lot of nice, useful, interactive and free websites for math learning. The one website that I have found interesting recently is toytheater.com and its Teacher Tools section. The Teacher Tools section is mainly math focused which has neat visuals and math learning tools. There are number charts, fraction strips, decimal strips, percentage strips, flashcards, play money, dice, spinners and an interactive clock.
Math Graphing Websites
I am not sure if students these days still use the Texas Instrument Graphing Calculators when websites like Geogebra and Desmos have free online graphing calculators. Instead of sketching various mathematical functions by hand, why not just graph it with an online graphing calculator in colour!
Thank you for reading.
