EDLD 5326 School-Community Relations

My action research plan is coming along slowly.  I have been processing my data from the Student Technology Survey our students took this fall.  Some of the results are.

     I am trying to prove that technology use for students is a direct link to success at school.  I have had 428 students from our school take the Student Techonology Survey I created on surveymonkey.com.  Only ten percent of our students say they don’t have computer access at home. 

89 % of students who said virtual labs helped them learn the subject matter.

58 % of students say their math and science teachers rarely or never use virtual labs in the classroom.

70 % of students say they would prefer to use computers for schoolwork instead of pen and paper.

68 % say computers make schoolwork more interesting.

53% say that computers help them understand their classwork better.

71 % say they are looking forward to using laptops all the time in their classes.

71 % say they use computers for doing their homework on a weekly to monthly basis.

61 % say they use their home computer on a weekly to daily basis.

89 % say they use computers to research information for schoolwork.

98 % say they have individual access to computers at school.

After looking at the data.  I am concerned that 89% of our students say that virtual labs help them better understand Science and Math but 58% say their Science and Math teachers never use this technology.  I believe that the teachers don’t use the virtual labs we have access to because they are not comfortable or don’t take the time to practice the use of the labs.  They feel intimidated by the technology when many of their students understand how to use the technology better than they do. 

    My school district is a rare one that has plenty of resources to supply our students with computer access.  Many schools don’t have the resources we have.  I am also writing a a grant to purchase Vernier LabQuests for our Science laboratory use.  It will help our students understand and process the data they produce while doing laboratory activities  Often times students are told to do a lab activity but the results are never processed leaving the students wondering why they did the lab in the first place.  I hope to change that. 

     I have also worked in schools that had the laboratory technology and after two years when I arrived at that school none of the $25,000.00 technology had even been charged.  It had merely been sitting in a closet.  Their was also greate resistance there to using the technology because the teachers didn’t understand how.  They had gone through training but never practiced after the staff development.  I believe school districts should track how the resources they purchase is being used.  Why spend the funds to only have the resources sitting in a closet.  Student can be excited by educators if the educators make school more interesting. 

     My goal with my action research project is to promote innovative ways to use technology in the classroom and to bring up test scores and graduation rates of all students, especially the lower level learners.  

 My students education is so very important to me.  Not just because of test scores but for the students feeling of success and accomplishment.