TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

Mrs. Stone’s 3rd grade class

Shapes In Life

I wanted to do a lesson showing the class that shapes are everywhere all around us.

So I took the students out in small groups and let them each take pictures with my digital camera of shapes that they found around the school and school yard.

How Did They Like It?

The students LOVED this activity! They got very involved in actively seeking out different shapes.

Every child knew how to take pictures on a camera, so we did not have to spend any time teaching them about the technology.

Some of the children weren’t exactly the best at getting the whole object in the frame.

Rectangle

This was actually one girl’s bike.

Circle

This was an exciting find!

Pentagon

The students were excited to realize that the school was covered entirely in rectangles.

Rectangle

Another great find!

Octagon

Student Use of Technology

The students were actively involved in using the digital camera. They were the ones who took the pictures of the shapes.

This technology helped to promote active learning.

Technology Use is Essential

The digital camera was an add on to the real learning activity. It helped the children be more excited about finding shapes around the school.

The technology was a motivational factor for this lesson. I wanted to make a class book about the shapes that we found, so I used to pictures to do that.

Focus on Learning Task

Using the digital camera really helped the students focus on looking for shapes since they were only allowed to use the camera when taking a picture of a shape.

Using the digital camera was definitely helpful in achieving the learning task.

Since it took very little time for the students to learn how to use the digital camera, the camera was very beneficial.

Added Value

This lesson would not be easier to do without technology. I could have the students draw pictures of what they saw and create a book from that, but taking pictures is easier and more effective.

Technology added value to this lesson because it helped to focus the children and get them more excited.

I was able to make a class book and a class slide show by using the digital camera. I could not have done that without this technology.