Chapter 6: Teaching with Educational Websites and Other Online Resources

Focus Question: How might educational websites provide interactive and engaging learning experiences for students?

In today’s generation of children, they are not simply entertained with playing outside all day, or playing card and board games without being “bored.” With the advance in technology children are more intrigued by staring at a screen and using the simple motion of the swipe of a finger, and can remain entertained for hours on end. So if children are now more interested and entertained with touch screens and fictional characters, don’t you think we should bring that into the classroom?!

Since children are so interested and entertained in technology based games and apps, people have figured out that educational websites would be a great addition to the internet. With the creation of educational websites you provide an array of opportunities not only for the students but also for the teachers. By a teacher providing the students to learn not only through classroom verbal lessons, but also provide the students with the opportunity to learn the lessons with fictional characters, and fun interactive games. (Example: Jimi-Rocks: under the sea adventure, interactive website) 

With these games and characters it allows the students to make connections to the lesson while also getting to play an educational game. Also it provides different aspects of a lesson providing different ways to interpret and understand the lesson. Educational websites are also beneficial to teachers. It provides somewhat of a breathing time in the classroom as well as provides the students with different and fun ways to learn.

Tech Tool: An Interactive Online Field Trip: The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc

This website was amazing. It was very cool to take an “online field trip.” This website was very interactive, and you can also tell that it is maintained and well kept up. This would be the type of website I would definitely use in my class room as a future teacher; I think students would love it.

Summary and Connections:

This chapter made me realize that there are more resources now for teachers and students in order to keep students interested in learning and teachers excited about teaching and changing lives. Technology provides a whole new way to learn and teach, and since it is always changing and expanding, it makes the classroom continually change, and with that there are more and more ways to entertain and teach students. 

Resources:

Underwater Learning – Interactive Educational Site. (n.d.). Educational Technology Blog | Think Online Education. Retrieved February 22, 2013, from http://thinkonline.smarttutor.com/underwater-learning-interactive-educational-site/

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010).Transforming learning with new technologies. Allyn & Bacon.