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Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Incorporating hands-on learning and technology into the same lesson


Thanks to Monica Waller of Lewis and Clark Community College for sharing the following lesson idea!

Recently I allowed students to use their cell phones to research paper airplanes and research the physics behind airplanes. Students were asked to build three distinctly different paper airplanes. Many do not know how to build them. I allowed them to use their phones to find instructions on building them. Since I have rarely allowed cell phone usage, they loved this. We did a scientific method exercise asking which plane will go the farthest and recorded the data. Afterwards, we discussed all aspect of the experiment and reported our results. The students were asked how does the plane fly? They researched using their phones and we discussed. Cell phones seem to be a worthwhile tool to use in a smaller classroom and one where all students have access to a phone or computer. 

3 comments:

  1. Seems like a great way to teach students how to use their phones for learning

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  2. This is great! I recently conducted a presentation about Community Land Management and also asked participants to use their cell phones to conduct research. People loved it! They said it was really helpful and helped them define terms that they never heard before.

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  3. This is a great activity to apply digital literacy instruction in having learners actually do something productive with their phones. Everyone knows how to text and share pictures, but it's very useful to be able to sift through information and pull out relevant material. Thanks!

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