Technology, Science Teaching, and Literacy: A Century of Growth (Innovations in Science Education and Technology, 11)

This book profiles the instructional use of technology in the science classroom from 1900 to the present day. Drawn from a variety of sources - from teacher accounts of classroom practice, and contemporary research accounts of the best teaching practices with technology - it examines patterns of implementation with respect to the classroom use of technology. The organizing principle of scientific literacy is examined in terms of the changes it incurred over the course of the twentieth century, and how the use of technology provided a means of achieving the goals of scientific literacy in the classroom. This book deals with the use of technology in science teaching. The author is not, nor has ever had an intention of being a “techie. ” Rather, I spent the first decade of my professional life as a high school physics teacher, making occasional uses of technology to further student understanding and to automate my own teaching practices. During my graduate work, my interest in the use of technology continued. Catalyzed, to some extent by the increasing availability of graphical interfaces for computers, the realization struck that the computer was more and more becoming a tool that all teachers could use to support their teaching practice—not simply those with a passion for the technology itself. The rapid changes in the hardware and software available, however, frequently caused me to reflect on the usefulness of technology—if it were to change at such a rapid pace, would anyone, save for those who diligently focused on the development of these tools, be able to effectively use technology in science teaching? Was change to rapid to yield a useful tool for teachers? To address this interest, I examined the nature of science teaching during this century—using the equally fluid notion of “scientific literacy”—which formed the organizing principle for this study. The result is a examination of how technology was used to accomplishing this goal of producing scientifically literate citizens. What was observed is that technology, indeed, consistently came to the service of teachers as they attempted to achieve this goal. Annotation This book profiles the instructional use of technology in thescience classroom from 1900 to the present day. Drawn from a varietyof sources - from teacher accounts of classroom practice, andcontemporary research accounts of the best teaching practices withtechnology - it examines patterns of implementation withrespect to the classroom use of technology. The organizing principleof scientific literacy is examined in terms of the changes it incurredover the course of the twentieth century, and how the use oftechnology provided a means of achieving the goals of scientificliteracy in the classroom "Profiling the instructional use of technology in the science classroom from 1900 to 2001, this text is drawn from a variety of sources - from teacher accounts of classroom practice, and contemporary research accounts of the best teaching practices with technology. It examines patterns of implementation with respect to the classroom use of technology. The organizing principle of scientific literacy is examined in terms of the changes it incurred over the course of the 20th century, and how the use of technology provided a means of achieving the goals of scientific literacy in the classroom."--Jacket Preliminaries......Page 2 Preface to the Series......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Contents......Page 14 1. Introduction......Page 18 2. Science Education......Page 22 3. The Motion Picture......Page 54 4. Radio in the Science Classroom......Page 84 5. Instructional Television......Page 102 6. The Computer......Page 138 7. Perspective......Page 182 References......Page 194 Index......Page 214 In the statement above, Levin and Meister began their examination of the disappointments associated with technologies over the decades.