Technologies for Teaching Science and Mathematics in the K-12 Schools: Reviews, Observations, and Directions for Practice in the Southern United State

The overarching idea behind this article was the importance of bringing the use of technology into the educational atmosphere of teachers, pre-service teachers, and students to create an educational generation that not only has access to such technology, but learns to integrate it into learning and life beyond the schooling years. The author focuses on studies being done in Louisiana and other areas of the Southern US that look at the use of technology instruction and integration starting at the pre-service teacher higher education level and working its way into the K-12 classrooms. By creating a new generation of teachers that are technology savvy and understanding of the benefits technology brings to science and mathematics classrooms, there hopes to be a general shift away from the fear and doubt that many in-service teachers experience at the thought of using modern technology as an alternative to traditional practices. K-12 students, in turn, will be exposed to technology and learn to trust and accept it as a valuable tool that will prepare them to enter the working world, thus continuing the cycle.
The article also mentions some of the observations that are described in the mentioned articles, including the different uses of technology in math and science classes at different developmental stages in K-12 schools, as well as the difficulties faced by teachers when they implement technology into their curriculum. One of the largest of problems that are seen in public schools today is the lack of resources that are available to bring technology into the classroom. Speaker (2003) describes the effect that this has on schools as the Mathews effect, where the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Those schools that have the necessary funding for technology in the classroom are seeing an improvement in performance that will ultimately bring students more success, while the opposite is occurring at schools in low socioeconomic areas.

Speaker, R. (2003). Technologies for teaching science and mathematics in the k-12 schools: Reviews, observations, and directions for practice in the southern United States. In R. Speaker (Ed.) Proceedings of computer-based learning in sciences (pp. 1055-64). R. Speaker.

I chose to read this article because it not only relates back to me as a pre-service teacher, but specifically as a pre-service Science teacher. The benefits of technology in the science classroom seem limitless. Technology not only allows simple tasks to be done with greater ease, but also provides an opportunity to stir interest and excitement in students who generally have an apathetic or negative view of the subject. Technology is particularly beneficial to science education because it allows students to understand topics that are difficult to describe or explain using traditional teaching methods by allowing students to explore, inquire, and manipulate. The problems that exist in schools with low funding are evident as I observe classrooms today. For my practicum observation, an eighth grade science class is limited to one trip to the school computer lab per year, an opportunity that seems hopeless to new teachers who are learning about the success technology can bring to learning. What should future educators do to ensure that technology is available to our students, no matter where their school is located? Should we learn how to incorporate less-expensive, older forms of technology into our curricula or should we learn how to fight for funding to provide our students with the best, most up-to-date equipment? It is becoming a common idea for universities and teacher preparation programs to pump technologically savvy teachers into the educational realm, but what do we do when we get there only to realize that the rest of society hasn't always caught up?