Transformed By Technology

CHARLIE BUNSHAFT GOT HIS first real taste of technology in the classroom when a colleague gave him a projector he wasn’t using anymore. Bunshaft, a K-5 science teacher at P.S. 131Q in Queens, N.Y., used it to project PowerPoint presentations with textbook passages, questions and ideas. But when he’d slip in customized material, such as a photo of his son, Owen, during a lesson plan on mammals, he’d see his students’ attention levels soar.

In the three years since then, Bunshaft and his students have tracked Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Web sites. His students have created tech-driven science-fair projects that, for two years in a row, took the top awards in every category they entered. They have researched the Web to learn how to grow a school garden that won awards from singer Bette Midler and the New York Sanitation Department, as well as a personal invitation to CBS’ The Early Show and a write-up in New York Newsday.

“We’ve been busy,” Bunshaft says. “Technology’s a big part of what we do.”

Like Bunshaft, who has been teaching for 14 years, educators around the nation are finding that their classrooms are being transformed by technology. CDW•G’s fourth annual Teachers Talk Tech survey, designed to gauge teachers’ impressions on the state of technology in schools, found that technology continues to change the way teachers teach and students learn.

Teachers say they are making the transition from learning technical skills to using technology to improve core curricula knowledge. “I’m worlds beyond what I knew three years ago,” Bunshaft says.

And it’s making a difference. Of the teachers surveyed, 82 percent say computers engage their students in the learning process versus 76 percent in 2005, and 65 percent say their students’ academic performance improves with the use of classroom computers, compared with 61 percent last year. “I think every teacher should be teaching with technology every day,” Bunshaft says. “There’s no reason not to in 2006.”

EFFECTIVE LEARNING

In three years, teachers have dramatically transformed the way they use technology. Bunshaft, for instance, used technology as a presentation tool in 2003, whereas today he uses it interactively with students.

His students, 80 percent of whom are immigrants, created personal Web sites to keep distant relatives informed about their lives. They also used Google Earth to see aerial photos of their homelands.

In this year’s survey, 60 percent of the teachers who responded say technology is effective in teaching scientific concepts, compared with only 51 percent last year. When it comes to critical thinking skills, the number of teachers who think technology is an effective teaching tool jumped to 68 percent from 59 percent last year. As a writing skills tool, 71 percent find technology effective versus 64 percent in 2005.

Those numbers still reflect some degree of resistance to technology, which many teachers feel is healthy. Margery Wieder, a 30-year teaching veteran at Newton North High School outside Boston, feels that while technology has a role in education, it’s less useful to her as an English teacher than it would be if she were teaching another subject. Her classes, she adds, are most effective when students are discussing ideas rather than working on computers.

“Technology could distract people from getting kids to talk with each other and think about what they’re reading,” Wieder says.

Wieder does use some technology in her classes. Her students research authors online and write papers at home, she takes attendance on a notebook PC, and she communicates with parents and students via e-mail. Wieder uses projectors to show artwork or poems that they discuss in class, and she takes her students to the computer lab for in-class writing or to the library for online research every few weeks. They occasionally play computer-based games, such as Jeopardy, and Wieder plans to build a class Web site this year.

But, Wieder says, “I’d hate to use too much class time doing computer work when it’s something they can do on their own time. I’d rather have them interacting with each other. Most days you’ll find my class [sitting] in a circle talking.”

Wieder has searched for lesson plans online, but, she says, “I’m not really impressed with what I find. I like developing curriculum, and I feel that’s one of the things that I’ve gotten better at after so many years of teaching.”

Wieder is not alone. While some teachers resist technology because it’s intimidating, Wieder is careful not to use it for its own sake. Particularly because of the nature of what she teaches, Wieder would rather limit technology to activities that can further learning.

She knows she can’t dismiss technology outright because it’s a tool her students will inevitably use in the future. “They’re going to go places technologically — they already have — that I will never go,” says Wieder, who plans to retire in a few years.

Bunshaft of P. S. 131Q agrees. Because his students are young and can quickly grasp new concepts, he feels this is the perfect time to incorporate technology into their learning. “It’s irresponsible not to use it, because they’ll have to use technology in college and at work,” he says.

Bunshaft feels there’s a big gap in students’ technology skills that teachers should work to eliminate. “Why wouldn’t you expose them to technology if you have the opportunity?” he asks.