If you talk to the average high school student about
physics, most of them will have an experience that is not very pleasant. They will talk about how confusing it
was. However I believe one of the most confusing
things about physics are not actually the concepts of physics, but the terminology
of physics. Not having the basics of
understanding of the terminology makes the whole subject extremely
difficult. However with the internet
being in most of our pockets things like terminology can be discovered in an
instant. From website like, http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/glossary.htm,
students can easily understand what the teacher is actually trying to teach.
Especially since physics uses many words such as: work,
energy, power, etc. Many students think
they understand the terminology, but physics terms like this are used in a very
specific kind of way that is crucial to understand. Many teachers view technology such as smart
phones to be an enemy against the teacher, but it can be something that can be
a powerful ally that has great benefits in assisting the teacher, if it is used
correctly. Instead of having the teacher
go over all of these words and print out multiple papers for the students to
learn the words, teachers should utilize students to teach themselves through
technology and it is so easy now with the access of the internet.
Of course there are many flaws to this kind of statement for
young students to be independent learners and to allow students to use their
smart phones. However with the right
kind of learning environment and if the teachers are comfortable, teachers
should start to see how helpful things like smartphones can be in the classroom
instead of seeing it as something that is distracting and harmful to education. I think the reason many teachers would not
like this is because they do not trust their students to be using technology is
the best way, but I hope that is something that can soon change, and we can all
start to feel how exciting learning really is.
I do not remember much from my physics class in high school, I think it had something to do with what you mentioned. The difficulty understanding terminology caused me to dismiss the class all together. Although the experiments were fun and interesting, the concept was foreign to me. Smartphones did not come out until 2 years after I graduated, so this implementation could not apply to me. However, I find your arguments very compelling and agree that teachers should not frown upon them. It is likely students will use them anyways in class, so why not use this to the teacher’s advantage. Implementing sites like the one you stated as another foot in the door, so to speak, where students could relate. If allow in my future school district, I hope to implement smartphones in my mathematics class on equations ad definitions. Wolfram Alpha has an amazing application that can further assure students understanding.
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