The chapters that was required of me and my fellow students to read dealt with different types instructional software and computer programs to help out in the classroom, for helping students to learn faster and more efficiently. My first example of a instructional software actually comes from the textbook on page 95. It is a simulation software that is called
The Crisis at Fort Sumter ( this is the URL to the website that they give in the text: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewAssignment.htm?id=%2Fassignments.htm%3Fmaterial%3D79032&hitlistpage=%2Fassignments.htm%3Fmaterial%3D79032 I looked it up myself and it's pretty neat). I liked this program a lot because it is one that I'd most likely be able to use in my teaching career someday. The simulation is a history simulation set during the American Civil War. M.D. Roblyer and Aaron Doering state in our textbook that "the simulation outlines the decisions that President Abraham Lincoln had to make concerning Fort Sumter." (pg. 95). Another instructional program is actually on a website that a student can login and use to help with tests. It's called
Study blue more information can be found about it here:
http://www.studyblue.com/. It is great resource to use for older kids in later middle school or high school. But basically this web resource allows the student to make their own flash cards or use other students flash cards from earlier classes without having to write them all out. This is an example of Drill and Practice instructional web resources. Although in the text on page 84 drill and practice type get criticized as "drill and kill" (pg. 84), I happen to think that this technology can be very useful to many students. It is also something that I might utilize in the future. Although this should probably only be used for review and studying not for actually learning the content. The last one of these instructional software examples I want to give is called
The Constitution by Congress for Kids, (http://congressforkids.net/Constitution_writingconstitution.htm). This is an example of tutorial instructional software. It is also an example that comes from the textbook on page 89. It is a tutorial that is useful in helping kids understand how the government works.In chapter five they discussed about software support tools. The obvious example that springs to mind is
Wikipedia.com. I know I use it quite frequently, and it can be very helpful as long as you are careful not to take everything on Wikipedia as the gospel truth. This would be considered a research and reference tool. Another example that comes from the textbook is called
The Road to Revolution (URL: http://exchange.smarttech.com)
, it is an example of a whiteboard application. On page 148 it is discussed in some detail. But basically "students listen to scenarios of events leading up to the Revolutionary War as the teacher displays information about the events on the whiteboard." (page 148). I really think this might be something I could use one day, but I would need to investigate it a bit more. This chapters were very informative and I believe that we as future educators will be able to use them in years to come.
