juliannrosizky

Current Mood: sleepy

While reading this chapter, I found a lot of things very exciting.  Firstly, I was very intrigued by this Microworld.  I love how the book quotes “The computer should be an object to think about” (p. 45) Saying this, this program, from what I got out of it, teaches peoples/students to “think” about real life situations.  Even though Microworld may take some people longer to develop the basic skills, in order to manipulate through it, I believe that with the amount of time spent on the computer, people/students will become proficient at it.  I believe that teachers should feel very comfortable teaching a wide range of subjects, including the computer.  As of right now, in my placement this year, I am doing a research project with my children.  They are researching information about all types of Canadian animals.  I have gone out looking for a bunch of books for them, and photocopied some information, however starting this week and I beginning to get them on the computer to research some more information.  If a teacher does not feel comfortable teaching children the basics on the computer, I believe that children will fall behind in some aspects.  I am aware of some children who do not have a computer at home, however technology is growing very quickly and I believe that our society as a whole are becoming more reliant on computers than ever before.

The second thing that I enjoyed reading about was everything that was included within the Microworld.  Even though some of the subjects (interactive physics, simcalc) do seem advanced for children in the lower levels of elementary school, children will sit at a computer and click around.  They will figure things out, and even if they do not understand it, I can almost guarantee that it will be interesting for them.  For example these programs show graphs.  Students at a younger grade level have not been working with graphs before, therefore if they create something they are not familiar with, they will feel a sense of accomplishment and want to share it with the rest of the class.

The last thing that I really enjoyed reading about in this chapter was about Sim City.  While reading about it, it got me thinking about activities I can do with the children in my placement.  They all live around an area in which is very urbanized.  The chapter made an example of how the children can make decisions about land use and transportation.  In an around mostly any part in Toronto, children are aware of transportation and their surroundings while riding or walking to school.  I think that an activity like this one could benefit most children as they can relate it to real life.

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