CISC 120 Computers in Elementary Education

 

Spring 2012

 

Instructor:        Mark Werness

 

Class Meets:    1:35 – 2:40 MWF

                         428 OSS

 

Office:              411 OSS

                         651-962-5471

 

Office Hours:

                         10:00 – 11:30  TTh and by appointment.

 

Required:        Text:  Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (with

                                    MyEducationLab by M.D. Roblyer and Aaron H. Doering,

                                    5th Edition, Allyn & Bacon, 2010.

 

References:    

                         1.  Mindstorms by Seymour Papert, Basic Books Inc., 1980.

 

                         2.  The Children's Machine; Rethinking School in the Age of the

                              Computer by Seymour Papert, Basic Books, 1993.

 

                         3.  http://scratch.mit.edu/    The Scratch home page.  Scratch is produced

                              by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab

 

 

Enhancement Program:

Qualified students with documented disabilities who may need classroom accommodations should make an appointment with the Enhancement Program – Disability Services office. Appointments can be made by calling 651-962-6315.You may also make an appointment in person in O’Shaughnessy Educational Center, room 119. For further information, you can locate the Enhancement Program on the web at http://www.stthomas.edu/enhancementprog/.

 

 

Course Description:

 

This course is intended for Elementary Education majors.  It is also intended to provide the computer concepts and skills necessary to support the courses in the Science Division Major for Elementary Education students - Science and Mathematics in Elementary Education (SMEE).  Topics will include computer applications in science and mathematics, software packages for use in elementary school and middle school classrooms, Computer-Assisted-Instruction, multimedia, telecommunication, the World-Wide-Web, HTML and MicroWorlds and Scratch programming, experiments and examples. 

 

The course will explore the role of the computer in elementary and middle school education, what works and what doesn't work, and how to make the most effective use of the computer technology in the classroom or computer lab.  We will explore and discuss the Directed Instruction and Constructivist teaching methods and their relationship to computer software.  The constructivist philosophy of MicroWorlds will be discussed.  We will also be using the new “Scratch” software from MIT.  Scratch, like MicroWorlds, is a constructivist programming environment that allows users to create their own interactive games, stories, music, and art.  There will be a series of MicroWorlds and Scratch labs, assignments, and projects which will emphasize applications in math and science such as planar geometry, probability, and data collection, analysis, and graphing. 

 

 

Evaluation and Grading:

 

Grades will be based on the following work and weighted as indicated:

 

            Mid-semester exam                            20%

            Final exam                                          25%

            Hands-on tests on MicroWorlds,        20%

              Scratch and other software

            Software evaluation reports and

               other written material                      10%

            Programs, projects and

               other computer exercises                 15%

            Class participation                              10%

 

Tentative Semester Schedule

 

Class  Date      Topics

 

  1      M 1/30   Course Intro. and Organization,

                        Introduction to  “MicroWorlds EX Robotics”

                        MicroWorlds Lab 1

                       

  2      W 2/1    Pre-discussion of Computers in Education,

                        Introduction to “Scratch” and Scratch Lab 1

                        web searching assignment

 

  3      F  2/3    The World-Wide-Web, Web Page Creation using HTML

                        Web page assignment 1

 

  4     M 2/6     More HTML

                        Web page assignment 2

 

  5     W 2/8     MicroWorlds EX Procedures with Buttons and Sliders

                        MicroWorlds Lab 2

 

  6     F  2/10   MicroWorlds Animation and MicroWorlds Lab 3 - Project 1

 

  7     M  2/13  Project approach, begin Directed Instruction and Constructivist methods,

                        related software types

 

  8     W 2/15   more Directed Instruction and Constructivist methods,

                        related software types

 

  9     F  2/17    Word Processing and Drill and Practice

MicroWorlds Arithmetic and PI, Triangles, Pythagorean Th.

                        MicroWorlds Lab 4

 

 10    M 2/20   Scratch Day 2

 

 11    W 2/22   MicroWorlds in the Classroom,

                        MicroWorlds Lab 5, MicroWorlds Exploration: Random Numbers

 

 12    F  2/24    Tutorials, MicroWorlds, Stochastic Models and Simulation

 

 13    M 2/27   Decisions, ifelse, loops and MicroWorlds

 

 14    W 2/29   Three Primary Control Structures and Scratch Day 3

 

 15    F  3/2      Review exercise for hands-on exam 1

 

 

 16    M  3/5    MicroWorlds and Scratch Hands-on Exam 1

 

Statistics and Data Analysis and Display section of the course

 

 17    W 3/7     MicroWorlds and Scratch graphing and STAMP,

                        Begin descriptive statistics

 

 18     F  3/9   Spreadsheets, Utility Software and Data Analysis and Display

 

 19     M 3/12  more data analysis, MicroWorlds and spreadsheets, review for exam

 

 20     W 3/14  Mid-semester Exam

 

 21     F  3/16   Work time on data collection and analysis project

 

 **       Mon/Mar. 19   Spring Break begins                               **

**       Sun/ Mar. 25   Spring Break last day                             **

 

 

 22      M 3/26  Work time on data collection and analysis project

 

 23      W 3/28  CD media, DVD media and Multimedia applications

 

 24       F 3/30    HyperStudio, HyperStudio assignment

 

 25       M 4/2   Multimedia presentations using MicroWorlds

 

 26       W 4/4   Multimedia and MicroWorlds assignment

 

**        Fri/Apr. 6        Easter Break begins                              **

**        Mon/Apr. 9     Easter Break last day                            **

 

 27       W  4/11 Introduction to Geometer’s SketchPad, SketchPad Lab 1

 

 28       F  4/13  More Geometer’s SketchPad, SketchPad Lab 2

 

 29       M 4/16 Coordinate Geometry, Geometer’s SketchPad and Scratch

 

 30       W 4/18  Geo-boards and Scratch Geo-boards

 

 31       F  4/20  Scratch Music and Animation

 

 32       M 4/23 Live Code

 

 

 

 33       W 4/25 Live Code

 

 34       F  4/27  Technology in Science – the microscope

 

 

 35       M  4/30 Technology in the Arts and Social Science

 

 36       W  5/2   Electronic Portfolios

 

 37       F   5/4    Software evaluation assignment

 

 38       M  5/7   Final project work period

 

 39       W 5/9    Course Evaluation and work period

 

 40       F  5/11   The future of computing in education,  

   Course Summary, and Review for final exam

 

 Final Exam on Wednesday, May 16th from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.