Interview Analysis

ETEC 533 Interview Analysis

Christina Teskey February 4, 2005

Topic My Analysis

What kind of technology do you use in your chemistry class?
Essentially nothing. Chemistry is regular text-based, [with] experiments. I did try using software simulations of labs and found that they were poorly constructed, not realistic; they didn’t meet the needs that the kids had. The kids were going on to post secondary science courses one of the big complaints is that they had they may know a lot of things but their lab skills are poor, because typically they don’t get to do a lot of lab work, so the software didn’t fill in that gap. And also the quality of the simulations was really poor…. they’re simplistic and cartoony…[This was] probably between the last 3 – 5 years.
John believes that students must manipulate real objects with their hands in order to learn. This belief extends to writing information out by hand rather than having it mechanically reproduced for the student. I imagine that he has his students take notes from the board in order to facilitate learning.

We were talking about using simulations in Biology rather than cutting up something.
…[It's] the difference in experiencing manipulating the actual things as opposed to a symbol on the screen – it’s the old concrete operational sort of thing – doing something on a computer screen, even a well done simulation, would be the equivalent of reading it in a book.
Concrete operational - one of Piaget's stages of child development, from about ages 7- 11. Children in this stage can mentally reverse actions, are not abstract thinkers, e.g., they can't imagine steps in algebraic equations, and they can use logical reasoning but only in concrete circumstances.
Again John is talking about different learning styles. He believes that students won’t learn anything by just doing the equivalent of reading it in a book.

Do your chemistry students use graphing calculators?
The majority of Chem 12 students … do use them in Math 12, and a few of them have tried to use them in chemistry…. [T]hey sort of know they could do something but they’re not sure how to apply them in a different environment. …[I]t’s the old problem of transfer – if you learn something in one classroom why would you ever possibly even think of using it in another one…
I’m surprised that John does not take the opportunity to show the students how to solve equations generated in chemistry on their graphing calculators. Although he criticises their lack of ability to transfer skills from one subject to another, he chooses not to enhance their learning in this way.

Have you seen anything [in terms of digital technology]… that you would like to integrate into a chemistry classroom, for example?
I can see the benefit of having something that records data automatically, but if it does the interpretation for you then I think the person who is using the technology has missed out. I just think there are things that you have to do by hand in order to learn what’s going on, and once you know what’s going on, then use the technology.
John has not integrated digital technology in his classes even though he could use it to reinforce or extend learning “once the students know what’s going on”.

Topic	My Analysis
What kind of technology do you use in your chemistry class? Essentially nothing. Chemistry is regular text-based, [with] experiments. I did try using software simulations of labs and found that they were poorly constructed, not realistic; they didn’t meet the needs that the kids had. The kids were going on to post secondary science courses one of the big complaints is that they had they may know a lot of things but their lab skills are poor, because typically they don’t get to do a lot of lab work, so the software didn’t fill in that gap. And also the quality of the simulations was really poor…. they’re simplistic and cartoony…[This was] probably between the last 3 – 5 years.	John believes that students must manipulate real objects with their hands in order to learn. This belief extends to writing information out by hand rather than having it mechanically reproduced for the student. I imagine that he has his students take notes from the board in order to facilitate learning.
We were talking about using simulations in Biology rather than cutting up something. …[It's] the difference in experiencing manipulating the actual things as opposed to a symbol on the screen – it’s the old concrete operational sort of thing – doing something on a computer screen, even a well done simulation, would be the equivalent of reading it in a book.	Concrete operational - one of Piaget's stages of child development, from about ages 7- 11. Children in this stage can mentally reverse actions, are not abstract thinkers, e.g., they can't imagine steps in algebraic equations, and they can use logical reasoning but only in concrete circumstances. Again John is talking about different learning styles. He believes that students won’t learn anything by just doing the equivalent of reading it in a book.
Do your chemistry students use graphing calculators? The majority of Chem 12 students … do use them in Math 12, and a few of them have tried to use them in chemistry…. [T]hey sort of know they could do something but they’re not sure how to apply them in a different environment. …[I]t’s the old problem of transfer – if you learn something in one classroom why would you ever possibly even think of using it in another one…	I’m surprised that John does not take the opportunity to show the students how to solve equations generated in chemistry on their graphing calculators. Although he criticises their lack of ability to transfer skills from one subject to another, he chooses not to enhance their learning in this way.
Have you seen anything [in terms of digital technology]… that you would like to integrate into a chemistry classroom, for example? I can see the benefit of having something that records data automatically, but if it does the interpretation for you then I think the person who is using the technology has missed out. I just think there are things that you have to do by hand in order to learn what’s going on, and once you know what’s going on, then use the technology.	John has not integrated digital technology in his classes even though he could use it to reinforce or extend learning “once the students know what’s going on”.