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Latin and Login—one calls us back to the glories of Rome; the other carries us forward on the power of RAM. Though both include words we tend to forget (and then try to guess), they can also serve as markers in a centuries-old debate among educators—sometimes called "the battle of the books"—which pits ancients against moderns, conservatives against liberals, traditionalists against innovators. |
East Carteret High School has established a long-overdue truce in that battle. Indeed, the school's venerable Latin motto—Unita Fortior (strength because unified)—nicely describes its progressive attitude toward technology: teachers use SAS inSchool's innovative Curriculum Pathways to help students better understand traditional concepts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students are finding this approach more engaging and teachers are able to convey core concepts more effectively to more students.
What Students Say
The relationship between student engagement and learning, retention, and achievement has received increased attention in recent years. Students tend to be more engaged when they exert some control over how and what they learn—as is the case in small-group and individual instruction focused on intellectually challenging material. Indicators of engagement include high levels of concentration, enjoyment, and interest.
Students at East Carteret High School have responded positively to their online learning experiences from Curriculum Pathways.
One science student notes, "Learning this way is more interesting. You have all the information you need, but [the product] doesn't just hand you the answers. You have to use your brain." She adds, "[This approach] helps me remember too. When I took the test I could see the web pages in my mind and that helped me answer the questions."
"Learning this way is much better," says a math student. "In the Web Inquiry we're doing today, we have to pick the car we want to buy. We have to look at the price, the cost of a loan, how long it will take to pay for the car, the interest rate, and all that ... I guess it's math, but to me it's fun."
Students especially appreciate the opportunity to take charge of their own learning. "I like this much better than just sitting in class listening to the teacher," says one student. His classmate elaborates, "This is better because we get to do things. In class, I just zone out after a while, but here I get to look at interesting stuff on the web and learn that way." Another student concurs, "To me it's easier to pay attention when it's on the computer. It's more hands-on. It's hard to pay attention every second when the teacher is up there talking for a whole hour."
Particularly revealing are students' comments about controlling the pace at which they learn. Says one student, "[This approach] helps you learn because you can control how the information is given to you. Some teachers rush to give you all the information and if you drift off for a second you are lost. But when I'm … learning it myself, I can spend as much time as I need to read and figure it out."
Commenting on a Web Inquiry about a popular South American drink, a student says, "I'll probably never forget Yerba Mate because of the way we learned about it. Some of it was Spanish and English but some parts were only in Spanish. So you really had to read and understand to answer the questions. Writing the paragraph at the end about what you learned really helped. You had to sum it all up." Her classmate agrees, "The lessons are challenging. But they're not so hard that you can't figure them out. The answers aren't obvious. I have to read everything to understand."
Spanish students appreciated the ability to toggle between Spanish and English versions of the Web Inquiry: "There are so many different ways that you can put stuff in Spanish. Going from Spanish to English, we could see a different interpretation of each sentence. It helped." One student concludes, with a hint of teenage sarcasm: "I wouldn't mind if we used [Curriculum Pathways] more. I think it's better than doing regular activities like … learning word after word of vocabulary. It's interesting to learn about the culture not just the language."
Biology students were equally engaged. Asked if the Cell Division InterActivity was useful, one student enthusiastically reports, "Yes! I really didn't understand it until I actually saw the whole process. And then I understood it all. I did a whole lot better after that."
Her classmate adds, "I didn't understand mitosis when it was introduced in class. But when we went in the lab and worked with Cell Division I did. I also used it to review for the test. I didn't have to ask the teacher to go over it again. I could go back on my own."
What Teachers Say
Teaching has always been demanding but rewarding work. However, it's gotten more challenging over the last three decades. First came the standards movement in the 1980s, followed by the accountability movement in the 1990s and, on January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act. Now teachers face a new generation of students who have "grown up digital." Research indicates that the brains of these digital natives respond differently than older, pre-1980 brains of digital immigrants. Because of these changes and challenges, teachers are constantly seeking out high-quality curriculum resources that map to specific academic standards and that meet the learning preferences of today's digital students. East Carteret science teacher Jonathan Barnes explains the benefits of using web-based, interactive multimedia learning activities such as those found in Curriculum Pathways: "To get this kind of audio-visual representation for my students, I would have to pay eighty dollars for an entire movie just to get five minutes of relevant content. Also, students get bored when they watch a movie. In ten minutes, they're asleep."
Barnes continues, "The interactive learning activities in Curriculum Pathways are much better than movies. Students can go straight to the content they need. And they remember it better, too, because they interact with it. For example, we just did the Web Inquiry on the rock cycle. My students really remembered the content because of the visuals they saw in Curriculum Pathways."
Barbara Waters, Carteret County Teacher of the Year in 1999, has a similar reaction. "We study mitosis and then meiosis," she says. "Students get confused by the difference in the two processes. I used the Cell Division InterActivity after we talked about mitosis in class. Students explore the process of mitotic cell division. They use the Tutorial to identify and define each phase of the cell cycle according to changes in the basic cell components and structures. Then they use the Quiz to identify the phases of the cell cycle from actual photomicrographs, and they build and order virtual cells that correspond to each phase."
"The students really liked the interactivity and audio feedback in the Quiz," Waters says. "So they went back and did it several times. Then they began competing to see who could do it the fastest. That's good. It reinforces what they learn. They don't just go through one time and say, 'Oh, I'm done.'"
"Even students who have trouble reading could figure it out," Waters notes. "Such students are often visual learners. They have the minds to figure out what's going on without the words. They know that this has to separate … so they try things. Along the way, it all comes together, and they get immediate feedback that they've been successful."
Waters also appreciates the way she can decide when, where, and how to use the resources in Curriculum Pathways. She explains: "It all depends where it fits in. Sometimes I'll use a resource as a pre-activity. Or I'll do a lab in class and use the resource for follow-up. A lot of the resources are good for review purposes. For example, the end-of-course test is coming up. I'll use resources from Curriculum Pathways, especially the ones like Cell Division and Photosynthesis, as sort of a recap … as a way of saying, 'Remember this!'"
Waters concludes, "When I think back to when I went to school in the Stone Ages, there was nothing. The textbook was it. This is much better."
Jeff Colvin, math teacher and ECHS Teacher of the Year in 2003, agrees: "I find that students are much more interested when they can work on the web. They're more 'into it,' as they say, and they like being able to work at their own pace."
Effective teachers constantly look for more effective ways of teaching content. They also seek to continue their own learning. Barnes says, "I've taught physical science for seven years. I know what to teach, but I use Curriculum Pathways to find different ways of teaching the content. I also use it to learn about new things."
Sue Hannula, Spanish teacher, concurs, "I'm always looking for unique content. You find things in Curriculum Pathways that you wouldn't find in a textbook. I also like the way the Web Inquiries make learning more interactive and spark students' higher-level thinking skills."
Kathy Day-Ketel, world history teacher, adds, "My students really learned from the Web Inquiry on The Black Death. They were exposed to pictures and background material that would have taken me hours to find! I also like having a place to go where all of the web sites have been checked and evaluated by other teachers. I always check Curriculum Pathways first to see if I can find information there before going out to search on my own."
ECHS teachers also appreciate how easily they can personalize resources in Curriculum Pathways to meet their needs and those of their students. Sue Hannula modified a lesson named "At the Market." In this classroom activity students participate in a mock outdoor market. They learn about the cultural practice of el regateo (bargaining) while enhancing speaking and listening skills. Sue added a grammar component to the lesson and combined her Spanish II and Spanish IV classes. The Spanish IV students played the vendors. The Spanish II students played the buyers. To purchase an item, the Spanish II students had to use the correct verb forms.
Pam Vaughen, world history teacher, likes the Web Inquiries so much she created her own. She located relevant web sites about Islam in the Web Resources section of Curriculum Pathways and used the same read-research-respond format.
Substitute teachers also appreciate Curriculum Pathways. Says, substitute Margaret Laughinghouse, "There are some teachers I won't sub for. Their lesson plans aren't complete so the kids get out of control. I appreciate when teachers leave me detailed lesson plans like the one I'm using today."
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