Buffet-style learning.

Buffet-style learning. Students delight in the array of activities they can enjoy in modulartechnology labs. When Medinah Middle School purchased two dozen high-tech modulesto revamp its family and consumer sciences program, teacher PhyllisLudwig was, at first, less than enthusiastic. She felt uncertain aboutthe transition from teaching in a room filled with kitchen equipment andsewing machines to one that features computers, TV/VCRs and interactiveCD players. Ludwig, who had been successful teaching the traditionalcurriculum, had a slew of questions when she met with CHEC CHEC Children's Health Environmental CoalitionCHEC Christian Home Educators of ColoradoCHEC Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (UK)CHEC Coffs Harbour Education Campus Systems, thecompany that was ready to reconfigure her classroom. Her major concernswere retaining a hands-on component and maintaining a certain contentlevel in the curriculum. "It was difficult for me to understand the hands-on projectsuntil I actually had the program up and running and was interacting withstudents," she says, "I was sold after the first month." The CHEC (Consumer and Home Economics Curriculum) program ischallenging, too, requiring students to learn independently rather thanmerely following the teacher's directions. At Medinah, sixth- and seventh-graders pair up to rotate throughCHEC's middle school curriculum, exploring a variety of careersthrough two-day modules. The program combines audio-aided instructionwith activities connected to specific careers. Ludwig supplements thecurriculum with guest speakers from the community and her own projects.For instance, while studying the dietitian dietitian/di��e��ti��tian/ (di?e-tish��in) one skilled in the use of diet in health and disease. di��e��ti��tianor di��e��ti��ciann.A person specializing in dietetics. module, the class prepares asmall meal in one of the kitchens she kept from the old lab. Interwoven in��ter��weave?v. in��ter��wove , in��ter��wo��ven , inter��weav��ing, inter��weavesv.tr.1. To weave together.2. To blend together; intermix.v.intr. strands Ludwig's students have been thrilled with the changes. Theyparticularly enjoy fabric design printing and weaving, where they makecolorful handkerchiefs and use a hand loom to weave a bookmark A stored location for quick retrieval at a later date. Web browsers provide bookmarks that contain the addresses (URLs) of favorite sites. Most electronic references, large text databases and help systems provide bookmarks that mark a location users want to revisit in the future. . Ludwigwas surprised at some of their reactions. "The boys loved doing themannequin's hair in cosmetology--braiding, combing and stylingit." Eighth-grade students use CHEC's high school curriculum,"Life Management," which uses a thematic approach to explorerelationships between people, families and work. It teaches students theart and science of balancing work and family with the aid of technology. The 17 high school modules, new this academic year, differ fromthe middle school program in subject matter, depth and content level.They also require more reading and writing. One six-day module,"Internet Simulation," helps students become Internet literatebefore they are connected. "For the first time, students can surfthe Net To browse the Internet. The most common Internet browsing today is done on the Web. Before the Web, the Internet was "surfed" via Archie, Gopher, WAIS and other search facilities. See surfing and how to access the Internet. without getting wet," says Greg Robinson Greg Robinson (b. in Los Angeles, California) is the current head coach of the Syracuse University football team. Robinson was awarded the job in January 2005 after the firing of coach Paul Pasqualoni, who had been Syracuse's head coach since 1991. , president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of CHEC Systems. Other titles include "Getting the Fat Out,"in which students test themselves on a treadmill, and "FamilyPortraits," in which students must coax a crying baby to smile. Ludwig was initially worried about all the computers involved inthe CHEC labs. She had little experience, but "CHEC providedterrific training and support as I worked through all the modules andcomputer programs." She still needs help occasionally and delightsin the fact that her students can provide it. After one helped her workthrough the 3-D architectural program, she treated him to lunch. Ludwig advises other teachers to let go of their fear of giving upthe familiar for something new. "After 20 years as a teacher, thiskind of opportunity is phenomenal." Just as phenomenal are the opportunities for students to learntechnology by using it. At Knox Trail Junior High School in Spencer,Massachusetts Spencer is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,691 at the 2000 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Spencer, please see the article Spencer (CDP), Massachusetts. , students are tracking the Pathfinder space probe to Mars.Their mission involves simulating the planet's surface with acorrugated cor��ru��gate?v. cor��ru��gat��ed, cor��ru��gat��ing, cor��ru��gatesv.tr.To shape into folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves.v.intr. piece of cardboard, designing a scale model of the probe andconnecting to the NASA NASA:see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASAin full National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationIndependent U.S. Web site for the latest reports. Chris Taylor Chris Taylor or Christopher Taylor may refer to: Chris "The Glove" Taylor, American DJ, one of the pioneers on the West Coast Chris Taylor (comedian), comedian, best known from The Chaser's War on Everything, CNNNN and Triple J ,their teacher, creates projects like this that take advantage of acombination of technology modules, including transportation, solarenergy solar energy,any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. and computer-assisted design in this example. The "technogenic" student Paxton/Patterson, supplier of Knox Trail's technologymodules, has coined the term "technogenic" to define"behavior that demonstrates an aptitude for, literacy in and anability to use the tools of modern technology." Richard Shadrin,global director of learning systems, says the company's goal is tohelp teachers create the technogenic person. That concept forms theconnecting thread throughout the company's four levels of modularprograms. Creating a new, up-to-date technology program that would engagestudents was Taylor's goal, and he took advantage of fundingprovided with the opening of the new junior high school. After visitingvarious schools, he came up with a design and met Paxton/Patterson tosee if the company could accommodate his new program' The result? Students must be prodded to leave the3,700-square-foot lab, and Taylor believes his students are learningmore without even being aware of it. "It's a lot of work, butdon't tell them," he says. When he asks questions, studentsare sometimes surprised they know the answer. When the districtsuperintendent District Superintendent may be: District Superintendent (United Methodist Church) A rank in the London Metropolitan Police in use from 1869 to 1886, when it was renamed Chief Constable paid a visit, he hinted that any program would work wellwith only seven students. From his vantage point, that was all thesuperintendent could see; but Taylor pointed out that 19 students,undetectable behind work stations, were quietly absorbed in theirstudies. Students have favorite modules, and Taylor says, there is enoughvariety to satisfy everyone. He likens the new lab to a sandbox A restricted environment in which certain functions are prohibited. For example, deleting files and modifying system information such as Registry settings and other control panel functions may be prohibited. "where there are toys for everyone." While the ActionLABS were developed for sixth- througheighth-graders, CAREERplus targets grades nine and ten, offering a15-day career component in each module. TechnoCAREERS, a yearlong designand engineering program that emulates the way professionals work,teaches senior high school students to act, think and talk likeprofessionals. Authentic assessment Authentic assessment is an umbrella concept that refers to the measurement of "intellectual accomplishments that are worthwhile, significant, and meaningful,"[1] as compared to multiple choice standardized tests. Short-answer tests fall short of truly evaluating students'progress, according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Shadrin. Assessment is integral to Paxton/Patterson's system. "It allows teachers to look at students inthree dimensions--technical, academic and universal," says,Shadrin. For the academic dimension, students must complete two writing,reading and math exercises correlated to each module. The universaldimension covers behaviors and habits of mind, such as originality ofideas, collaborative working and staying on time, on task and on budget. Evaluating his own performance, Taylor says, it took him asemester to adjust. "In the beginning, it was difficult because Inow had 10 groups of two Students doing 10 different things, whereas Iused to have one group of 20 students doing the same thing," says,Taylor Consequently, he had to field a much broader array of questions. His achievements and those of his students were recognized by boththe Massachusetts and New England New England,name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. Technology Education associations,which awarded him 1996 vocational teacher of the year and program of theyear. Trading places Dwayne Hughes sees his students' self-esteem rising as theyprogress through his technology lab at Stevens Middle School, an urbanschool near Seattle, Washington This page is protected from moves until disputes have been resolved on the .The reason for its protection is listed on the protection policy page. . He recalls parents who asked whether hethought their son, who had completed the computer assembly module, couldbe trusted to upgrade their computer's memory. Hughes advised themto let their son take the case off the computer and demonstrate hisknowledge. "The next day, that student's chest was puffed upseveral sizes with pride," he reports. His advice to other teachers contemplating the move to technologymodules is to reinvent re��in��vent?tr.v. re��in��vent��ed, re��in��vent��ing, re��in��vents1. To make over completely: "She reinvented Indian cooking to fit a Western kitchen and a Western larder"their role and become facilitators and coachesrather than holders of all the knowledge. Hughes does not mind tradingplaces and asks his students for help when he gets stumped on a problem."It's the coolest thing--the look on their faces and reactionto having taught the teacher something." When Hughes was hired to transform the former industrial arts industrial artsn. (used with a sing. verb)A subject of study aimed at developing the manual and technical skills required to work with tools and machinery.Noun 1. shopinto a technology lab, he selected Marcraft's technology modulesbecause of the ease with which he could expand on the curriculum. Afterstudents complete the eight-day modules, Hughes spends four days onadditional applications and activities. One popular module starts with constructing a window and paintingit. The window is placed within a room, then into a floor plan andfinally within a four-dimensional model of a house. Hughes follows thatmodule by asking students to bring in a picture of their house, draw iton the computer and create a floor plan and model of their home. Electronic music comes with a computer keyboard that simulates 128instruments. Students create a tune, add instrumentation and put itthrough a mixer, they learn to read music, since the computer capturesnotes on screen even when they are improvised im��pro��vise?v. im��pro��vised, im��pro��vis��ing, im��pro��vis��esv.tr.1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation.2. . The module alsodemonstrates the basics of playing various instruments. For example, ifguitar music is programmed, the monitor will show the correct placementof fingers on the strings. The flexibility of modular learning is ideal for Hughes'sstudents, many of whom are children of migrant workers. Because they aretransient, less than half of his students are able to complete therotation through all the modules. However, students can learn somethingeven if their class time is cut short because modules on robotics,flight, electronics, lasers or other technologies can stand alone. Kevin Smith, Marcraft's national sales and marketingdirector, describes his company's products as "educationallysound and readily updatable." It offers three curriculum levels fortechnology labs plus two new mastery-level courses that lead to industrycertification. In computer micro-processing, students can earn A+certification See CompTIA. , and in data communications data communications,application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. they work toward CertifiedNetwork Administrator designation. The center of the school Another teacher who created his technology lab from the ground upis John Rose of Rockford, Michigan Rockford is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 4,626. It is on the Rogue River and is only a few miles north of Grand Rapids. It is known to have the best High-School in western Michigan. . His department was charged withdeveloping a new technology education curriculum and designing the spacefor it in the new high school, which would essentially be built aroundthe lab. Rose knew what he wanted and worked closely with Tom Rose, arepresentative of Lab-Volt, which customized programs to fit theschool's needs. The department also wrote several modules incollaboration with the company and helped design the lab. In the new three-tiered curriculum, ninth-graders gain exposure todifferent technologies through 17 seven-day modules. At the intermediatelevel, "The World of Technology" modules are explored in moredepth during three semesters that cover communications, structuralengineering, manufacturing engineering Manufacturing engineeringEngineering activities involved in the creation and operation of the technical and economic processes that convert raw materials, energy, and purchased items into components for sale to other manufacturers or into end products for , automated systems, energy andtransportation and more. At the applied level--the top tier--students work in teams toidentify problems and solve them through a combination of technologies.Recently the team that designed and built a battery-powered car finishedthird in the Electrothon, an automotive-building competition sponsoredby a group of Michigan colleges. Current teams are working on afuel-efficient car with a gasoline engine gasoline engine:see internal-combustion engine. gasoline engineMost widely used form of internal-combustion engine, found in most automobiles and many other vehicles. . "Students enjoy it because they're responsible for theirown learning," says Rose, "and I've enjoyed never havingone day be the same as the next. These kids will probably change careersfive to seven times. Our course gives them a broad base of experiencenow to make sound career decisions later." Rose knows he's making a long-term difference when he hearsfrom former students who say they're six months ahead in theiruniversity engineering programs. Multimedia transformation Tech-Design by Lab-Volt helps ensure those results through itsdelivery system--TD-ROM (Tech-Design Resources on Multimedia). EricMaynard, Tech-Design product specialist, says the company offers morethan 40 modules on an interactive CD platform. That decision was basedon research that shows a combination of sights, sounds and simulatedexperiences improves learning. With multimedia such as hypertext,graphic animation Graphic animation is a variation of stop motion (and possibly more conceptually associated with traditional flat cel animation and paper drawing animation, but still technically qualifying as stop motion) consisting of the animation of photographs (in whole or in parts) and other and audio, students learn through the sensory modelsthey prefer. The shift from industrial arts to modular technology labs began inthe mid-'80s. "Industrial arts teachers were down anddistraught," says Harvey Dean, president of SynergisticSystems/Pitsco. "They needed a new paradigm New ParadigmIn the investing world, a totally new way of doing things that has a huge effect on business.Notes:The word "paradigm" is defined as a pattern or model, and it has been used in science to refer to a theoretical framework. ." In the teacher-centered shop environment, education was makingincremental Additional or increased growth, bulk, quantity, number, or value; enlarged.Incremental cost is additional or increased cost of an item or service apart from its actual cost. changes, but programs were still being phased out. Dean tooka leave of absence in 1988 to tour the country and witnessed middleschool reforms sweeping the nation. Observing the dramatic changes, herealized that incremental change in industrial arts would not be enough.The new middle school concept, which stressed smoothing transitions foradolescents, offered an opportune op��por��tune?adj.1. Suited or right for a particular purpose: an opportune place to make camp.2. Occurring at a fitting or advantageous time: an opportune arrival. time and appropriate way for the fieldto reinvent itself. In 1989 Dean's company designed the firsttechnology modules. "But you can't just sell parts and build a newparadigm," says Dean. "What was needed was a system thatencompassed curriculum, environment and a new way of managing that wouldfree the teacher to take on a new role." The company'sultimate goal was to create a learning system that would ensure asuccessful experience for young teens. After extensive field research, Synergistic Systems came up with aseven-day modular program steeped in visual how-to instruction forsoftware applications and hands-on activities. The advantage of avideo-based system, Dean says, is that it lets the student rewind re��wind?tr.v. re��wound , re��wind��ing, re��winds1. To wind again or anew.2. To reverse the winding of (recording tape or camera film).n.1. The act or process of rewinding. theteacher. Along with its original technology curriculum, the company nowoffers integrated family and consumer sciences and life sciencescurriculum. New titles for students to explore include "DynamicAutomation," "Digital Imaging," "AwesomeAnimal," "Totally Cellular" and "Life Code." Greg Smothers at Thomas Jefferson A Middle School in JeffersonCity, Missouri “Jefferson City” redirects here. For other uses, see Jefferson City (disambiguation).Jefferson City is the capital of the State of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. , is a believer in Synergistic's system. "I wasfirst introduced to it at a workshop and got excited because theirapproach to learning and instruction lent itself so well to the middleschool." Students themselves are perhaps the best judges. "My courseis one of the most popular in the school--there's a waiting list toget in it," he claims. Students now exiting the program are radically different since theintroduction of the modules, Smothers notes. In addition to acquiringtechnology skills and knowledge, they show more responsibility andbecome adept in time management, record-keeping and other work and lifeskills. They learn to get along with many different types of people,too, because every seven days they rotate to another module and get anew partner. Smothers worried at first that gifted students might becomefrustrated if teamed with an average student, but he has been pleased tofind that the pairing works well. "If a student can explain aconcept to their partner, they really have mastered it, so it helps bothteam members," says Smothers. The brave new world Brave New WorldAldous Huxley’s grim picture of the future, where scientific and social developments have turned life into a tragic travesty. [Br. Lit.: Magill I, 79]See : DystopiaBrave New World of technology education offers equalopportunity. In the [Illegible il��leg��i��ble?adj.Not legible or decipherable.il��legi��bil ] days, shop programs were lucky to getone or two girls. But the new technology lab courses are attractinggirls in record numbers; Smothers's class is 30 to 50 percentfemale. In this traditionally male-dominated area, girls could easilyget pushed aside. Not so in the modular technology lab. The schedulingmanager program that is part of the Synergistic classroom managementsystems is gender blind, facilitating equal access. Smothers adds,"In the automotive module where they build and race model cars, thegirls usually win." A teacher returns for the fun of it So fascinating is this new way of teaching technology that oneassistant principal left his administrative post for the classroom. MikeScoggins was filling in as a substitute teacher one day when he saw howmuch fun students had learning in technology labs. He had been trainedin industrial arts and had taught it for many years. "I lovetechnology and computers and couldn't resist this chance to getback into teaching." Sixty percent of 1,250 students come from outside the district,which means they pay extra to attend the new Trion High School in Trion,Georgia Trion is a town in Chattooga County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,993 at the 2000 census. The estimated pop. as of 2006 is 2,001. Trion is the second largest incorporation is Chattooga County, which has a population of approximately 27,000. , where Scoggins teaches. The school attracts students from twocounties because of its innovative programs, including technologyeducation. Scoggins's lab drew 1,000 impressed parents during arecent open house. In the animation module, students produce cartoons with sound,either inputting custom sounds or using the software's"canned" sound effects sound effectsNoun, plsounds artificially produced to make a play, esp. a radio play, more realisticsound effectsnpl → efectos mpl sonoros . For the holiday season, studentscreated their own toy story with snowmen and Christmas trees. Theweather module teaches weather patterns with a satellite dish satellite dishn.A dish antenna used to receive and transmit signals relayed by satellite.satellite dishA parabolic antenna used to receive signals relayed by satellite. from whichstudents pull files off the same satellite the Weather Channel uses. Scoggins manages his lab with "Media Cruiser," a toolthat facilitates on-line testing and scoring, records data and tracksstudents progress. Applied Technology, a division of Learning Labs,produces and distributes the curriculum used in Scoggins's schoolalong with the classroom management system. John Richardson The name John Richardson can refer to: John Richardson (football player)), Miami Dolphins Sir John Richardson (naturalist) (1787-1865), Arctic explorer and naturalist John Richardson (author) (1796–1852), Canadian novelist John Richardson (actor) (b. , vicepresident and general manager of Applied Technologies, says the LearningLabs give schools the ability to expose kids to technology and reinforcebasic skills through hands-on activities. "Students always wonder,`Why do I have to learn XYZ XYZ?interj. InformalUsed to indicate to someone that the zipper of his or her pants is open.[ex(amine) y(our) z(ipper).] ?'" says Richardson. But withmodular labs, "Kids actually experience `Why they need to learn,and they will retain the knowledge by seeing and experiencing concreteapplications as opposed to memorizing answers to a test."Alice Potosky is a freelance writer in Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,284. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) south of downtown Washington, DC. .