Our Future of Education in Technology

Our future of education lies with online learning. According to Educating exceptional children (2008), integrating technology into the classroom increases the student’s motivation to learn and it personalizes their individualized needs.  Students who play educational games online are engaged and help them improve their basic cognitive functions.  In Jordan Shapiro article (2014), he believes that blending learning will not necessarily take over lecture however it can be a supplemental time-tested pedagogical practices with new technological solutions.

My content area is Special Education and teaching mathematics in the classroom takes creativity and variety of instructional strategies because these types of students need frequent repetition and multi-sensory approach to instruction such as visuals, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic. According to EdTechReview (2014), with technology in the Special Education classroom it is very useful because the students have different types of learning needs that need to be met in order to make education successful for them.

 “Math Man” is an online educational version of the famous arcade game, Pacman.  This game is designated for 3^rd grade and up. This game covers the four basic operations of elementary arithmetic such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  These are the basic building blocks of mathematics. Without these skills, students will have a harder time understanding higher-level math in high school and in college such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus.

With this online educational game, I will incorporate this into my lesson because students who are in a special education classroom need frequent repetition for the skills they need in the future. This game has touched on one of the multi-sensory approach for instruction, which are visuals. Visuals help students with disabilities tremendously. “Math Man” has bright colors and pictures that stand out for students with disabilities to understand and keeps them focused. As a future educator, my students will need the basic math skills that this game provides. The purpose on why I like to include this online educational game into my lesson is that this game has no timer so my students can take their time playing this game and also it gives them chances if they mess up on one of the questions. With Special Education, we need to show data and how well the student progressed. With this online educational game, I can simply print the scores of each child and to see what areas they are strong in and the areas they need more help in.

Educators are always looking for new ways to make learning fun for their students. With this online education game, it can help students in the Special Education classroom understand the four basic concepts of math, which are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Though this is an online educational game that deals with these types of skills we should not heavily rely on one game to teach the class. There are a variety of other educational games out there to help students.

Resources:

·      Saxena, S. (2014). Integrating Technology in Special Education Classroom. EdTechReview. Retrieved from http://edtechreview.in/news/855-integrating-technology-in-a-special-education-classroom

·      Kirk, S., Gallagher, J., Coleman, M.R., & Anastasiow, N., Educating exceptional children (Florence, KY: Wadsworth, 2008).

·      Shapiro, J. (June 2014). Benefits of Gaming: What Research Shows. KQED News. Retrieved from: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/13/benefits-of-gaming-what-research-shows/