We talk about technologies that will bring the revolution in school education closer.
Modern technology is one of the main driving forces affecting the efficiency of the education system. Children of "generation Z" are born with a smartphone in hand, and the task of the school is to teach them to use the possibilities of the Internet and gadgets one hundred percent.
Yes, adults themselves do not always have time to master innovations. Without understanding technology, we are trying to return schoolchildren from the 21st century to the 19th. Nevertheless, today's children will have to live in a world that is largely determined by the development of technology, and this will have to be reckoned with.
Viktoria Zhukova, manager of the online platform for finding tutors, Preply, helps Letidor to figure out what experiments and IT solutions will soon be used in all schools without exception.
Creative space
Columbine Public School (Colorado, USA) conducted an experiment to change the space of the classroom. The slogan of the research is “New learning requires new conditions”. The pilot program involved the use of technology and new teaching methods.
The team has made it their mission to make education personalized, adaptive and real.
In the new classroom, Skype Mountain was installed - a multi-level recreation area where students gathered and communicated with their peers from all over the world. The new class also included small, student-centered learning areas and a story board - a set of short, inspiring picture stories of prominent people and events. Such creative spaces have already begun to be introduced in Russian schools. Let's see what happens.
Smart board and smart table
Another innovation that is actively used in American schools is the smart board. Smart boards work in the same way as ordinary boards, only the student draws on them not with chalk, but with digital markers.
Certain types of boards are giant digital touch screens. Just imagine how, in your lesson, a child freely manipulates images, examines the internal organs of a person, or watches the moon of Jupiter.
A smart table is the same digital display, only in a horizontal position. He reads information from the wall and "puts" it on the table, where a group of children solve the problem together. For example, you might ask your students to color the figures or to mark all the countries in Africa on a map.
Achieving a common goal forms in schoolchildren the skill of teamwork - one of the key skills of the 21st century.
The smart table is also adapted for use by children with disabilities. It is the ideal device for engaging Gen Z in the learning process and developing modern social skills.
Smart Cameras
Chinese schools have launched a facial recognition system this year, which helps to identify distracted children. The developers believe that the innovation will increase the attentiveness of students in the classroom. Using three cameras, the system analyzes the expressions on students' faces and determines the level of engagement.
The new method has already proven its effectiveness - teachers are delighted with the significantly increased productivity. True, the participants in the process say that the students are terrified and afraid to blink.
The fate of inattentive children is unknown to the press
Cameras are also used in more humane educational approaches. Nearly every school in America uses Skype in the Classroom to expand classroom space and solve many problems.
First, guest lecturers share their knowledge online. This saves time and money for both the school administration and the lecturer. Secondly, this technology works effectively for distance learning, allowing children who for some reason cannot go to school to learn.
Robotics and programming
The use of these technologies is of great importance in preparing a child for the conditions of the modern technological world. Much less is taught the principles of “how it works,” that is, computer science and robotics.
The use of robotic values and the introduction of robotics as a subject of the curriculum is the path to a new perception of the world and organizational values.
Italy has become a prime example, where robotics has become part of the curriculum.
The five-year course of the subject in the Italian elementary school is divided into two blocks. During the first two years, students become familiar with the logic of processes while working with a remotely controlled robot. For the next two years, children are encouraged to design, build and program their own independent robots. The tasks are solved on the LEGO Education WeDo platform (the first two years) and Lego NXT (the other three years). Let's take a closer look at them.
LEGO Education WeDo
This is a set of familiar LEGO bricks with simple software. WeDo is used for introductory courses in engineering and robotics in the early stages. Educational models and materials are adapted to the age of children and their interests: bright and large details, quickly assembled.
Children don't write code to control the robot. The interface is based on visual programming.
During the game, the child immediately comprehends the basics of designing a robot, and the basics of programming.
LEGO NXT
The next stage of the course. These constructors are used at the stage of full adaptation to the program, when the child is intellectually and mentally ready for new tasks.
NXT is much more difficult to learn, but also more interesting in its capabilities.
There are many more bricks, they are not so colorful, and the wiring diagrams are more complicated. But with their help, you can create a full-fledged robo-organism with specific and complex goals.
LabVIEW
Modern software for visual programming, used in many technological innovations, up to the development of missiles.
In this case, the software allows you to control all the actions and sounds of Lego. It is not difficult for a child to master this language; it is based on "dragging and dropping" individual elements. The student is like putting together a puzzle from the teams.
To make the robot obey, you need to build the correct sequence of command blocks.
The children are delighted.
Of course, the introduction of innovations into the school curriculum is not limited to the listed technologies. These are the most striking examples that can already be embodied in the realities of the Russian school.
