Week 4: The Tech Savvy Teacher & The Three TPACK Questions

Students in American schools are most likely familiar with the Fahrenheit system, but the science community uses the metric system to measure. Therefore, it is important for students to learn about different temperature scales, and devices used to measure. We would discuss different ways the students are familiar with taking temperatures, and what they measure; pool thermometers, oven thermometers, and other measuring devices. After students have identified what they're familiar with, make comparisons to the metric system (Celsius).
For example, have different temperatures in Celsius and Fahrenheit and ask the students to make predictions about what type of weather they would see. If it was 32 C (which is 89.6 F) outside, would the students be dressed in winter clothes, or would they be at the beach? Discuss the difference in measurement scales, ie., water boils at 100 C, and your body temperature is approximately 98.6 F, but your body is not about to boil.

As a class we collected samples of objects we believed would represent a range of temperatures. We collected snow, water from the drinking fountain, and warm water from the bathroom faucet.





We then used the temperature probes to collect temperatures digitally. We had two probes, one measuring in Fahrenheit, and the other measuring in Celsius. We put both probes in the same cup and measured the temperature of its contents. We used a program named Logger Pro to create graphs of the temperatures collected, in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. This would help to clarify Celsius and Fahrenheit measure temperatures the same using two different systems. For example, the freezing point of water in Celsius is 0 C and the freezing point of water in Fahrenheit is 32 F. Though these numbers appear to be different, they are equivalent measurements.


Using the temperature probes to gather measurements firsthand enhanced our lesson. Students were able to measure one object using two measurement systems simultaneously. They were able to track the results using Logger Pro, and create visual graphs representative of their data. Students are more likely to retain their knowledge because of their hands-on involvement, rather than just listening to a lecture.



The Three TPACK Questions:
1. What is the content you are focusing on in your science lesson?
The content that is being focused on in the lesson is that of understanding the difference between Celcius and Fehrenheit temperature measurements, and how they relate.
2. What is the pedagogy you are using and why is it a good fit with the content?
We are allowing children to use hands on activities and believe that this will help children make more connections and better understand the content of the lesson.
3. What is the technology you’ll be using and why is it a good fit with the content and pedagogy?
The technology we used was a program called Logger Pro in which we used probes to measure the temperature of our different forms of water, and then we also connected this to the computer to collect our data. It's a great fit for our content and pedagogy because it creates a visual for the students to see exactly how the measurements are relate. Once the temperatures are taken, this program records it in Celcius and Fehrenheit. This technology is enhancing students learning as they use Logger Pro, and see its results.