Nuestra Tierra: A University/Public School Technology Integration Project

Abstract

This article describes a two-year university/public school project to integrate technology with teaching and learning in a Southwest border school district. The research began by asking, "What would happen if teachers were fully supported in integrating technology in their classrooms; if the curriculum was culturally relevant and meaningful to students; and if the computer was used as a constructivist tool rather than an electronic workbook?" The article describes how goals were developed in alignment with these questions and how the project was collaboratively designed, implemented, and evaluated by university faculty and public school teachers and administrators. Findings demonstrated the potential of university researchers working closely with teachers in classrooms as related to changes in teaching strategies and student learning. The authors also suggest several barriers to technology integration in classrooms that may result from the current organizational structure and culture of schooling. This article describes the results of a two-year university/public school collaborative project designed to investigate technology integration in a Southwest border district. The design and implementation of the research was guided by a three-part question: What would happen if • teachers were fully supported in integrating technology in the classroom; • the curriculum used was culturally relevant and meaningful to the students; and 183 © 1999, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc. / WIBURG, MONTOYA AND SANDINConstructivism is a theory of how knowledge is constructed [13]. In order for students to learn deeply, they must move beyond the memorization of isolated facts and engage in experiences of hypothesizing and predicting, manipulating data and objects, researching answers, synthesizing and presenting their findings, imagining and inventing. Piaget once suggested that "to understand is to invent." Ackermann has applied Paigetian theory to the study of learning with technology [14]. Bruner proposed that much of what students learn depends on how they structure knowledge about themselves and their environment [15]. Their ability to interact with their environment is influenced by the organization of that environment. Bruner advocated that educators provide instructional supports by scaffolding their teaching in ways that assist students' mental organization and development of schema.Vygotsky expanded our study of cognitive processing from the isolated learner to a focus on how social and cultural interactions influence the development of thought and language [16]. He also suggested that tools mediate thinking and communication in important ways. Norman advocated the study of the affordance of a tool in order to understand what kinds of thinking and behavior it might support [17]. Papert and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have coined the term constructionism to describe the connections between constructivist thinking and the use of tools. Their research suggests that learners are most likely to ...