We’re excited to introduce our community to another "Eduporium Featured Educator" interview. Each month, we’re highlighting the work of an educator who is effectively using EdTech to empower his or her students with greater learning opportunities. We love being able to share their stories and their work with you and hope this series continues to give all educators encouragement to try new things in the classroom! This month, we’re featuring Mark Wakita, a science teacher from California, who uses drones, VR, AR, coding, and movie making to enhance student learning in his classroom!
Mark Wakita
Middle School Science Teacher and CS Teacher, Red Hill Lutheran School, Tustin, CA
Q&A:
How have you used EdTech effectively in your instruction?
This year, as in years past, we use a host of different EdTech solutions to reinforce instruction. This includes using virtual and augmented reality to transport students to landforms around the globe, to provide 3D representations of the solar system in their hands, to view 3D animated creatures for life science studies, and to give students an immersive ride on a roller coaster inside of a cell (also used for science-based narrative writing).
Students also implement science journals by logging reflections on their studies on personalized web pages for the different topics. Concepts on velocity, kinetic energy, and the writing of instructional text (creating their own science experiment to demonstrate concepts) are also reinforced through our RHLS Drone Corps. Students also design algorithms to demonstrate some scientific principles (like the water cycle or the rock cycle) with advanced students even moving these algorithms to code.
Online simulations for genetic breeding and dissection are also used to reinforce instruction on genetics and heredity. And, finally, student-created minute movies demonstrate learning and presentations using green screens for weather studies. This helps students understand the practical application of EdTech in addition to the science concepts these tools support.
What do your students enjoy most about using EdTech?
The general feedback I get from students is that EdTech is engaging, easy to use, and it reinforces material. One unanticipated byproduct is that the use of program design and coding in our science class has stirred general interest in coding and what coding does. In addition, EdTech provides built-in differentiation to help students at both ends of the academic spectrum. Finally, I’ve heard from some students and their parents that, in the case of the genetic breeding app, it was so addictive that students were not only doing this at the dinner table but got their parents engaged as well!
Letting the students comment, here is some feedback regarding the use of EdTech.
“I like the virtual reality because you get to experience what specific places look like in 3D. This makes you feel like you’re actually there but you’re really not.”
"I like how it’s interactive.”
“Every different type of technology we use is all very entertaining to play with and experiment.”
“It makes learning more fun and sometimes easier to understand.”
“I love that we are allowed to be creative with our websites and slides that we make.”
“My favorite thing is that it’s pretty easy to use…and we can explore more stuff that’s not just in a book.”
“I can learn how to code some cool stuff—maybe even games if we’re good enough at coding.”
What interests you most about Eduporium?
Eduporium, especially the blogs (Tips & Tricks and News & Updates), provides insights into people, new products, and strategies that make EdTech come alive. The Eduporium Featured Educator series is particularly inspirational in highlighting peers who are actively using EdTech to reach students.
We thank Mark for speaking with us! If you know of an educator who is doing exciting things with EdTech, feel free to recommend them (or yourself!) for us to feature next by emailing info@eduporium.com with a short blurb about how you’ve used tech tools to empower your students! Find out more about how Eduporium can help revamp your classroom, library, or makerspace by exploring our site. Sign up as an educator and start saving with your discount!