Using Smart Boards and Manipulatives in the Elementary Science Classroom

Material Development to Raise Awareness of Using Smart Boards: An Example Design and Development Research

“…It is now considered necessary to utilize the facilities offered by modern technology and include new tools into the educational process that are appropriate to a younger generation's requirements and characters, alongside traditional educational tools and materials. It is an educator's duty to blend the new technologies of this digital age into education and to help their students to be successful in their academic career and life [1]. For this reason, educators are required to combine technology with their field of profession [2].…”

“…Researchers conducted in the field, however, show that teachers shy away from using smart boards, although they think that they are effective and useful and if they are used, they use them only as projectors or for searching the Internet and do not benefit from the many other facilities of the smart boards [4,5]. The main reason teachers and teacher candidates may not feel confident in their ability to use smart boards is because they did not receive adequate user training [1]. Thus, if they feel incompetent, teachers are not less likely to use the smart boards.…”

Experience Using Multimedia Boards for Visualization, Conducting Pedagogical Discussions, Developing Interactive Exercises for Primary School

“…manipulatives for teaching science because I do not have many manipulatives for the topics covered." On the other hand, some teachers commented more to the effect of, "I often use manipulatives mainly when I perform an experiment, which is basically every skill" (Martin S., Shaw E., Daughenbaugh L., (2014), pp 90-96). Another author (Kate W., Steve H., Heather S. (2005), pp 851-867) notes that pupils most commonly associated the IWB with visual ways of learning.…”

“…Preparing future teachers for teaching science in elementary and primary school. The study about Using Smart Boards and Manipulatives in the Elementary Science Classroom (Martin S., Shaw E., Daughenbaugh L., (2014), pp 90-96) summarizes the results of a survey administered to 48 elementary schools in the largest school district in a south-eastern U.S. state, conducted by university faculty to evaluate the use of SMART Boards and handsome experiences, the objectives of which were to identify preparedness of elementary classroom teachers in teaching elementary Science, in using SMART Boards and in using manipulatives for teaching in the elementary Science classroom, as well as to identify frequency with which elementary classroom teachers use SMART Boards and/or manipulatives and reasons for using or not using SMART Boards and/ or manipulatives in the elementary Science classroom. Results of the survey will be used to address areas of needed improvement among pre-service teachers, to identify areas in which early career teachers need additional training or information and how best to improve the quality and training of the Elementary Science component of the education degree (Martin S., Shaw E., Daughenbaugh L., (2014), pp 90-96):…”

“…This suggests that either more courses should incorporate training into their curriculum, or more student seminars should specifically relate to the practical application and scope of using SMART Boards in the classroom (Martin S., Shaw E., Daughenbaugh L., (2014), pp 90-96).…”