RESOURCE SUMMARY

Utilizing Technology in the Classroom

Abstract
There are many ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. This report covers seven
different technological tools that I personally have found useful within my classroom. These
tools include NOVALABS, YouTube, GeoGuessr, Quizziz, Google Classroom, Phet Simulations, and
a look into utilizing pop culture within the classroom using Fortnite.

Kenneth Poczekaj
Poczekaj, K. 2019

NOVALABS
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/
Published by PBS and local PBS affiliates.

Many members of the teaching community are familiar with the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS). PBS and the local affiliate for West Michigan (WGVU) have provided a large number of
different resources for teachers in most every content area and for every grade level. One
particular resource to note is their NOVALABS educational programs. These labs delve into six
particular content areas; Evolution, Cybersecurity, RNA, Cloud, Energy, and Sun. For this
report I will be focusing specifically on the Evolution lab.

Within different Biology courses, whether general biology or sub-genres like environmental
science, evolution tends to be a focal point at some point during the course. NOVALABS has
produced and interactive lab to help students and teachers delve into the world of evolution and
help to understand the content using videos, online activities and games, interactive tools, and
provide resources like lesson plans and worksheets for teachers. When opening up the Evolution
lab, you are met with a variety of different options; Play Game, Video Intro, About This Lab,
Educator Guide, Evolution Video Quizzes, Meet the Experts, and Video Library. Again, I will
only focus on a few of these categories for this resource page.

Meet the Experts:

By clicking this link, you will be led to a page containing the different individuals who worked
together to complete this entire lab. It gives information on their professional careers, summaries
of their work, past accomplishments, educational background, and where to find more
information on them. By doing this, we can test credibility of the information found on this site
and potentially find further research or resources.

Educator Guide:
This link leads to the teaching guide which contains a lesson summary, the contents of the labs,
approximate times and length of the lesson(s), the grade levels it can be geared towards, the Next
Generation Science Standards that align with the varying levels of the lessons, worksheets to go
along with the lab, and much more information to help educators complete this lesson
effectively. In the Evolution lab, there is an additional resources section here which leads to
further educational resources such as videos, projects, scientific articles, and more to either
supplement this lesson or use instead of this lesson. Within the Worksheets section of the
Educator Guide gives a worksheet specified for students who are completing the game that will
be described in the next section.

Play Game:
The magic of this lab happens when students click the Play Game button. It opens up to multiple
resources for students. First, the Deep Tree allows students to look at where any of the tens of
thousands of species recorded fit genetically on the great tree of life. Students could see how
closely related a lemur and a banana are using the search function. The game, however, begins
with a few videos that introduce the students to the concept of evolution and what it even means.
Students are guided through a series of videos, organized tasks, and interactive research to
determine the relatedness of different organisms and how to show relatedness through a tree

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diagram. This resource, along with its worksheet, was utilized in my environmental science
course when completing our lessons on Evolution. However, the game is very in depth to the
point that it went beyond the needs of the class requirements. The flexibility and ability to
differentiate using this game was astounding in that the further students advanced in the game,
the more in depth and more complicated the material got. Students were given a minimum
requirement to complete, but were offered extra points the further they went into this game. This
allows students who struggle to use more time to focus on just what is required and necessary for
the course while those students who excel in the course or show more interest the opportunity to
delve deeper than the required material.

In conclusion, this resource allows students and teachers to delve into different content areas at
varying degrees. The lessons and objectives are geared towards proper educational standards
that are required by the state of Michigan. The labs offer a variety of media to aid in content
understanding such as videos, online articles, interactive scenarios and activities, and more.
These resources are great opportunities to get students involved in using technology to learn and
provide great experiences for teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms. These
resources are backed by and created by professionals within the content area covered within
these lessons as well. This resource covers most of the MITECS standards categorized for
computational thinking.

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/
Published by YouTube and its users.

By now, most everybody in the teaching community has heard of the wonders and challenges of
YouTube. This video sharing media tool allows people from all over the world to upload, watch,
comment on, and enjoy videos. What does this mean for us teachers? A teacher can almost
always look at what they are teaching for the day, type it into the search bar, and find a video
related to what they are teaching to supplement their lesson. But this isn’t just a tool for
watching videos to show stuff that you are about to tell the class. There are video series or
channels that are geared towards different subjects too. For instance, there are nonprofit
organizations like Khan Academy which offers educational videos to help people learn and
understand different subjects and contents. They offer practice for standardized testing, tailored
instruction videos for those who need it, and general coverage of materials as well. This
resource is capable of covering most of the MITECS standards within the categories of
empowered learners and digital citizens.

So how do teachers use this vast collection of videos, and how do we know it’s safe. First off, a
teacher should never show a video that they haven’t previewed ahead of time to ensure the
information covered in the video follows the content they wish to cover as well as fact check the
video to ensure accurate information. When students are asked to find videos or pursue video
research, they should be educated ahead of time as to how to properly fact check the video and
ensure the video is from a reliable source. As for its uses, there are hundreds of uses and
counting. I use YouTube to look up videos that show research being completed and look for
videos that offer supplementation to the content being covered in my class. For instance, I used
a video on the domestication of silver foxes to help students understand the impacts of artificial

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selection on animals and how selecting for specific traits may lead to other unexpected traits. I
have also shown the movie Blue Gold- World Water Wars to help students see evidence of and
aid in visual understanding of how important water is as we complete our unit on water in
environmental science.

What about flipped classrooms? YouTube offers the opportunity for some teachers to utilize
flipped classroom techniques where lessons are given via video recording and then class time is
then spent exploring the content covered within the video. For instance, within a chemistry
classroom this has allowed me to introduce different content ideas and then spend the class
period completing problems and questions based on the content within the videos. This allows
the teacher to focus on answering students’ questions about the problems instead of waiting for
students to come back to school and use lesson time to ask questions about their homework.

While on the subject of chemistry, I love demonstrations within my chemistry class. A large-
scale demonstration of a giant explosion that uses a lot of different chemicals is awesome and
really gets the students’ attention. Having four chemistry classes can make this process quite
tasking and even expensive though. Again, YouTube can help by uploading a video of the
demonstration and just playing that video for the students instead. This can lead to a lot of
opportunities as well as keep students safe during some of the more “active” demonstrations. It
can also be used to bring some humor to the classroom when covering the “what not to do’s” of
chemistry safety as I “accidentally” catch on fire a few times.

Is YouTube only useful for supplementing content? Absolutely not. It is a great source for
background music as students work. It can also be a fun way to relax the class after a long or
difficult lesson. I frequently end my classes with videos from the FailArmy channel to get some
students to laugh or the People are Awesome channel to watch humans accomplish/complete
incredible tasks and in some cases inspire students to pursue their talents in amazing ways.
YouTube is an extremely versatile tool when used correctly, but it is important to avoid using
this resource as a means for students to learn new information. It should remain supplemental to
what is being taught (exceptions for things like the flipped classroom) as the videos themselves
are not geared towards any particular objective or standard. How a teacher uses the video
determines whether it will aid in the students’ ability to complete an objective/standard.

GeoGuessr
https://geoguessr.com/
Published by GeoGuessr AB

GeoGuessr is a website which utilizes maps similar to what is found on Google Maps. The
website is a game that requires participants to guess where in the world they are. Once the game
is started, the screen shows the street view of a completely random location on the planet. The
goal of this game is to guess where in the world you are by the clues surrounding you in the
images and by traveling along the street. You then click on the map to make your guess as to
where in the world you are and are awarded points based upon how close your guess is to the
actual location. The following descriptions help demonstrate the MITECS standards like 3.a,
3.d, and 5.c.

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While this may website may not specifically address any particular content area standard, it can
be utilized for a number of different purposes. I am not a geography teacher or any social studies
teacher, but I can only assume there would be uses for this tool within those content areas. For
me, it can be used as a tool for geology. Based on what the student is shown, they can make
guesses as to what is near their area based on geological formations and building materials used
in the infrastructure. For my environmental science class, I used this as a fun way for students to
select an area of the world to research. Students would end up in a location and have to look
around the street to determine what stage of the demographic transition this area might be
experiencing. Is the area considered urban, suburban, or rural? Is this area considered to be a
less or more developed area and what the area’s age structure and population might look like
based on what they saw? Students would take a screenshot of the area and include that in their
report and then find out where they really are in the world and research that particular area to see
how accurate their assumptions of the area were. In the end, this was simply a fun way for
students to select a research location without students all picking the same area, complaining
about not knowing where to pick, or having to pick for the students. It also plays towards the
competitive side of some students who like to challenge themselves to do well in something by
really focusing on guessing their area correctly which in turn requires them to look and research
things more critically in order to get a high number of points (that don’t matter).

Quizizz
https://quizizz.com/
Published by Quizizz Inc.

Quizizz offers the teacher a resource to assess student learning on a subject. The teacher can
choose to either create their own quiz or select from a large assortment of quizzes created by
others. For students, this tool feels like a trivia game where students who get answers correct
score points while the game shows real-time scoring of the players, can keep track of the top
players, and show the percentage of questions each student gets correct/incorrect while also
giving data on whole class averages. It has been used in my classroom with great success before
unit tests as students now wait eagerly to hear when the next Quizziz will be posted. While this
resource doesn’t follow any particular standards on its own, the game can be geared towards any
type of content to cover any type of content standards. This resource also allows students to
interact with their content knowledge using computers or Smart devices to gain experience
utilizing educational tools online. This helps satisfy MITECS standards like 1.c, 2.a, and 2.b.

What does the teacher see? The teacher can assess how well students understand the material
that is being covered based on student responses. The teacher can look at classroom data which
can show which questions are answered incorrectly the most and how they were answered. The
teacher can also look at students individually and see which concepts students struggle with. The
questions can be grouped into categories so the teacher can see which categories individuals and
the class as a whole struggle with the most.

What do the students see? The students see an opportunity to score points and show their
understanding of content by answering multiple choice questions. The game keeps score as
students progress through the game and offers encouragement after students select a wrong
answer and offers congratulations upon answering successive questions correctly. Upon

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completion, students are able to see which questions they got right or wrong and go back to those
questions where descriptions are given to what the correct answer is and why as well as what the
student may have done wrong based on how they answered. This self-assessment tool is a great
activity for students to use while studying for tests and quizzes.

Google Classroom
https://classroom.google.com/
Published by Google LLC

This tool is a great resource for any classroom. Discussions, assignments, grading, calendar
integration, contact storage and information, are just a few things Google Classroom has to offer.
Like some of the other resources, it doesn’t cover any of the content area standards specifically
can offer the means to reach certain standards using its many utilities. It does offer opportunities
to work towards technological standards. For instance, Google Classroom has the option for
students to conduct discussion and collaborate with each other allowing them to work on their
online communication and collaboration skills. This helps satisfy MITECS standards like 1.b,
6.c, and 7.b.

There are many uses for Google Classroom, but I will focus on one particular activity that I use
Google Classroom for. Most teachers are familiar with the term “bell ringers” and use this as a
way to get students working as soon as they enter the classroom. In my classroom they are
referred to as openers. Students in my classroom immediately enter the classroom and grab a
computer. They then log into Google Classroom to complete the opener question that is posted
for the day. I receive the students’ answers as soon as they click the submit button and can
immediately give the student a grade which is put into the Google Classroom gradebook which
the student can see. I can add comments and critiques to their responses as well. Sometimes, I
will have students read other students’ answers to start a class discussion on the topic. After
students have had time to complete their openers, I usually go over the answers with the class.
The great thing about Google Classroom is I now know who has answered correctly so I know
who to call on to help answer the question. At the same time, I know who to call on that has
potentially answered incorrectly to help aid in classroom discussion based on potential
misconceptions.

Google Classroom also allows teachers and students to communicate and post a variety of other
things aside from assignment work. I use Google Classroom to communicate to my students the
objectives and lesson plans for the upcoming week so students have some idea of what they are
going to be doing during the week before Monday. Google Classroom also allows me to post
supplemental materials like videos or links for students to use. I can also use this to make
announcements or ask students for feedback on different things. Google Classroom
automatically links to students’ calendars as well so that students can see when assignments are
due/assigned.

PHET Interactive Simulations

https://phet.colorado.edu/
Published by University of Colorado and users.

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PHET Interactive Simulations are powerful tools to help teachers and students to understand
varying concepts in ways that may otherwise be hard to visualize. These simulations cover a
wide variety of different subject areas and often times come with a variety of different lesson
plans supplied by teachers to accompany these simulations. These simulations are a great way to
supplement a lesson. In chemistry, it can sometimes even be used to simulate a lab that may
otherwise be difficult to implement within the classroom based on resources or student body.
There is a whole section on the website dedicated to teaching resources and how to fully utilize
these tools within the classroom. A teacher can browse for different activities that include
simulations or for a specific simulation on its own. There is a place where teachers can share
their activities with the world, a place to store activities and mark to be used for later, and there
are even online workshops for using these simulations. Often times, the activities provided by
teachers already specify what standards are covered with the activity. Each individual simulation
gives a description of the simulation and sample learning goals. Following this are tips for the
teachers, submitted activities that contain the simulation, language translations, related
simulations, software requirements, and credits to those involved in the creation of the
simulation.

In teaching, especially chemistry, it is important to understand that students need to be able to

recognize things at three different levels; the macroscopic, the microscopic, and the symbolic.
The macroscopic is the world that we live in. Sometimes this can still be difficult to understand
when dealing with large things that may not be able to fit within a classroom or building. For
instance, a planet orbiting the sun is difficult for us to visualize normally, but with a simulation,
we are able to see how planets orbit around the sun at a scale we can understand. In my
chemistry class, students often struggle with visualizing things at the microscopic scale or
particle scale. Simulations like “Build an Atom” allow students to see what makes up an atom
and what makes different atoms unique. We teach atomic structure using symbols, but it can be
hard for students to recognize how the symbols connect to an actual thing. This particular
simulation can aid in the completion of standards like MS-PS1-1 from the Next Generation
Science Standards and can supplement the learning of many of the other standards based upon
periodic trends. Using simulations like these also helps to satisfy MITECS standards like 5.b.

Fortnite
https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/home
Published by Epic Games Inc.

Isn’t this a video game? Absolutely it is and a very popular one at that. Fortnite is a video game
classified as a first-person shooter that is available for a variety of different systems like Xbox,
PlayStation, Nintendo, PC, and Mac. The purpose of this resource is for teachers to understand
how a popular game can be utilized within the classroom and could be used as a professional
development tool for teachers. It is important for teachers to understand common trends and fads
within their current student bodies, and while Fortnite is extremely popular now, its popularity is
starting to fade and will eventually become obsolete. For the purpose of this resource project, I
am using the current popular game simply as an example. Students who play video games like
this are working towards becoming digital citizens, and it may be important to address these
standards and how they translate into a gaming community. For instance, MITECS standard 2.b
states that “Students demonstrate and advocate for positive, safe, legal and ethical habits when

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using technology and when interacting with others online.” Challenge students to record their
audio while playing games like Fortnite and assessing where they currently stand within this
standard.

How do we bring Fortnite into the classroom? As a teacher who has engaged in video gaming
for a long period of time, this type of thing comes somewhat easy to me. The problem is keeping
up with the everchanging tides of the gaming world trends. I use references from Fortnite
regularly to help students understand real-world aspects to what is found in the game. For
instance, in my environmental science course we talked about the growing population and how
that has a negative impact on land through things like deforestation. If we keep building houses
and structures using wood faster than the wood can grow, we will eventually run out. In
Fortnite, players have to harvest materials like wood in order to build barriers and structures to
give them the edge on other players. These built structures can be destroyed, but materials
cannot be collected. So, if I cut down all of the trees in an area to build up defenses, what
happens if my teammates also need to build using wood but then has no source of wood? The
answer is that my teammates now have to travel somewhere else, potentially exposing
themselves to dangerous situations that could lead to the death of their characters. While that
was a bit more of a complicated example, it can be used for simpler tasks like map reading which
is a very important aspect to the game. Again, in my environmental science class, I asked
students to look at the Fortnite map and indicate where the bodies of water are and what types of
bodies of water they were (lakes, rivers, etc.). I also had students label the map as to what types
of biomes are present and where (tundra, desert, forest, etc.). They then had to look up a real-
world example of their favorite landing spot in the game’s biome and present what types of
organisms would live there if Fortnite included more biodiversity. Even for students who don’t
play the game, they are able to read the maps and understand what these questions are asking
without an understanding of the game (mostly). The goal here is not to play the game in class,
but find ways to use students’ interests within teaching to help them make connections to things
they enjoy. Students tend to react positively to my video game lessons and actually show
stronger understanding of the material that has reference to video games. I feel that there should
be more opportunities for teachers to receive professional development on utilizing pop culture
within the classroom to help teachers better connect with students. Sometimes it can be a stretch,
but one good use every couple of weeks makes a huge impact.