TASK 2 – INTEGRATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY

POSSIBLE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Will having tech in the classroom facilitate learning
2. Will having tech in a learning environment create equity issues for students and their
families
3. Will introducing tech in the classroom help prepare students for the future

RESEARCH DETAILS
2 - Will having tech in a learning environment create equity issues for students and their
families
Research methods that I would use to research the answer to this question are statistics and
questionnaires.

Statistics: Using statistics, one could observe the average income of the school’s catchment
area. This can give researchers a better understanding of the disposable income families has
to spend on technology at home. If teachers assign work that requires access to technology,
this could pose as an equity issue for students that do not have the resources required to
own and operate the technology.

Questionnaires: Using questionnaires, a researcher can get answers to specific questions that
they may have. Some questions a researcher could have on their questionnaire to answer
this equity problem are: “Do you have access to technology at home?”, “Do you have stable
internet connection at home?”, ”How many phones, tablets, and/or computers do you have
at home?”, and “Would you be able to go to a nearby library to complete tasks that require
technology?”. These could all be used to gather information on whether technology in the
classroom is made a fair option for all students.

TASK 3 – LEGAL SYSTEMS & CULTURAL VALUES

I think that sentencing circles would be helpful at school. Usually when a student breaks a
rule or misbehaves to a certain extent, they are just given a detention or suspension. In more
serious cases some students are expelled. However, many students do not care when they
are sent home from school as not all students get disciplined at home the same way they are
at school. This shows the student in this situation that misbehaving has no real
consequences. If our school were to use sentencing circles, the student may obtain a greater
understanding of the harm they may have caused. A sentencing circle at a school may consist
of the principal, teacher, student, and other students affected by their actions. This gives the
student who caused the issue the opportunity to see how their actions have affected others
and how they can prevent making the same decisions that lead them to the circle in the
future. In some cases, detentions, suspensions, and expulsions may not be necessary as there
could be an alternative punishment that the student may receive. This alternative will likely
relate more to the issue and can contribute to solving it. i.e., if a student vandalized school
property, instead of getting a suspension their alternative punishment could be to help the
caretakers clean up and fix the vandalized property. These punishments would mirror that of
the account of a sentencing circle found on page 328 and 329 of the reading package.