Smart Board

The Smart Board survey provided key insight on student's view of it's use and effectiveness in the classroom. Most students responded positively to the question "Has the Smart Board helped you understand some of the math concepts? How?" Their responses generally seemed to center around three themes: use of the Smart Board expands access, facilitates cooperative learning and is fun. With regards to expanding access, the majority of students that they learned more effectively from watching the teacher or other students solve a task or problem, modeling their reasoning and explaining their proof. It fosters effective cooperative learning better than working on individual computers and provides more effective visuals than using more conventional methods such as a blackboard or paper-and-pencil. It also makes learning math more fun. While this should not be the objective or starting goal when creating a lesson plan, it is an added benefit which helps to further engage students and keep them on task and motivated to learn.

However, as the survey shows, it does not work for everyone. There were several students who said that it has not helped them understand math better. These students may be better served with other meaningful activities such as centers or more direct instruction. As with any activity in math, it is important to diversify the tools and methods used to support all learning styles. I would certainly use a Smart Board in my classroom for interactive math games and cooperative learning exercises but would also ensure, perhaps through centers, that individual students are given ample opportunities to personally construct knowledge and understanding in ways that are most effective for them and support their personal learning style. The Smart Board could be used as review to demonstrate the various ways students solved a certain task or could be one of the centers with teacher guidance. I agree it provides more visual resources than the conventional chalkboard or overhead projector, fosters cooperative learning and allows students to have fun learning math. It also expands the resources and materials for teachers and can in many cases, allow teachers to demonstrate concepts visually that can not be shown otherwise.