Knowing when to integrate technology into your lesson can be tricky. You do not want to use technology simply for the sake of using it or as a way to replace your teaching, but we all know that technology can benefit our lessons greatly when used correctly. How then do we integrate technology into our lesson plans in a way that enhances our teaching and adds value for our students? This page is intended to be a resource for those looking to answer this question.

Social Studies Climate Lesson

This lesson is intended to be the introductory lesson in a unit focused on Climate Change, but it can certainly be used as a standalone lesson to teach students about climate. The lesson relies heavily on technological integration as a way to engage students with new concepts, teach students how to use digital tools, and enhance understanding through interaction. Students are guided through the lesson to ensure that they understand the content, how to use the tools, and are able to get the most out of the technology integration.

Here is a link to the Lesson Plan: Social Studies Climate Lesson.

There is a worksheet that goes with the lesson called Google Earth Climate Worksheet. It can be found here: Link.

All of the tech tools are linked-to in the lesson plan itself.

Assessing the Tech Integreation of the Lesson:

In order to understand how technology is being integrated into your lesson, the Arizona K12 Center created a Technologhy Integreation Matrix. You can view the detailed matrix here: Link. The tool allows you to assess the characteristics of the learning environment and the level of tech integreation into the curriculum. A lesson is not good or bad based upon where it falls on the matrix. Rather, you can use the tool for inspiration for new lessons, or to assess your current lessons in order to adjust them appropriately.

This specific climate lesson falls under Adaptation for the level of technological integreation into the lesson. Regarding the learning environment, this lesson fits into the Active, Collaborative, and Constructive levels depending on the stage of the lesson.

The lesson meets the Adaptation level of integration because it consistently “encourages the adaptation of tool-based software by allowing students to select a tool and modify its use to accomplish the task at hand.”  Climate Wizard, the BiomeViewer App, and Google Earth are consistently used throughout the lesson to provide content, enhance understanding, and help students accomplish tasks. Specifically, the lesson meets Adaptation-Active by encouraging students to choose the most relevant technological tool to meet the given learning task. The lesson fits Adaptation-Collaborative by having students work together on the Google Earth Climate Worksheet. They will work with a partner using all of the apps to answer specific questions found on the worksheet. Students will need to determine which app to use to best answer the question at hand. Finally, the lesson meets Adaptation-Constructive by asking them to manipulate the tech tools. They need to manipulate the apps to find the correct data necessary to answer questions. The lesson encourages students to use technology to mold their understanding in its final stage when it asks them to find their own location in Google Earth and report information about the location.

I hope this lesson serves as an example of how to integreate technology into your curriculum. If you are teaching this as a standalone lesson, you can leave off the final video. The video serves as an introduction to the next lesson in the unit. Leave a comment if you use the lesson, and let me know what you think.