Journal 3

Combining Art and Technology in the Classroom

Smith, S. (2012 June/July). Make learning pop. Learning & Leading with Technology, (39)8, 26-28. 

In this article, Shauna Smith discusses the usefulness of uniting art and technology in the classroom.  Smith begins by discussing her passion for both art and technology and how it led to her use of paper engineering in the classroom.  Smith believes that giving students the ability to create 3-D objects that coincide with class material is a great way to implement contstructive learning into the classroom.  Thanks to user-friendly design software, K-12 students are able to design their pop-up objects on the computer and then print them out for construction and application in the classsroom.  

Smith also notes that her pop-ups were a great way for non-native speakers to connect what they were learning in class to some tangible object.  This was a driving force in her after school program she created centered around her pop-up creations.  Smith is successful in sharing her usefulness of combining art and technology as she gives multiple examples of it working in the classroom.  Smith concludes her article with the idea that it is crucial for teachers to give students opportunities to create because as humans we naturally seek the ability to create meaning in our lives.  Giving students this opportunity for innovation will spark interest in areas they otherwise might not have pursued.

In using Smith’s combination of art and technology in my classroom, I feel a great way to do this will be to have students recreate important scenes from books we read with pop-up characters and settings from the book.  This will enchance what they learn by giving them the ability to create how they interpret aspects of the book individually.  

Smith’s article applies to NET-S 1 a. and b. “Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes, and b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.”