Focus Question - What constitutes a highly interactive inquiry-based learning environment?  Whatever the lesson or project the teacher has to teach, the teacher could use various technologies to make the lesson more interesting and memorable for the students.  According to our textbook:

Accessing the Web for class discussion, utilizing computers to show presentations or simulations having students use handheld and wireless devices as part of group projects, and integrating different technologies into various in-class academic assignments or activities (p 11).

For example, Google earth could be incorporated into a geography lesson and students could be involved by allowing them to use the website to create maps with pictures and labels.  It not only teaches the students about geography but it teaches them how to use technology to create something memorable.  For classroom projects or assignments that require outside information, students could use their smart phones, laptops or classroom computers to search the internet or a trusted online database for reliable sources of information.

Tech Tool - Online Resources for Learning about Technology - I am happy to know there will be resources available to help me keep up to date with technologies that may be available to use in the classroom. I especially found the website "How Stuff Works" interesting.  Also, there are a lot of useful articles and videos that could be integrated into the classroom under careful monitoring and restrictions, due to the many advertisements and questionable topics.  For example, I found numerous interesting videos on the website, all entitled "Stuff to Blow Your Mind", that are all related to science that could be used along with science lessons in the classroom.  

Summary – Because of the significant amount of people, including young children, who own some kind of electronic device and are using them in their daily lives, it only makes sense to incorporate these technologies in the classroom as well.  I came across this interesting Ted Talk video entitled "Sugata Mitra: The Child Driven Education", it shows when children are exposed to the wide variety of information on the computer, it can be an essential tool in the classroom.  As a teacher, I want to make learning fun and interesting for my students.  Students learn more and stay involved if they are not bored with the subject or lesson.  My only concern is when technology fails, as I observed last semester in a 4^th grade class.  Even though the teacher improvised, the outcome of the lesson was much different because the students did not get to view the video that went along with the history lesson that she taught that day.  I don’t know if I have a set teaching philosophy in mind because I feel both the Teacher-centered and Student-centered can be integrated into the classroom.  I think it’s important for students to learn how to work together with other students, they sometimes learn more this way but there also is a need for a teacher to teach a lesson and give a test.  This allows the teacher to evaluate the class and see if a student needs help in a particular area.   

References

Maloy, Robert W, Verock-O’Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education

TedGlobal 2010, (2010) Sugata Mitra: The Child Driven Education (Video). Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html