Interactive White-Boards

Back in my day, 5 years ago, the Interactive White-Board (IWB) was seen as nothing more than a nuisance to teachers. They got frustrated when they pointed to something on the board with their hands which then made dialogue boxes pop up, they avoided it at all costs, and in fact wished them to be taken away. One of my teachers even accidentally used a white board marker on the screen out of habit, and as you can guess- white board markers and IWB screens do not go well together.

As I am yet to have any training on an IWB and have not had the opportunity to just sit and play to figure them out, I too am apprehensive about their use and effectiveness in the classroom. I don’t feel comfortable using them right now but hopefully the training sessions I will be attending shortly will allow me to change my mind and be able to use them effectively.

As a future life science, natural sciences and mathematical literacy teacher, I believe that I could use the IWB’s in my lessons. I understand that there are many online experiments and lessons that can be performed on IWB’s which will be important in the teaching of natural and life sciences. Pictures and diagrams are very important to me in the classroom as they help learners to visualise what is being taught in theory. They are especially important in science and biology where there are many processes that occur at a level that people cannot see. There are IWB resources online that have diagrams with moving parts to illustrate processes occurring at a miniscule scale. An example of this can be the movement of electrons around a closed circuit system, to illustrate the flow of charge from the positive to the negative terminal. Learners can see what happens when the circuit is broken and how the flow or electrons changes when light bulbs, resistors and other factors are added or removed. The IWB in this case allows teachers to change the circuit by dragging elements onto or off of the circuit, and the readings and flow of electrons around the circuit will change in response to what is being fed into the system. If a teacher were to draw all the systems out on a white board, with all the possible changes and combinations, it would take a long time and without the moving parts it would not be as easy for the learners to visualize.

I am really looking forward to learning about Interactive White-Boards so that I may use them effectively in my classroom.