Introduction and Background to Research Action Project

CEP822: Research Action Project

Overview

• Name of reviewer: Shannon McLean
• What are the effects of implementing SMART Ideas software across the curriculum in a Section 22 Behavior classroom?

Introduction to the problem of practice, background and setting

• The educational need or opportunity that this program seeks to address is the need for many students to have a visual aid when trying to learn and understand the information being presented to them in a variety of subject areas (Murray, 2003). Many of my identified behaviour students rely heavily on visual aids when studying for tests and when trying to recognize the relationship between ideas. A software program that allows students to create a variety of visual aids will benefit them by helping them to stay organized, while also providing creative and fun ways to learn information and remember it (Murray, 2003).

• Today, students are growing up in a far more technological world than their predecessors. SMART Ideas software empowers these students by enabling them to work in a hands-on manner with technology to create concept maps either individually, or as a group. They can incorporate words, pictures or symbols from various forms of media in whatever creative way speaks most to them. Students can create multi-layered concept maps and easily edit and combine their ideas. SMART Ideas technology is fast and user friendly and in this way, the pen and paper or chalk and black board have become obsolete methods for creating multi-layered, visually stimulating concept maps (Murray, 2003).

• I would know that the visual aids were a success if the students are able to communicate a better understanding of concepts taught through mapping exercises on future assignments, quizzes, tests and in class discussions. I would do a formative pre-test and compare the results with a post- test. This way, I could examine the results to see if the technological tool helped students to communicate a better understanding of the concepts being taught. I could also track results from the students from a first semester class to those in a second semester class to see if the results were consistent with various groups of students working at the same academic level in the same subject area. In addition, I’d compare the results to previous students who hadn’t used the program.

The Solution

SMART Ideas™ Concept-Mapping Software Basics

• SMART Ideas software lets you capture interconnected ideas as a concept map and share that map with others. Students are able to use words or images that resonate with them to clearly show connections between ideas and various concepts. The technological tool would enhance lessons by providing additional support for kinaesthetic and visual learners.

• One potential limitation might be that some students are intimidated by technology and may not be comfortable using the tool in an effective manner. There would definitely be a learning curve for most new users to overcome. Also, some students may struggle to remain on- task and might lose valuable time searching for the perfect picture from the clip-art gallery. Furthermore, access to computers is sometimes limited which could mean that a group of students would have to work together sharing their input on one computer which can sometimes lead to additional challenges when monitoring on-task behaviour.


The Setting

• The important characteristics of Smart Ideas can be divided into four areas: The Teacher, The Learner, Subject Matter, and The Setting.

1. Teacher

Smart Ideas supports differentiated instruction and learning in any and all subject areas. It offers teachers a great way to illustrate ideas in a timely fashion that captivates attention. It provides a very high quality finished product and is an excellent way of assessing student understanding of the concepts being taught. Additionally, Smart Ideas is available on all the computers in my board and is very easy, for both teacher and student, to navigate. I have found that this software can be quite beneficial for students who have difficulties organizing their thoughts and ideas for projects or extended pieces of written work such as essays or reports.

Mapping can be used for several purposes:
• to generate ideas (brainstorming, etc.);
• to design a complex structure (long texts, hypermedia, large websites, etc.);
• to communicate complex ideas;
• to aid learning by explicitly integrating new and old knowledge;
• to assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding


Whatever the purpose, applications such as SMART Ideas can save teachers’ time by using the software’s built-in templates to create lessons and add visual interest to diagrams using the extensive clipart gallery. For teachers, mapping is increasingly recognized as an enormously useful tool in curriculum planning. The maps represent in a concise manner the key concepts and principles to be taught. Having a whole picture of the term’s curriculum can give students both structure and confidence (Murray, 2003).

The software features:
• a clip-art gallery of 2,000 curriculum based images
• can be copied to Word or PowerPoint or converted to html to be published as web pages
• automatically generates a text-based outline view and outline view makes it very easy to add information to an existing concept map or rearrange the way information is displayed
• more advanced users can create complicated, multi-layered maps linked to other documents, pictures, websites, and video clips
• create graphic organizers such as VENN Diagrams, Family Trees, Mind Maps, templates, charts, timelines, models, etc.


2. The Learner

Smart Ideas offers students the opportunity to work to create visual aids that have the potential to help organize their thoughts, and increase understanding of concepts being taught. The visual aids may also help students to see patterns, and recognize the connectivity of certain concepts and issues. The graphic organizers offer students the opportunity to see the information that they are working with clearly and arrange it in a way that makes sense to them. The program offers a versatile and interesting way in which to motivate the learner to interact and collaborate to produce maps and diagrams relevant to their level of development. Mapping is often used with gifted children, and has also been found to help dyslexic children to write and to achieve high marks both at school and university.

3. The Subject Matter

SMART Ideas is a Mind and Concept Mapping application that can be used across the Curriculum and at a variety of levels. The program can be easily adapted for Special Education Needs students. Teachers and students can create unlimited sublevels, expand simple maps and move quickly between levels. Live web links, audio clips, photos, images, clipart, documents, movie clips, and presentations can be easily attached to notes, making the software useful for tracking and studying anything from primary school concepts up to complex projects. Mapping enhances and supports the teaching and the learning.

4. The Setting

• SMART Ideas can be used in every classroom. It is compatible for Windows XP or Vista operating systems as well as for MAC OS X (version 10.3 or 10.4). All of the computers in my school with Algoma District School Board have SMART Ideas. In this case, it will be used specifically in a behaviour classroom.

Technology-Integrated Solution

Smart Ideas software delivers the power of visual learning to your classroom. Students can better analyze and understand complex ideas by building multilevel interactive maps using this fun, colourful software. Multilevel maps take students through concepts one level at a time for greater clarity, and easily convert into a multipage website for everyone to share.

• Engage students with multiple views
Present information from a variety of perspectives using diagram, outline, global or presentation views.

• Encourage creative thinking in the classroom
Use interactive clip art, connectors, patterns and images to bring ideas to life.

• Enhance lessons using multilevel maps and multimedia
Go deeper into ideas with multilevel maps and dynamic multimedia tools.

Assistive technology is any technology that allows one to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of an individual with special learning needs. Its applications and adaptations can help open doors to previously inaccessible learning opportunities for many children with special needs (Burrello, 2001).

“Access to computer technology in today’s classroom can provide teachers with such a wide range of tools to make inclusion possible and easier” (Heacox, 2002).

It has been my personal experience that all students, especially those with special needs, benefit from the use of visual aids. SMART Ideas software is a great way to help teachers to integrate technology into their classes. It is easy to learn and implement. Through research I discovered quotes from other teachers who felt that this program was an extremely valuable teaching tool.
“SMART Ideas allows students to explore topics while understanding the direct relationship of the previous level. The visual connections have been a great support to the special education students”(http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Ideas/Testimonials.htm).
Laura Wong, Technology Tools
Liberty Middle School, Fairfax County, VA
“My students think SMART Ideas software is great. We can capture an entire chapter of material on one map with neat graphics and pictures. This makes it easier for students to grasp concepts and ideas while having fun doing it. The more time I invest in this software, the more ideas I come up with for how to use it in class”(http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Ideas/Testimonials.htm).
Larry Garcia, Counselor and Assistant Professor
St. Philip’s College, San Antonio, TX

SMART Ideas has been installed on every computer at Elliot Lake Secondary School. Some useful resources for teachers contemplating the use of SMART Ideas are as follows:
Download a free trial of the program at:
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Ideas/

Online tutorial:
http://www.nipissingu.ca/iteachsupport/Howto/SMART%20Ideas/smart_ideas_intro.html

Examples of Smart Ideas Lessons
http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/Ed+Resource/Lesson+activities/SMARTIdeasActivities/USA/

Sample Mind Maps
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Ideas/Sample+maps.htm

OSAPAC – lists of expectations covered by use Smart Ideas
http://www.osapac.org/dbOESS/ResourceBrowse.asp?Mode=TopDownloads


Key Findings

According to Sue Murray’s article, “Mapping the Mind,” what we know about the way students learn started back in the early 1900s with Piaget’s model of development and the way children learn. Piaget recognized that the developing child builds cognitive structures such as mental maps, schemes, or networked concepts, for understanding and responding to physical experiences within their environment. Today we refer to these cognitive structures as Concept Mapping, or Mind Mapping (Murray, 2003).

Mapping encourages students to brainstorm, which appeals to pupils with different learning styles. Mapping is a route achieving very high levels of cognitive performance, as it can be used to chart the way a group of participants perceive complex subject matter. For this reason, mapping is often used with gifted children, and has also been found to help dyslexic children to write and to achieve high marks both at school and university (Murray, 2003).

I believe this research is valid, as I know of many schools and teachers that successfully incorporate numerous mapping techniques created by SMART Ideas. Colleagues of mine have noted an increased participation from their students during discussions and higher levels of retention and comprehension in terms of the information taught through mapping techniques.

Implications

As mentioned above, all learners benefit from having visual aids while trying to process new information and make connections to new curriculum material. After downloading the 30 day free trial, I can easily state that that SMART Ideas is a highly effective and affordable tool for all educators to have. It was time efficient and easy to use.


Research Resources

Burrello, L. (2001). Educating All Students Together: How School Leaders Create Unified Systems. Thousand Oakes, California: Corwin Press.

ConnectAbility. (2008). Using Visuals. Retrieved May 12, 2009, from ConnectAbility Web site: http://www.connectability.ca/connectability/library/documents/using_visuals.pdf#search=%22visuals%22

Heacox, D. (2002). Differentiating instruction in the regular classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
(2009). Spectronics-Inclusive Learning Technologies. Retrieved May 12, 2009, from Spectronics Web site: http://www.spectronics.co.nz/
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Ideas/

http://www.teachsmart.org/smart_ideas.php

http://r21.ccems.pt/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=M9CzfUjfuJ4%3D&tabid=101&mid=1085&language=pt-PT (brochure online)

http://www.tvdsb.on.ca/saunders/Saunders%20Virtual%20LIbrary/Smart%20Ideas%20Tutorial.htm

http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/Ed+Resource/Lesson+activities/SMARTIdeasActivities/Canada/
(examples of web suited to Canadian curriculum)

http://blogs.wsd1.org/etr/files/smart20ideas20quick20guide.pdf
(guide)

http://www2.smarttech.com/NR/rdonlyres/7828652C-3F5B-4C96-90EF-67C440CA1F2D/0/mappingthemind.pdf