DESCRIPTIVE ESSEY

LEARNING TOOLS FOR 21ST CENTURY PRIMARY SCIENCE EDUCATION

Technology is everywhere in today’s world and it is rapidly growing. This powerful

tool is not only changing our lives but also our education. Education had begun to explore
the potential that technology provides to us for teaching and learning. Twenty-first century
teaching is no longer about the four walls of the classroom. This puts the 21st century
teacher in a critical spot of mastering constantly evolving technology and digital learning
tools the same tools their students use every day such as tablets, smartphones, laptops and
lots more. Even though we know that technology have a bad side of it, but it is rely on how
we use it. As a teacher of 21 st century, we must explore the benefits of using the learning
tools such as Flipboard, YouTube channels, Google Drive and lots more for education
purpose.

Flipboard has some stunning uses in education and it is growing with every passing
day. For instance, this app can be employed to guide students in completing their
assignments, academic projects as well as reading assignments. Educator can subscribe
their own Twitter timeline. It will take your tweets and turn it into a wonderful magazine.
Whenever teachers tweet about a particular topic, they can share precious information that
can be leveraged by learners. Other than that, teachers can assign the students to create
class-project magazine and let them collect images, videos, editorials on a particular subject
or matters that are included in the lesson plan for the semester. Thus, they can develop their
own learning skills and understands more about the topic. By using Flipboard, students will
be familiar with all sorts of news and current events that would enrich their general
awareness, thus enabling them to emerge as an outstanding student. Moreover, being
knowledgeable about the latest trends in education from all around the globe would also
benefit educators as you can read lots of magazines and news over 125 publishing
companies including the BBC, Vanity Fair, New York Times, Tech Crunch, Harper’s Bazaar
and so on.

YouTube Channels also can boost students understanding about a science topic as
children loves animation and videos. Teachers can also blow the students mind and make
science easy as pie by using YouTube Channels for teaching a difficult concept. As an
example, teachers can expose their students about the mechanisms of photosynthesis
clearer than just using 'chalk and talk' method. They also can learn faster and understand
more because they can see with their eyes and hear with their ears in the learning process
than just learn according to the theory only. One of the famous YouTube channel is the
Smarter Everyday channel, where you can educate yourself with the fun aspects of the

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subject. The great things about the Smarter Everyday channel are its multidisciplinary
approach to science. Apart from Physics (rockets, liquid rope coil and helicopter
mechanics), this channel also tackles zoology (strange spiders, scorpions, and the list goes
on) and other experiments that can make you appreciate the beauty of science. Thus, this
will make learning be more fun and attractive to the primary students. YouTube also can
become a repository for saving and sharing any lectures you record. Once the video is
created, YouTube makes it easy to send the link to any student that missed class, or keep
track of the different videos you have in case you want to review them before giving the
same lesson next year.

Moreover, Google Drive is an online file cabinet where you can store documents and
other digital files. Think of the word “Drive” the same way you do think of the hard drive on
your computer, except it is cloud-based, meaning it exists online. It allows users to access a
suite of applications from any device, in any location, at any time. Whether on a phone,
tablet or computer, Google Drive offers an array of tools that feel designed specifically for a
school environment. So you can upload a file into Google Drive from your home computer,
and then open your Drive on your work computer and get into that same file. It is accessible
from wherever you have Internet. With cloud-based word processors, students can
collaborate on writing pieces from anywhere, save comments, and curate all steps of the
writing process in digital portfolios. Teachers also can monitors their student work and
comment it directly in the platforms. Furthermore, classroom is now paperless because
students can submit all work via Docs which allows educators and students to provide
written and voice comments. In addition to comments, Docs provides revision history which
can help a teacher see how much work gets done and when. This can also be a life saver if
a student accidentally erases something. So, notes and exercises can be manage properly
in a folder where the members can access to them anytime and everywhere.

Learning tools based on technology and ICT can enhance the teaching learning
process and can make it more interactive than today. It will provide new dimensions to the
learning as it will lead to autonomous learning. Constructivism will emerge as the new theory
and technology will follow it in practice as it emphasizes on collaborative learning, real-world
projects with authentic assessments with students accepting responsibility for their own
learning. But all this will require internal inspiration and support system from our education
system as well as the readiness to change and learn from everyone even from the students.
To form a high-minded and innovative students, teacher training curriculum also need to be
redesigned as teachers should themselves be learner and digitally educated to be capable
of using these learning tools for the students able to use it. Thus, teachers’ roles are
significant to make education more advanced according to the changing of times.-970 words