Educ 602: Educational Innovation and Technology

Exercise 1: Technology’s Place in Education

Six weeks before Nick turned five, his aunt and uncle called him. “What do
you want for your birthday? they asked. “A plane ticket to visit you,” he answered.
Caught a bit off guard, Nick’s aunt prodded hi, a bit. It was hard for her to believe
that a five-year old would ask for a plane ticket and even harder to believe that he
would really be willing to take a flight by himself.

After Nick’s bedtime, his aunt called Nick’s mother. “Where did this request
come from?” she queried. “Remember when his older sister flew to visit you by
herself?”. She responded. “I told him then that he could not go because he had to
be five years old in order to fly without an adult. Well, he remembered.”

Nick’s mother was willing to entrust Nick to airlines, so his aunt and uncle
made arrangements to send Nick a plane ticket. As the date of Nick’s trip
approached, they began to wonder exactly what Nick thought he was going to do on
his visit. They were sure that he probably had a scenario in his mind, so they called
him again. “What are you going to do when you visit us?” they asked. “Go fishing
with Uncle Mike,” Nick said. His aunt and uncle were very glad they had called and
began to plan for Nick’s visit.

After picking Nick up at the airport, Nick’s aunt and uncle drove him to their
house. Before dinner, Nick and his uncle Mike pitched a tent in the backyard and
stocked it with sleeping bags and a lantern. The two of them slept in the tent. The
next day Nick and his aunt ran errands and stopped by the local library to check
out some books with lots of pictures of fish and fishing equipment. That night,
when Uncle Mike returned from work, he and Nick played with a computer
simulation called Bass Trophy. Uncle Mike showed Nick how to select the option for
driving the boat, and together they explored a huge lake looking for good fishing
spots. Nick was delighted b the sound of the motor. When they found a good spot
and selected a fishing option, Uncle Mike showed Nike how to bait the hook and
cast the line using the computer’s mouse. Soon, Nick caught his first fish and
began pressing on the mouse button as the simulated fish jumped out of the water,
and the computer rang bells. Nick watched as the fishing line was slowly reeled in,
and the fish was brought to shore. A picture of a 3- pound 7- ounce fish was
displayed on the computer screen, and Nick and his uncle talked about the fish
before putting it in the bucket. Nick played with the simulation that night and
several times during the next several days. Before he left for home, he had 9 bass
in the bucket, ranging from 3 to 5 pounds.

Saturday morning, Nick and Uncle Mike got up before sunrise, packed all the
Fishing gear in the truck, bought bait at a store, and drove about an hour to get to
Shady Lakes. Shady Lakes is actually three small, stocked ponds. Uncle Mike had
reasoned that a first fishing trip ought to guarantee success. Uncle Mike helped
Nick catch two trout about 8 inches each. When Nick tired of fishing, his Uncle
quickly caught four more trout in order to have enough for dinner. That evening,
Nick and his uncle grilled the fish in the backyard while his aunt prepared the rest
of the meal in the kitchen. She took pictures of the two of them cleaning and
grilling the fish. After the dinner, the three of them watched a rather silly video
called Tim Conway’s Gone Fishin’, in which anything that can go wrong on a fishing
trip does. The next morning, Nick caught a plane home.

It seemed that was the end of Nick’s visit, but three nights later Nick’s
mother called. “Help me,” she told Nick’s aunt. “I am having a hard time figuring out
this fishing trip. Sometimes Nick says he went camping on his fishing trip; other
times he says he stayed at your house overnight. Sometimes he says he caught 9
big fish that weighed 3 pounds; other times he holds up his hands and says he
caught 2 fish about 6 to 8 inches long. Sometimes he says he fished in a giant lake;
other times he talks about three lakes. Sometimes he tells me these outrageous
stories that he thinks are hysterically funny and that make no sense to me; other
times he talks about sharks, telling me about their teeth. Tell me, what happened
on Nick’s fishing trip?”