Integrating Technology: A Promising Practice in Making Biology Interactive

Carol Blanc, a biology teacher at Pendleton High School in Pendleton, Oregon, is using multimedia equipment in the classroom to keep students engaged and to promote learning. Ms. Blanc teaches sophomores with a broad range of skills and abilities. She reports that 30% of her students are served under Individual Education Plans, due to cognitive, sensory, learning and organizational deficits.

Through an AccessSTEM minigrant Ms. Blanc purchased a Promethean Activote integrated personal response system, a digital presenter and an interactive whiteboard for her classroom. Ms. Blanc uses the equipment to project and enlarge instructions, drawings, lab demonstrations, and student work. She reports that the students are begging to use the personal response devices for questions and quizzes.

According to Ms. Blanc, her project is a promising practice because the "technology has drastically influenced the degree of participation of all students. My goal of engaging students is happening! I will continue to modify and develop lessons to incorporate the equipment. It is changing the way I bring the world of living things into my classroom."

Use of the technology in Ms. Blanc's class was included in a video submitted to the Oregon State Legislature by the InterMountain Educational Service District to demonstrate the effect of technology funding on classroom performance.

For more information about strategies being used to make Pendleton High School's Biology more interactive, contact Carol Blanc at Carol.Blanc@pendleton.k12.or.us

AccessSTEM minigrants were funded under The Alliance for Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (AccessSTEM, Research in Disabilities Education award # HRD-0227995).