Web Based Curriculum Tools A Look At Castles School Island ABSTRACT Due to the growing need for educational reform in Physics there have been a number of web based curriculum tools being added to a teacher s repertoire School Island created by CASTLE software is one of these tools The system is designed to be an assessment tool for teachers and a review and study mechanism for students As a Physics teacher the question is how beneficial is the system for improving academic comprehension and performance Physics Reform in New York State Over the last few years Physics teachers in New York State have been struggling with curriculum reform Since the year 2000 there has been a need for concern over the distinct changes in the Regents Physics examinations Following the June 2003 exam there was an uproar from Physics educators all across New York State They were upset about the declining pass rate and lack of mastery level scores being met on the Regents exam This has been a trend since the June 2000 exam Due to the overwhelming concern a study was conducted comparing the Regents Physics examinations from June 2000 through June 2003 The group conducting the study Zawicki et al 2003 found that there were startling changes in the following areas reading level conceptual level format and time for completion The reading level of the exam went from 8th grade to the11th grade level in 4 years The questions asked in the more recent exams rose dramatically The test format changed directions now being geared toward written response rather than multiple choice Due to these changes teachers saw an increase in latency while taking the more recent exams Zawicki et al 2003 After a careful study was conducted the group made some recommendations and it was made clear that the State and the Physics educators are not working as one It is obvious that there needs to be more communication Due to the growing need for educational reform in Regents Physics teachers are looking for new tools to use in the classroom Being a Physics teacher in the middle of the computer age and living in a country driven by the Internet there is a question as to what role the web should play when it comes to Physics education and learning As a teacher in a culturally and economically diverse community I feel that there is a definite need for the addition of technology in the Physics classroom A school subscription of School Island was purchased this school year for teachers to use We were to use it in our curriculum where we saw fit I felt that this would be a great supplement to my Regents Physics course because the system is based on the New York State Regents curriculum What is School Island School Island is a web based curriculum tool that allows teachers to create topic vocabulary based exercises based on group and or individual student need This is possible through the individualized assessment reports available on each student or class concerning their strengths and areas of weakness The system can be used for nightly homework or testing quizzes Parent teacher monitored review exercises can then be created for any student in need Students may use the system independently as a study and review resource The surplus of questions can be reached via topic or vocabulary along with a bank of flash cards While working on the questions students are told immediately if their answer is correct or wrong If the question is not correct they will receive a hint as to the correct answer All students receive a second try if the question is still incorrect they will receive a complete explanation of the answer They will learn for their mistakes School Island can be used anywhere Internet access is available Through a school subscription students may access the system within their school or anywhere outside where Internet can be accessed If a school subscription is not available a personal subscription can be purchased A High School Teacher s Study A group of Regents Physics students were introduced to School Island half way into the school year After using paper based work sheets for their completion of assignments they were introduced to web based physics work The students were given six weekly quizzes that were to be averaged for a grade along with a number of topic review questions that were not required All questions were multiple choice in nature Students were given a survey discussing their thoughts concerning the use of School Island rather than paper based assignments to do Physics work Even though the students found the system user friendly they just saw it as something else they had to do All of the students used the system for the required quizzes but few of them used any of the other resources that the system had to offer Most of the students used the system from home on their personal computers although a few of them had to complete their assignments at school because they did not have a computer at home The students that had to complete the assignment at school saw the system as an additional stress to their already heavy workload because they needed to fit something else into their schedule When the students were asked if they thought that using School Island would be beneficial in their Regents Physics course the response was positive The hints that were given along with the explanation of each question helped to clear up some of their misconceptions that they had The students that put the most effort on the system and spent a bit of time with it saw an increase in their multiple choice scores on their unit tests While the students feel that the system is beneficial they did not see it as being more beneficial than paper based assignments or review work In fact they strongly felt that paper based work was more beneficial than the web based assignments A number of the students actually printed the web assignments completed them on paper and input the answers to the system when they had completed the assignment The students that did not print the assignments used a pencil and paper while using the system also After the student surveys were reviewed a number of students were asked to participate in an interview in order to elaborate on their answers The interviews were focused on students that had personal computers at home where the Internet was readily available to them yet they still had trouble getting the assignments completed All of the students interviewed had the same issue their workload was too big All of the
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