Reaction to Chapter 5 Modeling With Technologies

As I began reading chapter five what immediately stood out to me was the connection that was made between what computers should be used for and what the students should be instructed to do. I like that it point out that computers are better at memorizing and retrieving information; what that says to me is that we should be teaching out students to just get information and memorize it but for them to do more. Students should be conceptualizing, organizing, and solving problems. How I would use this in my classroom is to rethink my lessons and make sure the content is not just asking for students to regurgitate what it is they heard but to show understanding. When students teach the computer what they know they get a chance to show what they understand in a different form. It like writing notes in class then going home to type them up. The students are allowed to revisit what it is they already have seen in order to refresh their memory, I think that this is a very helpful study tool. They also learn more about technology because they have access to a number of different tools that they can use to display their understanding. Also through using computer programs students can externalize their internal mental models. They are given a way to express their understanding or knowledge they may have. When putting it down in to different models students are forced to organize their thoughts and either show better understanding or gain better understanding. Using mindtools students get to teach the computer instead of the other way around, in this manner students are challenging their own thought more than the computer would have if it was vice versa. Mindtools require deep thinking on the students behalf and cannot be completed without doing so. After looking at the visuals for the different tools used in for understanding I see that there is a major thought process required to get these done, there are many connections and subsections and relations that make students think very deeply.
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