Meeting the Learning Needs of K-12 Digital Age Learners With Educational Technologies in Science Education

Meeting the Learning Needs of K-12 Digital Age Learners With Educational Technologies in Science Education

Temitope Olokunde
Copyright: © 2023 |Pages: 23
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-8292-6.ch010
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Abstract

The digital age has led to a variety of educational technologies for integrating technology into instructional delivery. This explains why educational institutions around the world are constantly keeping up with the trends in educational technologies to deliver instruction and provide quality education. The technological era has transformed classrooms from teacher-centered to student-centered. Digital age learners in K-12 science education are digitally inclined and equipped with a wealth of information at their fingertips because of their exposure to digital devices. This influences how they think, process content, and synthesize information. It is therefore imperative for science teachers to aid digital age learners in making connections between science subjects and overall understanding. This study provides a rich description of the use of educational technology in K-12 science education to foster connectivism and digital literacy among students.
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Background

The most overarching goal of research in K-12 science education is to ensure that students can be active agents in scientific inquiry reason in a scientific context (Bartels & Lederman, 2022). Effective science teaching should provide students the opportunity to carry out scientific projects and investigations, so that by the end of 12th grade, students would have gained adequate knowledge of the practices, crosscutting concepts, and basic ideas of science (National Research Council, 2011). The process of K-12 Science education involves inquiry-based learning, critical thinking and problem solving, which can be achieved through connectivism (Ardito, 2020). K-12 science teachers often think of creative ways to improve their science curriculum and foster student engagement. Effectively teaching the K-12 digital age learners with appropriate educational technologies can help nurture scientific thinking and improve science education.

Key Terms in this Chapter

K-12 Science Education: Science teaching and learning in elementary, middle, and high school.

Connectivism: A learning theory that utilizes educational technology to achieve networked learning in the digital age.

Educational Technology: An area of technology that facilitates learning with the use of technological processes and resources.

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