Inroduction-Conclusion-Abstract Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Inroduction-Conclusion-Abstract - Essay Example This had detrimental effects on learners’ ability to develop critical thinking skills that were beyond their level of knowledge and comprehension. Moreover, Magolda (2000) stated that previously the teaching strategy seemingly favored learners who had high level of intelligence, as compared to those who required their intelligence level to be sharpened through the educational approach (learning). This is mainly because the previous education system did not focus on enabling learners to construct their own knowledge but rather it focused on constructing learners’ knowledge on their behalf (Bain, 2004). However, there has been increased advocacy for empowering learners with the skills to manage their own learning process, which sufficiently prepares them to tackle real-life case problems. In this regard, Moskal and Keneman (2011) stated that it was indeed necessary to develop learning and teaching strategies that give learners an active role in the learning process thereb y enabling learners to construct their own knowledge and make the learning process more exciting. In the application of these strategies, it will be necessary for the teachers to realign the strategies with the intelligence level of each student in order to ensure that learning is effective. This present dissertation focuses on a particular teaching strategy/ tool that has being introduced in schools in order to make the learning process enjoyable, and engage the learners whilst enabling them to construct their own knowledge. Therefore, the teaching strategy/ tool that will be discussed in the paper offers a remedy to the flaws that had been noted about the traditional teaching strategy/ tool. The teaching strategy/ tool that will be the focal point of this study is the interactive whiteboard technology (IWB), which has been described by Cuthell (2006), as a tool that enable computer images to a appear on a board. The interactive whiteboard contains a digital projector and touch-scr een technology that has been incorporated onto the board, which enable teachers to manipulate the figures and/ or words that are appearing on the board by either using a mouse or their fingers. This is to say that a teacher is able to click, copy, and drag the figures, words, and numbers that appear on the board whilst he or she is teaching. Because of the fact that the interactive whiteboard has an internal memory, it means that teachers are able to save the notes or instructions they have written on the board. Then using the network connections that are available on the board the teacher can transfer these notes to the students’ personal computers, so that they can use it for further reading and revisions (Gage, 2006). According to Marzano and Haystead (2010), the ability of the board to display pictures and even stream live videos from a site such as YouTube, enables the teacher to improve the learning experience for learners and ensure they remain active in the learning p rocess as well as fully engaged. 1.2 Research questions Based on the interactive whiteboard technology, this research study intends to investigate teachers’ use and their own evaluation of the interactive whiteboard in second language classroom. This infers that the research study will focus on investigating how teachers at the research center are using the interactive whiteboard to teach English as a second language. Secondly, the research study will aim at discovering what teachers who are using the board