Jon Monroe sent me the following this morning and asked me to
forward it to plant-ed for him:
>I think I essentially agree with Bill's response to Jim, but I can't
>help but think that a lot of learning happens through hands, not
>eyes. I think that drawing a structure has more to do with being
>able to remember it than it does with rendering it accurately for
>later use - electronic gadgets can obviously do a better job of that.
>That said, drawing lots of images of dead plants doesn't turn on very
>many students so technology has its good side!
>>Jon
>>>>Jim Perry suggested:
>>>>>So my thoughts are, what about if they were able to take a digital picture
>>>of THEIR slide or specimen, print it (color = $) and then label it, and
>>>describe in writing what the differences are between what they have seen and
>>>what's in their book?
>>>>>>Do you think this would cause them to look more closely at their own
>>>specimens
>>>>Yes
>>Especially if they take just a bit of care to make sure that the
>>photo image adequately represents what they see under the microscope
>>or in the lab or field.
>>>>>and would it increase the learning experience?
>>>>YES
>>>>>They like technology, so would this play into our hands without
>>>them realizing it?
>>>>YES!
>>>>Nondogmatically yours,
>>>>(bill)
>>>>p.s. Seriously--this strikes me as something very well worth
>>trying. You've indicated flaws in what was being done before,
>>and you've come up with something very promising. And,
>>thinking of $, you'll surely have other good uses for that
>>digital camera...
>--------------------------------------------------------
> Jonathan D. Monroe Associate Professor
> Department of Biology, MSC 7801 office: 540-568-6649
> James Madison University fax: 540-568-3333
> Harrisonburg, VA 22807 email: monroejd at jmu.edu>http://csm.jmu.edu/biology/monroejd/jmonroe.html>--------------------------------------------------------
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