Technology Integration

A group of 2nd graders came into their classroom to find me and my computer screen projected on the wall. We were looking at an interactive physics web site on projectile motion.
You wouldn’t think that second graders would be interested in this on the surface, but these students took turns figuring out how to point the cannon so that the projectile would hit the target. I grouped them into boys on one side, and girls on the other. Each group member had a turn until the group “hit the target.”
There was a lot of reasoning happening here….. there was some guessing, too, and some students had fun, but the most amazing thing was their levels of engagement. They were really competing, and, I think, learning as well.
But who would have thought that second graders could grasp projectile motion?
This was a lesson with just the instructor’s laptop, a projector, a screen, the web resource, and a great group of kids.