Assignment 2

         For our second assignment, creating and presenting a SMART board lesson, I decided on a food pyramid project from the exchange website.  I picked the project because of the interactive potential I felt the presentation offered.  Such features, some added by myself, are the use of the magic pen (for making connections between different ideas), the manipulation of various objects (sorting different objects by category), and also the animation of different objects (this will inform the participants if their choice is correct or incorrect). 

         The NETS achieved in this activity are as follows.  Student NETS goal 6.a. is a foreseen outcome from the presentation.  Students will explore the food pyramid and the SMART board technology and its basic functions and tools.  Teacher NETS goal 1.c. are achieved by helping students explore the nutritional benefits of a balanced meal through interactive, collaborative discussion sparked by the SMART board lesson.  The SMART board sparks learning in the classroom because it begs to get the students involved and engaged in the lesson its self.  My only critique is that the graphics lag behind (potentially) anything they have at home.  So although most will jump at the opportunity the novelty will wear off and the graphics will fail to capture their attention.  If students had their own controllers they could engage the presentation from their seat, like the Wii, or Playstation.   So the SMART board of the future has some catching up to do.  The graphics (it still operates in the 2D) and its interactive capabilities are still far many years behind what where technology is at now.