HOW IMPORTANT IS TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION?

Technology provides students with easy-toaccess information, accelerated learning, and fun opportunities to practice what they learn.

By Rambabu Dixit

1.The Meaning of Education

Knowledge, learning, and information: the word "education" is used in the English language and is derived from the Latin word "educatum" which means "teaching work." Some great scholars have attributed its origin to "educare" which means "to raise."

1.a. Narrow Meaning

This is the education given to the child in the school. The place, duration, curriculum, etc. of such education is fixed. In this sense, the person's school life is their education. Mackenzie has written: "In a narrow sense, education refers to the conscious efforts made for the development and promotion of our powers."

1.b. Broader Meaning

In this sense, education is a lifelong process by which a person develops their overall personality, social interactions, and their ability to adjust to their environment.

2.The Meaning of Technology

The use of scientific inventions, rules, principles, and processes in different aspects of life comes under the use of technology. Many types of technologies exist, including educational technology. In other words, the application of scientific principles to different areas of life is called technology. Therefore, when scientific, orderly, and well-organized knowledge is used to do daily work, then it is given the name of technology. The word "technology" is usually associated with machines, but it is not necessary that machines should always be used.

3.The Meaning of Educational Technology

When scientific, technical, and psychological principles and methods are properly used to make the teaching/learning process easy, simple, efficient, and effective, it comes under the umbrella term “educational technology”. Today, scientific and technological inventions have affected every aspect of human life. Education, teaching, and learning have also been greatly affected by them. In the field of education, as a result of the latest research, discoveries, and investigations, such techniques (i.e., skills) have been developed, which are helping in achieving the objectives of education. These competencies and skills, which are especially based on science, are given the name of educational technology.

Avaiable at: https://elearningindustry.com/how-important-istechnology-in-education. Access 20 Oct. 2023. Adapted. 

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rarely out of the news - especially during these challenging times, when AI has been suggested as a tool to help end the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many people do not have a full understanding of what AI actually means, how it works, or how it might help. 

Today UNESCO and Ericsson are proud to launch the Teaching AI for K-12 Portal. This portal will provide a repository of resources for all educators around the world. The aim is to help curriculum developers and teachers to better understand the promise and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and to develop AI curriculum for, and teach AI to, students in grades K-12 (ages 5 to 18 years old).

Available at: < https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-andericsson-launch-new-portal-teaching-ai-students>. Access: 05 May 2023.

This text refers to question.

Sprowston mother in stand-off with school over bullying

                                     By David HannantDHannant87Specialist reporter: health and education

A Sprowston mother is locked in a stand-off with her daughter's school after keeping her at home for the past six weeks to avoid what she describes as "brutal" bullying.

Rebecca Everson says the treatment her 12-year-old daughter Phoebe suffers has become so severe that the youngster has been left "a shell of a girl".

She says the Year 8 Sprowston Community Academy pupil is subjected to cruel messages on social media platforms like Whatsapp, Instagram and Snapchat and has abuse hurled at her by classmates regularly.

After raising her concerns with school leaders, Ms. Everson said her daughter's issues only got worse so for the past six weeks she has refused to send her in. However, she now claims the school is threatening her with fines over Phoebe's attendance record.

She said: "The bullying Phoebe has suffered has been awful. They send her messages calling her every name under the sun. It is brutal.

"I have rung the school and told them she does not feel safe at school and requested work to be sent home for her, but they have done nothing."

Ms. Everson the issue started in October last year, which she reported to Phoebe's teachers.

She said: "The school said they would talk to the girls involved, but when they did it just aggravated the situation.

"Some of the girls involved in the cyberbullying attend other schools nearby too, so moving schools is just not viable.

"Phoebe is a shell of the girl she was before this all began. She has done nothing to deserve this but now she's terrified to even go to school.

"I just feel like I'm going around and around in circles trying to get something done - it's terribly awful."

Sprowston Community Academy was approached for comment but said the school was unable to comment on individual cases.

Sprowston mother in stand-off with school over bullying | Extract taken from Eastern Daily Press (edp24.co.uk) and slightly modified.

Why does Nature Loss Matter?

Nature is our life-support system. From the fresh air we (1) breathe to the clean water we (2) drink, nature (3) provides the essentials we all rely on for our survival and well-being. And it also holds the key to our (4) prosperity, with millions of livelihoods and much of our economic activity also depending on the natural world. These immense (5) benefits to humanity, estimated to be worth around US$ 125 trillion a year, are only possible if we maintain a rich (6) diversity of wildlife.

Available in: https://explore.panda.org/newdeal?gclid=Cj0KCQjwgO2XBhCaARIsANrW2X0IIHXhC2iCZHBBoQAx6UyJdDDUy2p-hWYPGlbDTblY7kfNin2Y2GoaAvVGEALw_wcB#why. Access in: 16 Aug. 2022.

What is an effective way of getting people to cut down on meat?

A meat tax, or “sin taxes” would be most effective yet almost all government subsidies promote meat consumption. In the UK, the best (1)________of how this might work is the tax on the soft drinks industry. It mainly (2)________manufacturers reformulating products, and didn’t put the burden on the consumer. A meat tax would mainly incentivise manufacturers to put (3)________  meat in products (eg, a sausage might have 60% meat instead of 70%) but there is no government appetite for it.

There are many reasons for this, including lobbying from interest groups saying it would (4)________the domestic farming sector. Neoliberal governments also have a tendency to believe the market will internalise health and environmental costs if better information is provided, and the government does not want to appear to be a “nanny state”, says Dominic Moran, professor of agricultural and resource economics from the University of Edinburgh. There is also concern the burden of taxes falls disproportionately on lower income groups. “But this isn’t (5) ________,” says Moran. 

If you make it easier for companies to advertise products that are better for the environment, you expose fewer people to products which are bad for the environment. Good in theory, but it would be really hard to work out what should be regulated because (6)  ________  tobacco, eating meat is not all bad for people, it’s just the quantity it is being eaten in. It would also be hard to know what needs to be regulated – would it just be (7) ________ red meat, or chicken too? What about organic?

Available in: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/16/how-can-the-uk-reduce-meat-consumption-and-cut-emissions-aoe?CMP=Share_

AndroidApp_Other. Access in: 16 Aug. 2022 (adapted).

How do we know the world is getting warmer?

Our planet has been warming rapidly since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

The average temperature at the Earth's surface has risen about 1.1C since 1850. Furthermore, each of the last four decades has been warmer than any that preceded it, since the middle of the 19th Century.

These conclusions come from analyses of millions of measurements gathered in different parts of the world. The temperature readings are collected by weather stations on land, on ships and by satellites.

Multiple independent teams of scientists have reached the same result – a spike in temperatures coinciding with the onset of the industrial era. Scientists can reconstruct temperature fluctuations even further back in time. Tree rings, ice cores, lake sediments and corals all record a signature of the past climate.

This provides much-needed context to the current phase of warming. In fact, scientists estimate the Earth hasn't been this hot for about 125,000 years. 

How do we know humans are responsible for global warming?

Greenhouse gases - which trap the Sun's heat - are the crucial link between temperature rise and human activities. The most important is carbon dioxide (CO₂), because of its abundance in the atmosphere.

We can also tell it's CO₂ trapping the Sun's energy. Satellites show less heat from the Earth escaping into space at precisely the wavelengths at which CO₂ absorbs radiated energy.

Burning fossil fuels and chopping down trees lead to the release of this greenhouse gas. Both activities exploded after the 19th Century, so it's unsurprising that atmospheric CO₂ increased over the same period.

There's a way we can show definitively where this extra CO₂ came from. The carbon produced by burning fossil fuels has a distinctive chemical signature.

 Available in: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58954530. Access in: 17 Aug. 2022.