Instructional Software for the Classroom

As stated in chapter three of Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, there are five types of instructional software.  The instructional software may be used for drill and practice, tutorial, simulations, instructional games, and problem solving.  All of these types of instructional software are appropriate, at times, depending on the needs of the students.

Drill and practice software is used to help students develop automaticity for lower order prerequisite skills.  This is great for helping students remember their math facts and for helping them to improve their vocabulary.  A great site for this is http://freerice.com/.  Every time a student answers a problem correctly, ten grains of rice are donated through the World Food Programme .  The students see a visual of a bowl that is gradually filling up with rice every time they answer a problem correctly.  It’s very motivating and the students feel a sense of pride because they are helping to end hunger.

Tutorial instruction software is software that is used to actually teach the skill.  This type of software works best with advanced students and adults.  However, it can be used to reinforce a skill after it has been taught or to introduce a new skill.  The majority of students aren’t going to master the skill by using tutorial instruction alone, but combined with good teaching, it could be a valuable resource.  An example of a tutorial site is https://www.khanacademy.org/.

Simulation software is used to teach how something works.  Students use simulations to choose tasks to complete and the order in which to complete them.  For example, one simulation may consist of a group of chemicals of which the students “mix” to see how they react.  Simulation software is used more in the field of science than any other field.  Check out http://www.learn4good.com/games/simulation.htm for some interesting activities.

A very popular type of instructional software involves the use of instructional games.  Many teachers use instructional software for the same reasons as drill and practice software.  The difference is that instructional games are much more motivating.  For this reason, teachers often use instructional games as a reward.  It’s important that instructional games not be overused and that they not become a babysitter.  The purpose of most instructional games is to help students attain automatic recall of essential skills.  Like other instructional software, the purpose must fit the individual needs of each student and used appropriately.  An instructional games site that I use with my students is http://www.funbrain.com/.

The last type of instructional software discussed in chapter three is problem-solving software.  Just as the name sounds, it is used to help students learn to solve problems.  It is used a lot in math and science.  Although it wasn’t mentioned in the book, having students use problem-solving software for a homework assignment is a great tool to use.  Like any homework assignment, it’s important to review the lesson the next day to make sure that the homework was done correctly and that the skill was understood.  A problem-solving site that could be used for solving math problems is   http://www.mathplayground.com/wordproblems.html.

There is a time and place for all of these software sites and activities.  Be sure the software correlates to the skill you’re teaching in the Alabama Course of Study and try them out. Some of them are pretty amazing!