TEKS- Technology Applications

Texas Essential Knowledge for Technology Applications, for this post assume I am referring to grades sixth through eighth. In middle school it is very important to introduce technology as much as possible, In physical education for this age group there are many instances to integrate technology. There are four strands mentioned in TEKS:

• Foundations, In this stage students are to learn the basic functions of software applications and hardware components. An example would be knowing how to use a computer and how to use basic programs like Microsoft Word.

• Information Acquisition, This stage is where students evaluate their ability to gain knowledge from computer based programs.

• Solving Problems, unlike the other stages this stage uses a combination of the other stages to fix problems they come across, If a kid is writing a paper on Physical activity then he realizes that it was suppose to be in a PowerPoint, he needs the knowledge to transfer the words from a program to the other.

• Communication, A student needs to know how to communicate information, something as simple as an email or other programs that make slideshows, multimedia presentations, and documents.

In my opinion, I think the most important Strand determined by the Texas Essential Knowledge for Technology Application is Information Acquisition. Information acquisition is needed in most education fields if not all of them,  It teaches a student to learn for himself instead of being force feed the information. Think of it this way, If a teacher said “put together a video presentation about Basketball” the student could then decide for himself how he was going to do it, and what he was going to do he could choose something as simple as windows movie maker or something more complex such as Final Cut Pro. It doesn’t matter what program the student uses, as long as he makes it about basketball, This way the student learns by himself. Information Acquisition helps the student in the long run, thought it takes longer to think up a project on your own it will prepare them for high school and college.