Technological solutions for teacher education in science and mathematics

Online technologies have the potential to exponentially increase the availability of information to classrooms, alter the nature of communications and extend the environment in which individuals think, communicate, process data and learn. In the hands of able and informed teachers, they can play a prominent role in student learning. Schools are responding at a rapid rate to the changes in thinking and communicating that digital technologies bring. Computers in classrooms are increasingly used as Mindtools that require students to think in meaningful ways in order to represent what they know or have learnt. This paper describes an approach to creating interactive multimedia (IMM) science and mathematics resources for use at both tertiary and primary levels. The multimedia resources replicate and enhance quality "traditional" science and mathematics materials and pedagogy, and have been used extensively and successfully with tertiary teacher education students at Griffith University, Queensland. The materials aim to engage students from primary to tertiary in meaningful scientific and mathematical thinking. It is the contention of the researchers that students of all ages "learn" science and mathematics when they are actively engaged in the learning process and they are encouraged to think scientifically and mathematically. Further, teacher education students gain valuable pedagogical understanding of the role IMM materials can play in science and mathematics classrooms, as a result of their development and use of these materials.