My passion for science was ignited years ago when I first had the opportunity to compete on our school's Science Olympiad team.  What I loved about the concept was that it asked us, as students, to engage in critical thinking, research, design, and creation.  It was the first project-based learning experience that I remember being a part of, and I was hooked at that moment in time.  As a science teacher, I have challenged myself to provide a similar environment in my classroom as what I felt with Science Olympiad.  In my opinion, this style of learning should not be limited to a unique club, but rather encompass the typical classroom, regardless of core content area.

     With the advent of technology swarming our schools several years ago, there has been a mad rush to implement tech use in every classroom.  However, it seems that only more recently have educational professionals been seriously bringing to the forefront the importance of our approaches to technology integration within education.  It is not enough to merely "use technology"; we must incorporate the use of technology in ways that retain sound pedagogical methods and allow us to transform learning in a way that we could not do without the technological tools at our disposal.  With this in mind, I feel that there is a serious need for advocation and training of how to properly craft engaging, tech-driven, real-world instruction for our learners.

     Looking ahead, I would like to use what I have learned and the experiences that I have gained through the MAED in IT program at ECU to play a role in helping to fulfill this need.  This may come in the form of serving as a technology facilitator for a school system or even a specific school.