Saturday, March 14, 2015

Cooking with TPACK


For my Technology in the Classroom class, we were given an assignment to cook with TPACK (not to be confused with Tupac ).  Anyways, we had a friend pick a bowl, a plate and a utensil from the kitchen and then draw a number out of a hat to tell us what we then had to "cook" with those three kitchen items.  I was given a standard plate  and a standard bowl but for my utensil, I got a potato masher ... My friend choose the number four which was to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

To begin, I gathered the ingredients and then contemplated how I would get the peanut butter out of the jar with my potato masher.  Using the "masher" part wouldn't work so I had to turn it around and use the handle.  Although this wasn't the most efficient way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it did work.  There was also one pro of using the potato masher as opposed to a knife, it stands up on its end and doesn't get peanut butter all over your table or plate.
So like the TPACK model, just because you know how to use a certain tool, doesn't mean it is appropriate for all tasks.  I can use a potato masher but it doesn't really work to make a PB&J sandwich.  So just because you know how to use a certain technology and you can make it work for most tasks, doesn't mean it is the most effective and efficient tool for all tasks.
 Here is a link showing my TPACK cooking skills in action.