I had the good fortune to spend a few days in the City of Brotherly Love. Of course, having a friend with local insights and views into the culture made  the travel experience  more intriguing. The city of Philadelphia, which I suspect is a friendly place under normal circumstances, was exuding globs of amiability the morning after their beloved Phillies clinched their first National League title in a very long time.

My friend, John Larkin, took me to an Italian restaurant for lunch where I had my first real Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I asked John how to have it, and he said, “With Whiz.” So I had it with Cheese Whiz, with onions, and with mushrooms, all on an Amoroso roll. I took a picture (to the right) and enjoyed my lunch.

John went on to tell me about Geno’s and Pat’s, two local establishments that are famous for their cheesesteaks. Intriguingly, he told  that Geno’s would kick you out of line if you didn’t know what you were doing when you ordered. This even applied to foreign tourists. Pat’s was more welcoming.

There was something about the arrogance of Geno’s that attracted me. It must be a great cheesesteak for them to be able to kick people out of line who were hesitant in their ordering. So I walked from the East Market train station to South Philly to Geno’s. I went up to the window where the workers/owners were raised on a floor a few feet higher than the sidewalk. I noticed the menu painted on the wall had one thing: cheesesteak sandwiches, and the only option was, “Whiz, American, or provolone cheese.” With a little trepidation, I ordered the Philly steak with provolone and onions. The man up high turned to the cook and said, “Provolone wit.”  The “wit” meant “with onions”. I must have gotten it right because I wasn’t kicked out of line. When I asked about a drink, I was told that that was at a different window, so I paid for, and received my sandwich, and proceeded to the next window to pay for, and receive my drink.

It was a delightful cheesesteak; the quality of the beef was better than any other I have had on a sandwich. Although I enjoyed the cheesesteak at the Italian restaurant, this one was much better. I, of course, had to  check out Pat’s across the street, and I noticed that they had a lot more options on their menu. The options did look interesting, but I was full.

What does this have to do with technology in science education? There are a few analogies that are detailed below. These analogies lead to questions that we need to think about and ultimately answer.

Arrogance of Computer Makers.  After the Apple computer faded away, and up to the last couple of years, there seemed to be an arrogant disdain by computer makers for the educational market place. Sure, they were willing to sell computers to schools, but how much effort did they really  put into producing computers that were fully adapted for classroom use?  And today, is the arrogance gone? To be sure, as we are seeing mini-notebooks evolve, with names such as “Classmates” (by Intel), the educational marketplace is garnering attention. But beyond being smaller and less expensive, are these really fully adapted for the classroom? And what about desktops? Even though we heard talk of one hard drive running several keyboards and monitors, thus reducing costs dramatically, I haven’t seen these in schools. I see one CPU, one monitor, one keyboard, and one mouse. Even the idea of multiple mice (which I wrote about in a previous blog) has not happened. When will the commercial producers of computers focus their machines on being great tools for the classrooms? Perhaps it is time to wander across the street to find Pat’s….

Focus versus Wide Applications. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were rich varieties of science software titles in many schools. Then consolidations in the education software industry and budget cut backs left many schools with just the suite of Microsoft Products. Students could use Excel, PowerPoint, and Word in many different contexts. In a sense, we went from Pat’s to Geno’s. Perhaps simplicity was good. Indeed, in some of the more successful software applications, such as Inspiration, the simplicity of purpose (concept mapping) make it a strong tool. New products are coming out, such as Pasco’s SPARK, but they purposefully don’t promise to do everything. The SPARK has focus, yet the educational world has matured enough so that we can and should have a rich variety of science educational tools. It is time to move beyond Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Within the variety, good, simple tools are valued; tools that, like the iPod, do only a few things, but they do them well.

Reluctant to ask for Help. During the teaching part of the year, teachers are as busy as any professionals I know. Teachers know how busy they are and thus how busy their colleagues are. It is no wonder that teachers may be reluctant to ask colleagues for technology help that would involve more than a few minutes. So, many teachers stay in their comfort zone, not pushing the edge because they are not asking for help.  This is probably not because the teacher is “afraid of being kicked out of the line,” but because they know how busy their colleagues are. Where are teachers supposed to go for help when everybody seems so busy? From the fellow science teacher to the teacher who gets a prep period to run the computer lab, there seems to be no great solution for support. Perhaps online support and training, such as Adaptive Curriculum’s use of Webex presentations can help solve the problem.

When I visited Philadelphia, I started at Geno’s. Next time I will  go to Pat’s. I think I will enjoy the variety, and I think I will be calmer as I ask for a cheesesteak with provolone, onions, AND mushrooms. And I just might ask them, is it possible to get raw onions instead of grilled?