WHY I'M SO EXCITED BY TECHNOLOGY

Sometimes I have difficulty conveying just what it is about technology that I find so fascinating. It's not just the coolness of the stuff, it's the possibilities for what you can do with it.

Some of those neat things:

• Using the Logger Pro software to create digital reports. Schools are always trying to get content-area teachers to include more language-arts activities in their lessons, and the software makes it easy to create a modifiable template for the report.
  
• Immediacy of results. The quick response time of the digital equipment (probes and such) reinforces the lesson in real-time. The kids don't have to figure out what the meaning of the experiment was, it's evident in the graph that is produced.
  
• Everybody likes to be master of the cool tech. The kids get a real kick out of becoming expert in something that others don't know how to use.
  
• Multi-purpose technology. Rather than buying specialized equipment, that otherwise sits on a shelf and takes up space, the various digital probes can be used in a variety of activities.
  
• Speed of set-up. Because it doesn't take long to put the probes into action, it's an easy matter to use the equipment on a daily basis.