Using assistive technology in
the classroom
Cooking (im)possibilities
L/O/G/O
Justyna Ratajczyk
December, 2015
General project information
• Target audience : P.G Chambers School for
students with multiple disabilities; grades : 6th, 7th, 8th
Cedar Knolls, NJ
• Time frame: this is a 5 day cross curricular cooking
project that takes place every week
• Classroom:
•
•
•
•
10 students
teacher
4 assistants ( 2 one-to-one)
one-to-one nurse
Main objectives according to Bloom’s
Taxonomy action words
1
1. Pick a recipe
- Brainstorm ideas
- Predict the main ingredients
2
3
4
2. Create a shopping list
- Identify all ingredients you will need
- Role play
3. Sequence direction
- Determine what comes first
- Determine what tools will you need to
the job
4. Use all the skills working at the school cafe
- Create (cooking)
- Collaborate (cooking and school café)
Learner outcomes and assessment
 Using assistive technology devices students will be
able to:
 Vote for the recipe
 Determine which recipe got the most / least votes
 Determine what the main ingredients in the winning recipe are
 Graph the voting results
 Create shopping lists
 Determine which type of store they need to shop at
 Determine which grocery store is the closest to / the furthest from the
school
 Determine which means of transportation to use when going shopping
 Count money when purchasing items at the pretend grocery store
 Determine where at the store they will find all the ingredients
Learner outcomes and assessment
cont.
 Sequence cooking directions
 Pick cooking jobs
 Determine which cooking utensil they will need to do their job
 Take turns while working in groups
 Count money at the school café
Cross curriculum approach
Language
Arts and
technology
Math and
technology
Social
Studies and
technology
This project incorporates many teaching
disciplines. It allows students to scaffold
learning by building their knowledge of one
subject upon another.
Social and
career
skills
Assistive technology (AT)
Medium tech
Low tech
•
handheld
magnifiers
•
large print
text
•
canes and
walkers
•
•
•
•
talking spell
checkers
manual
wheelchairs
electronic
organizers
alternate mouse
or keyboard
High tech
• power wheelchairs and
scooters
• digital hearing aids
• computers with
specialized software
such as voice
• electronic aids to daily
living
Assistive technology ( AT) is any item, piece of equipment, software or
product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional
capabilities of individuals with disabilities.
AT in my classroom
 Students in the classroom suffer from multiple
disabilities:
 Three students are ambulatory
 Seven students use wheelchairs
 One students uses power chair
 Four students wear arm splints
 All students wear orthotics
AT in my classroom
 None of the students is verbal
 5 students use iPads ( Proloquo2Go) to communicate
 Two students uses DynaVox
 One student uses Microsoft Surface
 One student uses E-Tran
AT in my classroom
 One student uses only picture cards
 All students use switches
Big beamer
Jelly beamer
Candy corn
Small talk
 All students use SMARTboard (Boardmaker Plus, Kidspiration, Smart
Exchange)
Procedure
Each cooking project takes 5 days.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Procedure cont.
Day 1 Language Arts / technology – Picking the recipe

Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
Smart Exchange
At devices (switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran)
Students come up to the Smartboard to cast a vote
Procedure cont.
Day 1 Math / technology – counting and graphing

Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
Smart Exchange
At devices (switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran,
tangibles)
Students count which recipe got the most / least amount of votes
Students graph the results
Procedure cont.
Day 2 Language Arts / technology– Creating the shopping list

Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
Boardmaker Plus
At devices (switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran)
Students create shopping lists by
Matching pictures
Moving objects on the SMARTboard
Procedure cont.
Day 2 Math / technology– Measuring distance
Social studies / technology – map skills

Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
Boardmaker Plus
Google maps
At devices (switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran,
picture cards)
Students create a map
Locate the schools on the map
Put 4 grocery stores close to school ( students pick pins and pictures,
type / spell store names and locations)
Procedure cont.
Day 2
Use measuring tool to measure the distance from the school to each
store
 Pick the store they would like to shop at and means of transportation to
use
Procedure cont.
Day 3

Math / technology– Counting money
Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
Boardmaker Plus
Kidspiration
At devices (switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran)
Students set up a pretend store in the classroom
Students watch “shopping” video
Students take turns coming to the store buying items from their lists
Procedure cont.
Day 3

Math / technology– Counting money
Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
Boardmaker Plus
Kidspiration
At devices (switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran)
Student who is the cashier counts all the money
Teacher picks one item from the shopping cart and reminds the students how
much it costs – students take turns answering
Procedure cont.
Day 4

Language Arts / technology – Sequencing Directions
Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
Boardmaker Plus
Kidspiration
At devices (switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran)
Student sequence directions by:
 matching pictures on the SMARTboard:
Procedure cont.
Day 4
 matching pictures with verbs
using Kidspiration
Procedure cont.
Day 4
 Students volunteer for cooking jobs
Students determine what cooking utensil they will need
Procedure cont.
Day 5

ADLs – Cooking
Technology used:
SMARTboard
Computer
At devices (power link, switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking
Boards, E-Tran)
Student review directions and cooking jobs; watch instructional videos
Students wash their hands
Students work in groups – cooking
Procedure cont.
Day 5

ADLs – School cafe
Technology used:
At devices ( switches, iPads, Dynavox, Surface, Talking Boards, E-Tran,
picture cards, number cards)
Student work at the school café selling the dish they made:
One students is a cashier ( counts money, gives the change)
One student greets customers
One students serves the food
Pedagogy – Bloom’s Taxonomy
APPLICATION
create
SYNTHESIS
measure, criticize
ANALYSIS
compare, organize
APPLICATION
use, calculate, show, prepare
COMPREHENSION
explain, describe, predict
KONWLEGDE
define, identify, describe, match, memorize
Pedagogy – learning styles
Students preferentially take in and process information in different ways:
Concrete
Random
Students will enjoy watching
the videos, working at the
café: greeting people and
answering questions
Abstract
Random
Students will enjoy shopping at the
pretend store; volunteering for cooking jobs and
cooking; they might try to do things
independently
Concrete
Sequential
Abstract
Sequential
Students will enjoy
working on cooking
directions, following the
shopping list when buying
items, working at the cash
register
Students will enjoy watching and analyzing
videos and answering questions; they will enjoy
putting pictures in order, matching pictures,
and checking their worksheet to mark information
given by the teacher
Brainy Bits – limbic system
hypothalamus
hippocampus
thalamus
amygdala
Brainy Bits – difficulty vs. complexity
Complexity
the thought process that the brain
uses to deal with information
to raise students thinking, in this
project teacher increases
complexity rather that difficulty of
tasks
Difficulty
the amount of effort that the learner
must expend within a level of complexity
to accomplish a learning objective
Increasing complexity without
increasing difficulty
Name the ingredients - knowledge
Where at the store will you find
each ingredient? - understanding
Go to the store and get the
ingredients - apply
What is you can’t find an
ingredient? - analyze
Core Curriculum Content Standards
Language Arts
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.3
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking,
reading, or listening.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.1.A
Use relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that) and relative adverbs
(where, when, why).
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.4.A
Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Core Curriculum Content Standards
Math
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NBT.A.2
Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based
on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between
addition and subtraction.
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NBT.A.2
Read and write multi-digit whole numbers using base-ten numerals, number
names, and expanded form
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NBT.B.4
Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard
algorithm.
Core Curriculum Content Standards
Math
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.2
Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals
of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems
involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing
measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent
measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that
feature a measurement scale.
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.B.3
Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set
with several categories. Solve one- and two-step "how many more" and "how
many less" problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs. For
example, draw a bar graph in which each square in the bar graph might
represent 5 pets.
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.B.4
Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with
halves and fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a line plot, where the
horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units— whole numbers, halves, or
quarters.

Core Curriculum Content Standards
Math
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.C.8
Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and
pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately. Example: If you have 2 dimes
and 3 pennies, how many cents do you have?
 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.D.10
Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a
data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and
compare problems1 using information presented in a bar graph.
Core Curriculum Content Standards
21st Century Life and Careers



9.1 Personal Financial Literacy
9.2 Career Awareness, Exploration, and Preparation
9.3 Career and Technical Education
Core Curriculum Content Standards
Technology


8.1.P.A.1 Use an input device to select an item and navigate the screen
8.1.P.A.3 Use digital devices to create stories with pictures, numbers,
letters and words.
 8.1.P.A.4 Use basic technology terms in the proper context in
conversation with peers and teachers (e.g., camera, tablet, Internet, mouse,
keyboard, and printer).
 8.1.P.A.5 Demonstrate the ability to access and use resources on a
computing device.
 8.1.5.A.3 Use a graphic organizer to organize information about problem
or issue
Citations
Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York,
NY: Basic Books.
Gregorc, A. (1985). Style Delineator (3rd ed.). Columbia CT: Gregorc
Associates.
Sousa, David A. (2011). How the Brain Learns (4th ed.). Corwin Press.
Thank You!
L/O/G/O
December, 2015