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Looking for some Math help from the Edublogosphere

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I’m looking for some help here. Our High School department has 20 laptops and they don’t know what they can do with them. I have ideas, but nothing concrete of how these laptops can “Affect student learning beyond word processing and Internet research.” We’re talking all levels of high school. From geometry to IB Calculus. I have a meeting with the department on Friday. Can anyone point me to examples of cool things you do with technology in math?

[tags]SAS, Math[/tags]

I started blogging in 2005 and found it such a powerful way to reflect and share my thinking about technology, this generation, and how we prepare students for their future not our past.

6 Comments

  1. You don’t mention whether these laptops are standalone, networked or connected to the Internet. There’s the obvious use of Excel the create charts, and I presume you’ve already thought of maths wikis. How about exploring fractals as well? http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac/

    There are also loads of sites offering free maths tutorials. Why not make the kids the teachers? Set them the task of exploring and finding a methodology for a problem and then feeding that back to the class (via the wiki, possibly).

  2. Jeff: I would equip them with Geometer’s Sketchpad, which are teachers use successfully to teach many subjects in math and which can be used to design critical thinking problems. It’s very good. If you want a name, email me and I can put you in contact with one of our teachers who uses it. Dave

  3. Jeff
    I have not thouroughly explored this ( it is on my list) but on th enew Google teacher page and in other places I have seen the suggestion to use sketchup to teach Math concepts like volume and 3d geometric figures.
    At Necc I also saw a cool use of a simple web cam set up for the math class. The teacher or student demonstrated a sample problem which was posted on the web. The teacher had created a simple stand about 15 (?) inches high with a cross beam that held the camera and mike. The base had a small piece of plastic or white board material and the “teacher” demonstrated and explained the steps.

    Tha advantage of this was several fold… one it was done in the method used in the class, two the kids were trained to go there first even during class time (self- help) allowing the teacher more time for one on one help hat was meaningful, three obviously it was avaliable to the kids off the web anytime any where. This idea came from a school in New Zealand or Austrailia. I am sorry I can’t tell you who at the moment. I will try to find it and post their information.

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  5. You might be interested in looking at “mathcasts” from http://www.mathcasts.org This math “wiki” site makes use of movies, many created on SmartBoards, that show math being done by kids and teachers, at all levels. If the movies work on your laptops, and they are of use, then you might consider SmartBoard technology to add to your toolchest! A bonus.. you and your students learn how a wiki works!

    (No.. I don’t work for Smart Technologies, but I am interested in activities that show the work of math and integrate a variety of technologies into classrooms!)

  6. Justin Medved Reply

    http://www.merlot.org

    My first stop when looking for effecitive resources for HS/MS math teachers. A fantastic portal for peer reviewed online teaching tools.

    Justin

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