Here's my final "required" post for this course. It's another website with fabulous Excel activities:
http://www.teacherlink.org/content/math/activities/excel.html
I particularly like the one involving M&Ms:
http://www.teacherlink.org/content/math/activities/ex-mmnumerical/home.html
The M&M activity is one I've seen before, only without technology. Students get individual bags, count up the frequency of each color, and perform calculations. They discuss mean, median, and mode, along with other mathematical topics. In the lesson I have, students can also make bar graphs and pie charts, adding in discussions about types of graphs and percentages. It is normally a lesson done as an introduction to these ideas. I would use this Excel lesson after students have learned about such topics. Instead, it would be a way to help them become familiar with the computing capabilities of Excel. Perhaps the two could be combined to be a lesson that spans two or three days...first learning about measures of central tendency, then using the "shortcut" of Excel to find them.
The best part is, though: everyone gets to eat M&Ms when the activities are completed!!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Week VII, Post II: Excel
Here's a great article about using Excel in the classroom:
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech079.shtml
This teacher uses Excel with her 7th and 8th graders to not only teach them math, but to show its applications in the "real world." She says, "To teach percentages is one thing, but to give an application and be able to forecast change is a powerful lesson."
The article gives some great ideas, has student examples, and gives links to related websites.
I found this interesting because I almost did a screen capture for last week's project involving Excel. I couldn't come up with a good activity, however, that seemed relevant and exciting, and thus didn't end up using Excel. Now, however, I've got tons of great ideas. The good thing is, too, that Excel is a program most people have on their computers. Even Mac users tend to have Microsoft Office these days. This makes it a little easier to give computer assignments to students. They can go to the library or work on computers at home on Excel projects without having to download new software (for example, Geometer's Sketchpad.)
I'd love to use some of the ideas listed in the article following a lesson on tables and graphs. My students do well with that material, but don't usually see "the point." Having them apply what they've learned by using Excel is a great way to help them see connections between the math we learn and the world around us.
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech079.shtml
This teacher uses Excel with her 7th and 8th graders to not only teach them math, but to show its applications in the "real world." She says, "To teach percentages is one thing, but to give an application and be able to forecast change is a powerful lesson."
The article gives some great ideas, has student examples, and gives links to related websites.
I found this interesting because I almost did a screen capture for last week's project involving Excel. I couldn't come up with a good activity, however, that seemed relevant and exciting, and thus didn't end up using Excel. Now, however, I've got tons of great ideas. The good thing is, too, that Excel is a program most people have on their computers. Even Mac users tend to have Microsoft Office these days. This makes it a little easier to give computer assignments to students. They can go to the library or work on computers at home on Excel projects without having to download new software (for example, Geometer's Sketchpad.)
I'd love to use some of the ideas listed in the article following a lesson on tables and graphs. My students do well with that material, but don't usually see "the point." Having them apply what they've learned by using Excel is a great way to help them see connections between the math we learn and the world around us.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Week VII, Post I: Numeracy Software
I found some really neat calculator activities:
http://www.numeracysoftware.com/Ten%20Calculator%20Activities.pdf
This is actually a PDF file with several activities. The first few pages are the answers...scroll through those to get to the activities.
All of these are activities I could use for remediation. There is one that requires converting between fractions and decimals - something my students have a very hard time with. There are volume activities, "missing key" activities, and many more. Just some fun stuff to do with kids on a slow day or when they're done with their other work and need something to fill the time. And they always love using calculators (it's a treat to them, because I don't normally allow them.)
http://www.numeracysoftware.com/Ten%20Calculator%20Activities.pdf
This is actually a PDF file with several activities. The first few pages are the answers...scroll through those to get to the activities.
All of these are activities I could use for remediation. There is one that requires converting between fractions and decimals - something my students have a very hard time with. There are volume activities, "missing key" activities, and many more. Just some fun stuff to do with kids on a slow day or when they're done with their other work and need something to fill the time. And they always love using calculators (it's a treat to them, because I don't normally allow them.)
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Week VI, Post III: Screen Captures.
I decided to write about screen captures since we just completed an assignment on them.
I found an article comparing two different programs for creating screen captures, Camtasia and Captivate.
http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=9393&page=1
Camtasia is great because you can create movies formatted as MP3s, iPod movies, Flash, WMV, and others. Apparently Captivate is a bit easier to use but only produces Flash products. Captivate has other plusses, however, like facilitating the process of creating a quiz.
I really liked working with Camtasia. I thought it was pretty easy to learn to use. The tutorials offered on their site (which would also pop up if you clicked "Show me" or "Help" while working within the program!) were super helpful. I don't think I could have completed the assignment without those!
I could certainly use this program to create tutorials for things like Geometer's Sketchpad and WebQuests. Or perhaps students could learn to use it and create videos relating to mathematical topics. The movie was relatively easy to make, once I figured out the program, and kids are super quick at learning new softwares.
I found an article comparing two different programs for creating screen captures, Camtasia and Captivate.
http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=9393&page=1
Camtasia is great because you can create movies formatted as MP3s, iPod movies, Flash, WMV, and others. Apparently Captivate is a bit easier to use but only produces Flash products. Captivate has other plusses, however, like facilitating the process of creating a quiz.
I really liked working with Camtasia. I thought it was pretty easy to learn to use. The tutorials offered on their site (which would also pop up if you clicked "Show me" or "Help" while working within the program!) were super helpful. I don't think I could have completed the assignment without those!
I could certainly use this program to create tutorials for things like Geometer's Sketchpad and WebQuests. Or perhaps students could learn to use it and create videos relating to mathematical topics. The movie was relatively easy to make, once I figured out the program, and kids are super quick at learning new softwares.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Week VI, Post II: The Media Equation
I've just finished reading chapter 1 of "The Media Equation." It's interesting to me to learn that despite our best efforts, and despite what we think to be reasonable and rational, humans (for the most part) equate media with real life.
I printed out the article to read (reading too much on a computer gives me a headache) and took notes in the margins as I read. Something that struck me: "Motion in pictures, especially motion that appears directed at the viewer, stimulates physical activation in the brain as if the moving objects were actually present. Pictures, too, are natural experience" (p. 5). I found myself writing The "visual" part of the brain is not thinking "That's TV. That's a movie." It isn't thinking at all. It simply sees movement and reacts to it. That's why we get scared at movies. The part of our brain that sees the monster actually registers a monster. I'd bet a different part of the brain keeps us calm and in our seats while the part of our brain registering the monster wants to flee.
Just a few pages later, "The automatic response is to accept what seems to be real as in fact real." (p. 8). As an anthro minor, I found myself wondering what would cause our brains to be confused by media. Why do we accept such falsehoods as reality? I wrote in the margin on that page It's a biology, a part of our creation. I came up with a theory that perhaps, because humans evolved in a time with no computers, no pictures, no media whatsoever, whatever we saw that seemed real was in fact real. Threats and movement and sounds that appeared to be present actually were, and they triggered automatic responses in our minds and bodies. Now, because of media, those automatic parts of us, those instincts are triggered by seemingly real things. We can't help it. We can sometimes override our instincts through reason (most likely using a seperate part of the brain for this) but it takes focus and energy.
Then I come to page 12: "People are not evolved to twentieth-century technology. The human brain evolved in a world in which only humans exhibited rich social behaviors, and a world in which all perceived objects were real physical objects. Anything that seemed to be a real person or place was real...Modern media now engage old brains."
I laughed out loud to myself. This was precisely the theory I had come up with on my own. (I guess it's good to know that my anthropology training has clearly taught me something.)
Even so, the media equation is a strange concept to me. I suppose this follows along with the authors' commenty that "People respond socially and naturally to media even though they believe it is not reasonable to do so, and even when they don't think that these responses characterize themselves" (p. 7). I know I'm going to be closely monitoring myself the next few days and taking note of how I respond to media, as I certainly don't think those responses characterize me. We'll see.
Dr. F. asked how the media equation impacts my work. I suppose it all has to do with creating lessons and activities that students can relate to. Obviously, students will repond better to something they relate to and find an emotional connection with that something they don't relate to. This provides indication that technology would be great to use on a regular basis in the classroom. Reading a textbook is often emotionless and dull. However, if that content can be written into the storyline of a movie or book (see The Number Devil then students will, because of the media equation, make connections with the story and the character. These connections will certainly help them retain information and be more motivated to learn the material. The media equation is a grand incentive to use media in the classroom!
I printed out the article to read (reading too much on a computer gives me a headache) and took notes in the margins as I read. Something that struck me: "Motion in pictures, especially motion that appears directed at the viewer, stimulates physical activation in the brain as if the moving objects were actually present. Pictures, too, are natural experience" (p. 5). I found myself writing The "visual" part of the brain is not thinking "That's TV. That's a movie." It isn't thinking at all. It simply sees movement and reacts to it. That's why we get scared at movies. The part of our brain that sees the monster actually registers a monster. I'd bet a different part of the brain keeps us calm and in our seats while the part of our brain registering the monster wants to flee.
Just a few pages later, "The automatic response is to accept what seems to be real as in fact real." (p. 8). As an anthro minor, I found myself wondering what would cause our brains to be confused by media. Why do we accept such falsehoods as reality? I wrote in the margin on that page It's a biology, a part of our creation. I came up with a theory that perhaps, because humans evolved in a time with no computers, no pictures, no media whatsoever, whatever we saw that seemed real was in fact real. Threats and movement and sounds that appeared to be present actually were, and they triggered automatic responses in our minds and bodies. Now, because of media, those automatic parts of us, those instincts are triggered by seemingly real things. We can't help it. We can sometimes override our instincts through reason (most likely using a seperate part of the brain for this) but it takes focus and energy.
Then I come to page 12: "People are not evolved to twentieth-century technology. The human brain evolved in a world in which only humans exhibited rich social behaviors, and a world in which all perceived objects were real physical objects. Anything that seemed to be a real person or place was real...Modern media now engage old brains."
I laughed out loud to myself. This was precisely the theory I had come up with on my own. (I guess it's good to know that my anthropology training has clearly taught me something.)
Even so, the media equation is a strange concept to me. I suppose this follows along with the authors' commenty that "People respond socially and naturally to media even though they believe it is not reasonable to do so, and even when they don't think that these responses characterize themselves" (p. 7). I know I'm going to be closely monitoring myself the next few days and taking note of how I respond to media, as I certainly don't think those responses characterize me. We'll see.
Dr. F. asked how the media equation impacts my work. I suppose it all has to do with creating lessons and activities that students can relate to. Obviously, students will repond better to something they relate to and find an emotional connection with that something they don't relate to. This provides indication that technology would be great to use on a regular basis in the classroom. Reading a textbook is often emotionless and dull. However, if that content can be written into the storyline of a movie or book (see The Number Devil then students will, because of the media equation, make connections with the story and the character. These connections will certainly help them retain information and be more motivated to learn the material. The media equation is a grand incentive to use media in the classroom!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Week VI, Post I: FCAT Prep Online
Here's a great site for reviewing FCAT skills.
http://www.testprepreview.com/fcat_practice.htm
I know, everyone hates the FCAT (and many of the people in this class aren't even in Florida.) But most of you know about standardized testing and how awful it is. I hate it. I really do. My poor students get so frustrated that they have to take a test containing all the math required in high school when they haven't even finished those courses yet.
But! That's beside the point. I am required to do FCAT prep. Perhaps letting the students get onto a site like this one where they can work out questions and then check their answers will make them a little more exited about it.
This is also a great resource for those that want extra practice. (I had several this year, especially my ESOL students, who wanted more work.) Just give the kid the website and they can practice as much or as little as they want.
The good news is, Texas (the founder of these standardized tests) has apparently gotten rid of their version of FCAT!!!! Oh, that gives me hope...
http://www.testprepreview.com/fcat_practice.htm
I know, everyone hates the FCAT (and many of the people in this class aren't even in Florida.) But most of you know about standardized testing and how awful it is. I hate it. I really do. My poor students get so frustrated that they have to take a test containing all the math required in high school when they haven't even finished those courses yet.
But! That's beside the point. I am required to do FCAT prep. Perhaps letting the students get onto a site like this one where they can work out questions and then check their answers will make them a little more exited about it.
This is also a great resource for those that want extra practice. (I had several this year, especially my ESOL students, who wanted more work.) Just give the kid the website and they can practice as much or as little as they want.
The good news is, Texas (the founder of these standardized tests) has apparently gotten rid of their version of FCAT!!!! Oh, that gives me hope...
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Week V, Post III: Math Tools
I found a really great site that serves as a software resource for mathematics teachers:
http://mathforum.org/mathtools/index.html
Check out http://mathforum.org/mathtools/docs/about.html to learn a little more about what the site offers.
This site is hosted by the same people who do "Ask Dr. Math" (see previous posts), so I know it is a reliable source. Teachers can share activities, comments, needs and ideas, all based around technology in the math classroom. There are PoW's (Probles of the Week) for use with interactive math tools, lesson plans, a newsletter and tools "for many different technology types: graphing calculator, handhelds, and computers, including Cabri, Fathom, Flash, Shockwave, Java applets, Java script, Sketchpad, with more to come." Browsing, selecting a "math topic" or searching are all ways to find information on the site.
This is a great resource for teachers to come to when they want to use technology in the classroom. I especially like the fact that teachers themselves can contribute. I get frustrated with programs supposedly for education that are not created by educators. I am defintely going to take more time to poke around this site tonight to discover all the things it has to offer:)
http://mathforum.org/mathtools/index.html
Check out http://mathforum.org/mathtools/docs/about.html to learn a little more about what the site offers.
This site is hosted by the same people who do "Ask Dr. Math" (see previous posts), so I know it is a reliable source. Teachers can share activities, comments, needs and ideas, all based around technology in the math classroom. There are PoW's (Probles of the Week) for use with interactive math tools, lesson plans, a newsletter and tools "for many different technology types: graphing calculator, handhelds, and computers, including Cabri, Fathom, Flash, Shockwave, Java applets, Java script, Sketchpad, with more to come." Browsing, selecting a "math topic" or searching are all ways to find information on the site.
This is a great resource for teachers to come to when they want to use technology in the classroom. I especially like the fact that teachers themselves can contribute. I get frustrated with programs supposedly for education that are not created by educators. I am defintely going to take more time to poke around this site tonight to discover all the things it has to offer:)
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Week V, Post II: More GS
Here's another article on Geometer's Sketchpad.
http://www.dynamicgeometry.com/general_resources/user_groups/nctm_2006/pages/dynamic_algebra.php
This article is the byproduct of a presentation on GS done at a 2006 NCTM Conference. It has several different concepts and activities that can be taught with GS. This is great because I am not very familiar with the program (yet) and was curious about what else could be done other than that lesson on slopes. I love it because it even gets into precalculus material (unit circles, etc!). Often it is difficult to model the more complex situations that we have at that level mathematics, so this is a good starting place for me.
http://www.dynamicgeometry.com/general_resources/user_groups/nctm_2006/pages/dynamic_algebra.php
This article is the byproduct of a presentation on GS done at a 2006 NCTM Conference. It has several different concepts and activities that can be taught with GS. This is great because I am not very familiar with the program (yet) and was curious about what else could be done other than that lesson on slopes. I love it because it even gets into precalculus material (unit circles, etc!). Often it is difficult to model the more complex situations that we have at that level mathematics, so this is a good starting place for me.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Week V, Post I: Geometer's Sketchpad Lesson
I have a lesson plan instead of an article today:
http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/lessons/BP_T97/SlopeSketchpad.html
and
http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/lessons/BP_T97/mr97.html
This is a lesson for using Geometer's Sketchpad to help students visualize and determine slopes of lines. For this particular lesson, it's assumed students know what slope is and how to find it. The sketchpad is used to draw lines and calculate slopes, and students get to "discover" what happens with the slope of parallel and perpendicular lines. It is really neat that this program does the computation for the students, so they're not focused on the arithmetic. Instead, they get to focus on the properties.
Now, I've written before about a similar lesson in my post on "wireless laptops in education." However, this lesson doesn't need to use wireless computers. Instead, it can be done in the lab or even on home computers. I've never used Geometer's Sketchpad before, and so I'm interested in what else this program has to offer...that's why I'm posting about this lesson. I'll try to find out more about the program for my next post.
http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/lessons/BP_T97/SlopeSketchpad.html
and
http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/lessons/BP_T97/mr97.html
This is a lesson for using Geometer's Sketchpad to help students visualize and determine slopes of lines. For this particular lesson, it's assumed students know what slope is and how to find it. The sketchpad is used to draw lines and calculate slopes, and students get to "discover" what happens with the slope of parallel and perpendicular lines. It is really neat that this program does the computation for the students, so they're not focused on the arithmetic. Instead, they get to focus on the properties.
Now, I've written before about a similar lesson in my post on "wireless laptops in education." However, this lesson doesn't need to use wireless computers. Instead, it can be done in the lab or even on home computers. I've never used Geometer's Sketchpad before, and so I'm interested in what else this program has to offer...that's why I'm posting about this lesson. I'll try to find out more about the program for my next post.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Week IV, Post III: Ask Dr. Math
I should have written about this site weeks ago:
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ask/
This is a super resource for students, and follows along the lines of the math dictionary. It is a site, called Ask Dr. Math, that allows viewers to ask anything and everything about math. There are FAQs and "Common answers" (categorized by mathematical topic) to various types of questions. There is even a resource for teachers, http://mathforum.org/t2t/
It's a great place for students having trouble with understanding a concept, as well as a place where the faster learners can further expand their knowledge. Answers come relatively quickly and the information is very accurate. It's not something I would necessarily use as a lesson plan, but rather a place to send students for reference.
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ask/
This is a super resource for students, and follows along the lines of the math dictionary. It is a site, called Ask Dr. Math, that allows viewers to ask anything and everything about math. There are FAQs and "Common answers" (categorized by mathematical topic) to various types of questions. There is even a resource for teachers, http://mathforum.org/t2t/
It's a great place for students having trouble with understanding a concept, as well as a place where the faster learners can further expand their knowledge. Answers come relatively quickly and the information is very accurate. It's not something I would necessarily use as a lesson plan, but rather a place to send students for reference.
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