This week I deserve a 5/5 on the module work/review activity because I have done all the activities and requirements. I personally uploaded the two modules we have for our modules and made changes to each of the activities that were edited by Chris. After meeting with our group and deciding what was required for our Modules, I organized what we had and Steve and I started to piece together what we needed. I also created our TinkerPlots tab on Black Board.
Putting TinkerPlots aside, I worked through Spreadsheets' second module and gave them feedback on my iLocker. I completed each of their activities and commented on what they could do to improve, and what I liked about each activity. Though this did not take a full 5 hours, I feel that with my work on our module and TinkerPlots tab on Black Board I deserve a 5/5 on the module grade for week 10.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Fathom Week 8
JOURNAL (BLOG): What is your impression of Fathom - note three specific points
After using TinkerPlots these past 7 weeks, when I started Fathom I was quite surprised on how similar the two were. By the end of the week, I feel as those Fathom has several attributes that I like better. A great thing that I found for Fathom was that you are able to graph multiple attributes on one side of the axises. This was extremely useful when I completed the activity with the rates and distances between the three vehicles. This was a great way to help students compare attributes in Fathom without having to create several different graphs.
Like TinkerPlots, I thought that Fathom was very user friendly. They did a great job writing tours to help people figure out how to use the different functions. They did a great job walking users through activities to help familiarize them with everything Fathom has to offer. I like how the different activities highlighted each activity and focused on each of them individually.
Another thing that I thought Fathom did well was calculation functions. I thought it was extremely easy to use, and I found it very useful. I liked the different formulas that you are able to do using this function. The way that you could make a recursive formula was easy to understand and compute. There are a lot of possibilities using this function and I think it can be helpful in more than just a statistics or probability class. TinkerPlots seems to be limited to these types of classes, but I feel that Fathom could branch off into different classes.
After using TinkerPlots these past 7 weeks, when I started Fathom I was quite surprised on how similar the two were. By the end of the week, I feel as those Fathom has several attributes that I like better. A great thing that I found for Fathom was that you are able to graph multiple attributes on one side of the axises. This was extremely useful when I completed the activity with the rates and distances between the three vehicles. This was a great way to help students compare attributes in Fathom without having to create several different graphs.
Like TinkerPlots, I thought that Fathom was very user friendly. They did a great job writing tours to help people figure out how to use the different functions. They did a great job walking users through activities to help familiarize them with everything Fathom has to offer. I like how the different activities highlighted each activity and focused on each of them individually.
Another thing that I thought Fathom did well was calculation functions. I thought it was extremely easy to use, and I found it very useful. I liked the different formulas that you are able to do using this function. The way that you could make a recursive formula was easy to understand and compute. There are a lot of possibilities using this function and I think it can be helpful in more than just a statistics or probability class. TinkerPlots seems to be limited to these types of classes, but I feel that Fathom could branch off into different classes.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Week 7 Blog
Discuss your impression of the SMARTboard or Notebook technology and/or Geogebra.
I loved using the SMARTboard during Tuesday's class. It is a really nice piece of technology, and I think it has a lot of potential. The way that we were able to pick up the eraser and pen and be able to use it without much instruction is another great thing about this. Students would love using this almost as much as I did. I think it could be a little more distracting than just using a normal dry erase board because it's new and something that the students do not get to experience everyday.
Another thing that I liked about the SMARTboard was the interactive graphs and thermometer that we looked at before class was over. I think there could be many more of these interactive programs that could benefit students in math. Graphs that look at different functions other than linear ones, or maybe a program that helps students with a visual representation of derivatives and how it matches up with the area under graphs. Things like this could be a resource for students that have a tough time learning by taking notes.
I did not like the way the shadows of the user gets in the way of the board. It was somewhat hard to see what was going on when people were using it. I think that this could take away from the overall presentation because it blocks half the screen. After using it more, I am sure I could find a better way to not block the screen
I loved using the SMARTboard during Tuesday's class. It is a really nice piece of technology, and I think it has a lot of potential. The way that we were able to pick up the eraser and pen and be able to use it without much instruction is another great thing about this. Students would love using this almost as much as I did. I think it could be a little more distracting than just using a normal dry erase board because it's new and something that the students do not get to experience everyday.
Another thing that I liked about the SMARTboard was the interactive graphs and thermometer that we looked at before class was over. I think there could be many more of these interactive programs that could benefit students in math. Graphs that look at different functions other than linear ones, or maybe a program that helps students with a visual representation of derivatives and how it matches up with the area under graphs. Things like this could be a resource for students that have a tough time learning by taking notes.
I did not like the way the shadows of the user gets in the way of the board. It was somewhat hard to see what was going on when people were using it. I think that this could take away from the overall presentation because it blocks half the screen. After using it more, I am sure I could find a better way to not block the screen
Monday, February 22, 2010
Week 6 Blog
a) Reflect on this week's tasks
b) Reflect on the online class session regarding teaching for an online high school.
a) This weeks tasks were a little more time consuming than I first thought they would be. Having never made a rubric for choosing lessons, it took me a while to decide what to make as the criteria. I think after I did this, it helped me realize what I need to include in lessons when I create them. I am glad that did this activity because it will help me as a future teacher. I am not sure if that was the overall goal of this activity, but I am certainly glad that it helped me realize this.
I found this week's reading interesting as well. I liked how it broke down the two different types of technology lessons. After reading them I arrived at the conclusion which type I would want to teach and which type of activities I have been taught. Surprisingly the type of lesson I want to teach and type of lesson I was usually taught differed. I was able to see which one reflects the teacher I want to be, and how it benefits my future students.
b) The online class this past week was extremely interesting to me. I never thought about an online high school math class. I am not sure if I would enjoy teaching one because I like the face to face interactions I have with the students. I don't think I would want to take an online math class as well. I enjoy being able to talk to the professor in person and meet in the classroom with the rest of the class. It takes away the social interaction between students, and I feel that this interaction is an important skill that students develop in the classroom. I know that a lot of these students are unable to attend classrooms because of their unique situations, but overall I do not think that I would want to take these types of classes everyday.
I did however, find it interesting the set up and procedures of the online math classes offered. I liked how the students were introduced to the different technologies used to help understanding. I think that aspect would be beneficial to the students in the class because it seems from my experience that students thrive when using technology because it is different and helps produce interest in the subject. I liked the website he showed us that dealt with a graphing calculator and the visual representations it allowed when changing sine and cosine graphs. You can do the same thing on graphing calculators, but I thought the website was pretty neat because it was something different.
b) Reflect on the online class session regarding teaching for an online high school.
a) This weeks tasks were a little more time consuming than I first thought they would be. Having never made a rubric for choosing lessons, it took me a while to decide what to make as the criteria. I think after I did this, it helped me realize what I need to include in lessons when I create them. I am glad that did this activity because it will help me as a future teacher. I am not sure if that was the overall goal of this activity, but I am certainly glad that it helped me realize this.
I found this week's reading interesting as well. I liked how it broke down the two different types of technology lessons. After reading them I arrived at the conclusion which type I would want to teach and which type of activities I have been taught. Surprisingly the type of lesson I want to teach and type of lesson I was usually taught differed. I was able to see which one reflects the teacher I want to be, and how it benefits my future students.
b) The online class this past week was extremely interesting to me. I never thought about an online high school math class. I am not sure if I would enjoy teaching one because I like the face to face interactions I have with the students. I don't think I would want to take an online math class as well. I enjoy being able to talk to the professor in person and meet in the classroom with the rest of the class. It takes away the social interaction between students, and I feel that this interaction is an important skill that students develop in the classroom. I know that a lot of these students are unable to attend classrooms because of their unique situations, but overall I do not think that I would want to take these types of classes everyday.
I did however, find it interesting the set up and procedures of the online math classes offered. I liked how the students were introduced to the different technologies used to help understanding. I think that aspect would be beneficial to the students in the class because it seems from my experience that students thrive when using technology because it is different and helps produce interest in the subject. I liked the website he showed us that dealt with a graphing calculator and the visual representations it allowed when changing sine and cosine graphs. You can do the same thing on graphing calculators, but I thought the website was pretty neat because it was something different.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Week Five Blog Post
1. Has your attitude towards the use of technology in mathematics teaching changed since you started this course. Explain.
2. Share an "aha" moment that you encounter with your technology.
At the start of the class, I was unsure what I thought about using technology in my future classroom. I wasn't sure if I could assign homework and expect everyone to have the software or the resources to access and complete the homework. It all depended on where I would be teaching and what the school's resources were. These questions still remain in my mind, but I feel like I would want to try harder to push to use technology in my classroom. After seeing some of the benefits of mathematical technology, I feel that using technology will benefit the students. I still am questioning how easy it will be for my students to use it outside of the class, but I am hoping that there is something that I can do to help them.
I am not sure if I have experienced an "aha" moment with my technology. I feel that the knowledge that I have learned about TinkerPlots haven't been so surprising. TinkerPlots makes learning how to use it easy. I don't think I have had very many "aha" moments because they have made their software so easy to learn. I have been doing a lot of the activities from the book that you let me borrow, and that has also helped me learn TinkerPlots. It walks you through each activity and gives you instructions on what to do and what it will look like. This has helped me learn very smoothly and I think that this is why I have not experienced any "aha" moments while using TinkerPlots.
2. Share an "aha" moment that you encounter with your technology.
At the start of the class, I was unsure what I thought about using technology in my future classroom. I wasn't sure if I could assign homework and expect everyone to have the software or the resources to access and complete the homework. It all depended on where I would be teaching and what the school's resources were. These questions still remain in my mind, but I feel like I would want to try harder to push to use technology in my classroom. After seeing some of the benefits of mathematical technology, I feel that using technology will benefit the students. I still am questioning how easy it will be for my students to use it outside of the class, but I am hoping that there is something that I can do to help them.
I am not sure if I have experienced an "aha" moment with my technology. I feel that the knowledge that I have learned about TinkerPlots haven't been so surprising. TinkerPlots makes learning how to use it easy. I don't think I have had very many "aha" moments because they have made their software so easy to learn. I have been doing a lot of the activities from the book that you let me borrow, and that has also helped me learn TinkerPlots. It walks you through each activity and gives you instructions on what to do and what it will look like. This has helped me learn very smoothly and I think that this is why I have not experienced any "aha" moments while using TinkerPlots.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Week 4 Reflection
1. Reflect on your experience with logo (thanks Joe).
2. Reflect on the online class session with Mr. Reed. What impacted you the most and/or what new questions do you have?
Terrapin Logo seems like useful software to know how to use. It is fairly simple to use and there are a lot of great features with it. I completed the first assignments somewhat easily, but when I started the quilt assignment is where I hit difficulty. Logo's undo command will only undo the previous drawing and will not return the turtle to the previous position. If you make a mistake and do not realize and keep working, it is too late to go back and undo it. This caused me the most frustration with the program. Other than that I liked using it. It forces you to think about the interior angles of shapes and relationships between them and the rotation angle that you must use to construct the shapes.
The online class session with Mr. Reed was interesting. I thought what he had to say was extremely useful. I however do not see how he can use so much technology in his classroom and expect students to use it outside of the classroom as well. He was talking about how students were able to check and complete homework while they were away from school, which would be awesome if it were possible in every classroom. I do not know if it would be applicable in every classroom. It would require every student to own or have access to a computer and/or internet. And also the computer that they use must have enough space and be somewhat up to date to run some of the software that we use. I love the idea of using so much technology in classrooms because I think it is an excellent resource for students to use. I know that I am still somewhat new to this, but I hope to learn how to make this possible in classrooms. With the high school that I went to, I feel like it would not be as successful as Mr. Reed got it to be in his school district. I hope to make it like that when I am a teacher in the future.
2. Reflect on the online class session with Mr. Reed. What impacted you the most and/or what new questions do you have?
Terrapin Logo seems like useful software to know how to use. It is fairly simple to use and there are a lot of great features with it. I completed the first assignments somewhat easily, but when I started the quilt assignment is where I hit difficulty. Logo's undo command will only undo the previous drawing and will not return the turtle to the previous position. If you make a mistake and do not realize and keep working, it is too late to go back and undo it. This caused me the most frustration with the program. Other than that I liked using it. It forces you to think about the interior angles of shapes and relationships between them and the rotation angle that you must use to construct the shapes.
The online class session with Mr. Reed was interesting. I thought what he had to say was extremely useful. I however do not see how he can use so much technology in his classroom and expect students to use it outside of the classroom as well. He was talking about how students were able to check and complete homework while they were away from school, which would be awesome if it were possible in every classroom. I do not know if it would be applicable in every classroom. It would require every student to own or have access to a computer and/or internet. And also the computer that they use must have enough space and be somewhat up to date to run some of the software that we use. I love the idea of using so much technology in classrooms because I think it is an excellent resource for students to use. I know that I am still somewhat new to this, but I hope to learn how to make this possible in classrooms. With the high school that I went to, I feel like it would not be as successful as Mr. Reed got it to be in his school district. I hope to make it like that when I am a teacher in the future.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Comfort Level with TinkerPlots
After 3 weeks of researching, learning, and using TinkerPlots I feel that I have made progress. Going through the demos and working through my modules has helped me learn numerous functions that TinkerPlots has to offer. From the beginning of this class I have never used TinkerPlots. I think that having to sit down and use TinkerPlots has helped me explore and feel more comfortable with TinkerPlots.
I feel comfortable enough for me to offer to use TinkerPlots in my EDFON class. In this class we are looking at East Washington Academy and their general students versus their gifted students. As a class we wanted to have something to compare the students and I briefly explained TinkerPlots and what it has to offer. There are different attributes we are looking at and we wanted to find something that would visually compare each. With TinkerPlots, this is something that I would be able to do. I have not begun working on it yet. We are still working on finding data and working with the school. I feel that the class will be able to benefit from this data and how TinkerPlots can present it. Once the school releases this data to us, I will be in charge of putting it together.
Overall I think I am very comfortable with TinkerPlots and I think that I will definitely try to use this piece of technology in my future classrooms.
I feel comfortable enough for me to offer to use TinkerPlots in my EDFON class. In this class we are looking at East Washington Academy and their general students versus their gifted students. As a class we wanted to have something to compare the students and I briefly explained TinkerPlots and what it has to offer. There are different attributes we are looking at and we wanted to find something that would visually compare each. With TinkerPlots, this is something that I would be able to do. I have not begun working on it yet. We are still working on finding data and working with the school. I feel that the class will be able to benefit from this data and how TinkerPlots can present it. Once the school releases this data to us, I will be in charge of putting it together.
Overall I think I am very comfortable with TinkerPlots and I think that I will definitely try to use this piece of technology in my future classrooms.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
MATHS 202
On Tuesday, I sat in on the MATHS 202 class. This was the first class where the instructor introduced TinkerPlots. He began by briefly explaining what TinkerPlots is, and how it can be used in their class. He handed out a document that had explanations on some of the main features that TinkerPlots offers. This first hand-out is entitled TinkerPlots Quick Reference Card.pdf.
The instructor had the class open up the TinkerPlots application folder and open a demo program called BackPacks.tp. He proceeded to show the class the different tools that can be used when running TinkerPlots. This demo was also accompanied by a handout entitled TinkerPlots Basic Graphs.doc. This document helps students change the information given into different graphs and customize it to help with further understanding of the program. At the end of class, the instructor let the students play around with it and explore the capabilities of TinkerPlots.
These hand-outs seemed to be rather helpful by giving first time users of the program a very basic understanding of the capabilities of TinkerPlots. I feel as though this small knowledge would not be enough for students who want to use this for projects or homework. Without going into detail about how to input data, the only way students will be able to use it is if they were given information already loaded onto it. Today's MATHS 202 class will be more focused on this and completing a worksheet from data which they will receive in class. This will further develop their understanding of the program.
**Note: All hand-outs and programs mentioned above can be found on my iLocker (https://ilocker.bsu.edu/users/agwolfe/BSU_SHARED/)
The instructor had the class open up the TinkerPlots application folder and open a demo program called BackPacks.tp. He proceeded to show the class the different tools that can be used when running TinkerPlots. This demo was also accompanied by a handout entitled TinkerPlots Basic Graphs.doc. This document helps students change the information given into different graphs and customize it to help with further understanding of the program. At the end of class, the instructor let the students play around with it and explore the capabilities of TinkerPlots.
These hand-outs seemed to be rather helpful by giving first time users of the program a very basic understanding of the capabilities of TinkerPlots. I feel as though this small knowledge would not be enough for students who want to use this for projects or homework. Without going into detail about how to input data, the only way students will be able to use it is if they were given information already loaded onto it. Today's MATHS 202 class will be more focused on this and completing a worksheet from data which they will receive in class. This will further develop their understanding of the program.
**Note: All hand-outs and programs mentioned above can be found on my iLocker (https://ilocker.bsu.edu/users/agwolfe/BSU_SHARED/)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Technology Reflections 1/11 - 1/15
I decided to further investigate TinkerPlots. This seems like a version of Mini Tab, which I am somewhat familiar with from MATHS 221. I wanted to choose this software because I feel as though knowing more about this could benefit me in the future. When I went to talk to Mr. Roebuck about Todd and I sitting in on his class to learn more about this software, Mr. Roebuck showed me some of the printed sheets he made on TinkerPlots. I was impressed with how clear it was to understand his notes and felt that this is something that would be extremely helpful when teaching a probability or stats class.
I have yet to sit in on Mr. Roebuck’s class because he was going to be talking about the program on Thursday and would not have time for his students to download it and introduce it in the same class. Next week (1-19-10) is when he will be introducing it, and Todd and I will be sitting in on that class and also the next couple weeks. We want to get a great understanding on what can be done with this program, activities that can be carried out using TinkerPlots, and what kind of topics can be covered.
Later in the week I have found several lesson plans for the introduction of TinkerPlots to high school classrooms. The one that I could save can be found in my iLocker (https://ilocker.bsu.edu/users/agwolfe/BSU_SHARED/) titled "Teachers Guide for TinkerPlots". This guide gave suggestions on how to start an introduction project using TinkerPlots. This project seems like a small introduction to the program, but starts students off on their own using TinkerPlots. Seems like it would be a useful project to include in a TinkerPlots curriculum.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)