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.

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/)

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.