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/)
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You brought up a good point in that there is a big difference between using an existing data set and having to find and enter your own data for a project. Do you like the way the program was introduced with the backpack file, or would you start with entering data?
ReplyDeleteIf I were teaching I think it would be beneficial to do it both ways. Teach the students how to input the data the first couple times until I can see they are comfortable with it, then after that I would use larger data sets and have the existing data already inputed. Gives the students a chance to experience much larger data sets, and I wouldn't waste time with mindless data entry with larger data sets.
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