Week 8-Fathom

This week, we had a Fathom module to complete. This was another opportunity to see an example of a good module so that we can see what constitutes a good module. The first thing I noticed about this technology was that it is very similar to Tinkerplots, particularly in the statistics aspect. However, one thing I really enjoyed about Fathom compared to Tinkerplots was that Fathom is much easier to use and is very understandable. I found things easy to follow and it didn't take me long to pick up on how to do simple things in Fathom. I also liked how I could input data tables from Excel or a website directly into Fathom. The Fathom interface is very compatible and easy to work with.

I really enjoyed how easy it was to make graphs and shift between graphs. The way you can drag a new graph (or chart or tables for that matter) and easily drag your attributes onto the x and y axis reminded me of Tinkerplots, but for me it seemed a lot easier. I could create multiple graphs of different types with the same data, or I could use different graphs to compare correlations between different attributes. It was also nice to be able to have data with so many different attributes (such as the student census example) and examine various aspects of the data, as opposed to just analyzing two different attributes. Another thing that I really liked about Fathom was how it really helped me explore more about statistics itself. It helped bolster my understanding of mean, median, standard deviation, and outliers. It reinforced my knowledge of how standard deviation and mean are affected by outliers, but medians aren't. This could be very useful in a future classroom, as I could easily allow students to play with their graphs and make conjectures about how outliers affect the various statistical measures. I just thought it was fascinating how Fathom could not only be used to analyze data like Excel can, but how it can also be used to create and further understanding in statistics.

There were some issues I had with Fathom though. Sometimes I wasn't quite sure how to change bin sizes based on the instructions given in the activities. I also had some difficulty changing the "pictures" of the data (particularly in the second activity where we were supposed to put different sized pictures with the different people). I still haven't quite figured that out yet. I could definitely use more time with this program, but as it is nearing Spring Break when I will no longer have internet access, I feel rushed that I have to get this done by the time I leave campus. This is why I am posting this at 2:50 in the morning. I think if this module had fallen on a normal week (not the one before Spring Break) then I would be able to focus more on the subtle aspects of the module and pick up on more of the subtleties and awesome power of Fathom.

Week 7

This week, I spent a majority of my time working on my module. I found several activities that I enjoyed and I feel it represents good concepts under the large umbrella that is Calculus. I'm happy with my module, but I feel it could be more. I'm not sure, though. I seem to always doubt myself on big thinks that I turn in. At least we have a large review process that I can use to my advantage in this situation. I definitely will need it.

I really liked the Geogebra lesson on Tuesday. It was well put together, easy to follow, and Geogebra was easy to learn. I'm definitely going to use Geogebra in my future classroom, becasue it was easy to use yet could demonstrate some powerful mathematical concepts. I also liked the SmartBoard. It definitely has its purpose in the classroom, although it is VERY expensive. Perhaps I will be lucky enough to teach at a school that has access to a SmartBoard.

There wasn't really a prompt for this blog this week, so I just figured I'd write a short little update. As I said, most of my work this week was put into my module. I can't wait to complete this Fathom module for next week.

*Edit* I was just informed by a classmate (Thanks, Joe!) that there actually is a prompt for this week! I must have read over it or something. My apologies for any inconvenience.

I was really impressed with the Geogebra technology. For me, I noticed some similarities with Sketchpad (i.e. you can create lines, points, translate things, etc.), but it seemed to me to be more user friendly. First, there was a grid that was easy to turn on and off (I am aware that Sketchpad also has a grid) and I could easily plot points wherever I wanted. Geogebra also told you where your points were in a little side bar. Also in the side bar, one could find equations of lines, coordinates of intersection points, and derivatives at points. This was a neat feature because a student could easily make connections between the graphs and the equations, something which is not noticeable with Sketchpad. As I said before, I loved the level of easiness that Geogebra has. I could find almost any command function I wanted and apply it to whichever equation or point I selected. I also enjoyed how there were multiple ways to do things, such as finding derivatives at points. Geogebra could even draw derivatives of functions with a single command! Another cool feature was that Geogebra was free, which is always a plus.

The SmartBoard was also neat. We only got limited interaction with it, but I would love to see the SmartBoard actually do something with an actual program, like Sketchpad or Geogebra. We only got to draw things, highlight things, and draw smiley faces all over the place. I can only imagine what it can do with mathematical programs like Geogebra and Sketchpad. I think it would be neat to go back to the SmartBoard later in the semester and play around with it more, only using the programs that we've been exposed to. This way, we could actually see how it would be used in our classrooms.

Week 6

This week in MATHS 331, I continued my work on Module 2 with the TI-Nspire. We discovered that our modules are individually created and that they need to be different subjects within mathematics. I chose the topic of Calculus, as I find it fascinating. I began researching more activities, this time with Calculus topics instead of Geometry topics, and have found some. I still require clarification on whether I should focus on one particular topic in Calculus, such as limits, or if I should focus on a couple of activities from multiple topics. I'll be able to continue my work in this front once this is cleared up.

For the first prompt, I will address Mr. Stanek's presentation on Thursday's class. I thought overall it was a good presentation. It was interesting to learn about the online high school, and the format that it has. I thought it was neat how the students of this online high school could be children of athletes who are constantly on the move and people from around the world, or just anyone with access to funds and a computer. I also thought it fascinating that there could be possibilities for summer employment with this online high school because it is a year-round thing. That is one thing that interests me because there aren't a lot of opportunities for "internships" like there are in other majors because most schools are out for the summer. I wish we could have found out how much the online high school charges for courses. I would imagine it costs about the same as taking an online college course perhaps, or maybe less expensive. The way it sounded though most of the students who attend this high school have parents who could afford it. One question I didn't consider during the class was how these online high schools will affect our futures as educators. Will the creation of more online classes and schools take away job opportunities in the future? Will more teachers become unemployed as more online high schools pop up and less teachers are needed? I wish I could've asked Mr. Stanek's view on this. I did enjoy the talk though.

As for the other prompt, I wish to discuss the Illuminations activities that I found and whether they pass my rubric or not. By using my own rubric, I would say my Barbie Bungee activity would probably not pass my rubric. It would be a group activity, but I think 1.) the materials are not that readily available. Barbie dolls are easy to find, but can be rather expensive and a lower income school probably wouldn't waste money on them. The activity could be easily modified though and 2.) I don't think the activity would actively engage the students. Barbie dolls would probably not be that interesting except for the simple fact of dropping them from great heights.

I think my Trout Pond activity would be slightly more interesting for students, but it would not be completely liked by everyone. I think the situation could be changed to fit what the students like. I will say this activity has multiple parts, so it could take up several class periods, which could be a positive or negative thing. The students might get bored and disenfranchised with the same scenario and similar stories for several consecutive class periods. I also wouldn't personally use this activity because there is a lot of material to be covered and explained in it and there aren't as many discussion questions for students as I would like. I wish the Trout Pond activity had more follow-up questions for students to think about and make connections with.

The Cutting Conics activity I think would fit my rubric. It could be done either individually or in groups. I also think the materials are somewhat available (this activity could be done without graphing calculators, but I wouldn't recommend it). In addition, there are plenty of discussion, anticipation, and conjecture questions for students to think about. It would be somewhat challenging for lower level algebra students, and I think it could even be extended to middle school students as well. To me, this activity is the one that best fits my rubric.

I will say that I feel that I am not getting as far with my learning of the technology as I'd like to. I feel that with all the extra activities we have to complete for this class, on top of my other course work, I don't have as much time set aside for the Nspire as I feel I'm supposed to. I understand that we need to learn other activities and do readings to get more "in-tune" with technology in our classrooms, but I feel that too much of that is detracting from my experience with the Nspire. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who feels that way, but I definitely hope that there are weeks in the future where all we do is work with our individual technologies.

Week 5

This week in MATHS 331, I played with the Nspire more. I began researching more activities for the Nspire on various websites. The best one I could find was www.timath.com. It has some of the activities that we already have posted on my iLocker, but it also has complete lists of activities separated by content area (Algebra, Pre-Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Geometry, etc.). It was very useful because it had teacher's notes and student notes. Hopefully, this website will prove very useful to our group.

We're supposed to write about our attitude on using technology in the classroom. I honestly think my view has changed. As I've mentioned several times in my various blogs and reading responses, I did not originally have a high opinion of using technology in the classroom. I grew up with very little access to technolgy; in fact, I never used a graphing calculator until Calculus in high school. I thought that since I learned math without much technology, then my students wouldn't need it to understand either. Through the readings and discourse with my peers and Dr. Shafer, I'm slowly coming to the realization that times are changing. Math is a difficult subject for most students to grasp, and that maybe a lot of students do need some visualization or some technology to help them make connections. I also think that with all the changing technology coming out constantly, it is beneficial for us to instruct our students on using various technologies because, chances are, they will be using those technologies or other technologies in their future professions. If they don't see how the technologies are used, they'll never learn about it and they will be behind their peers. It was something I hadn't thought of before this semester.

I also think that I still have some fears about technology in the classroom. The big thing for me is over-reliance on the technology. The most obvious fear is the students' dependence on the technology. Mr. Pinkerton brought this out when he mentioned that his students made connections and discoveries when using the technology, but they couldn't transfer these connections or make new ones back in the classroom. The application and evaluation of their knowledge didn't pass on to the standard classroom setting. Another less obvious fear is the over-reliance on technology on the part of the teacher. Mr. Pinkerton also brought this out when he said that he wasn't sure if he could teach at a school that didn't have access to technologies. This concerns me because I don't want to depend too much on technology. I still want to retain the basic methods of pedagogy and still maintain my understanding of the material. My goal with technology is to increase my students' (and my own) understandings of the material with the technology, not completely create understandings with the technology.

I'm getting more familiar with the Nspire. I'm still not completely sure on how to do specific functions, but I feel that I am discovering new things every time I turn on the Nspire. I keep watching various Youtube videos on the functions of the calculator, and each one builds on the previous video. I think my biggest "AHA" moment with the Nspire was figuring out how to open and save programs. This is a simple, yet huge, function of the calculator. The Nspire functions very similarly to a small computer, in that you must open tabs or "documents." These documents can be saved just like a file on your computer. It's pretty neat, but I'm still learning about it as well. It was also an "AHA" moment for me just to figure out how to open a blank document so I could do simple calculator functions like addition, multiplication, and trigonometric functions. This is also very important since most students would probably use the calculator for these purposes. I would still like to learn more about graphing things and syntax of the calculator. I'm still discovering what certain keys do and what some symbols mean. As I continue to use the Nspire, I'm discovering that 1.) it's very difficult to learn and probably wouldn't be all that practical in a classroom if not used on a daily basis and 2.) the Nspire can do a lot more functions than previous graphing calculators and probably will not be able to be used on common standardized tests in the near future (if ever). I still think it has its purposes though.

Week 4

This week in MATHS 331, we didn't do much with our chosen technologies, but were instead able to play with Logo. I had previously played with Logo in this class. Logo is a fun program where you can draw shapes with a fun little turtle (or whatever shape you want it to be) and create pictures, and demonstrate mathematical concepts. The first things I did were to create three types of triangles. This is somewhat fun and challenging because it requires that the creator completes some calculation. Unlike squares and rectangles, it is not very easy to create a triangle with "weird" side lengths. After creating a scalene right triangle, a scalene acute triangle, and a scalene obtuse triangle, I created different types of quadrilaterals. This was a lot simpler, although the kite also provided some more challenging computation. I then created some circles and some arcs, which provided an interesting insight into an understanding of circles. The way Logo creates circles is by having the turtle take a plethora of small forward steps at very small angles. It was neat to experiment with how the size of steps and the angles of the steps. I enjoyed this experience. As of this posting, I still have not created my quilt as I had to go home over the weekend and did not have access to my computer. I will update once I do my quilt. It also looks fun, but difficult with all the complex coding involved.

This week in class, we had a guest visitor named Bill Reed, a mathematics teacher from Hamilton Southeastern High School. Mr. Reed and his peers at Hamilton Southeastern seem to use a lot of technology, at least to me; the high school I went to didn't use as much technology as Mr. Reed seems to. One thing that I really enjoyed from Mr. Reed's talk was how much technology is out there for use and how students can really become engaged with it. Mr. Reed mentioned the Powerpoints as an example. According to him, students really enjoy using Powerpoint to demonstrate proofs and pose questions. Students also enjoy compiling and creating their Powerpoints and they also enjoy taking advice on solutions from their classmates and adapting their Powerpoints accordingly. I also really was excited when Mr. Reed mentioned the use of the TI-Nspire in classrooms. It really made me feel that our technology really is used in high school classrooms. For some reason, it's hard for me to imagine some of our technology used in the classroom, but with Mr. Reed's talk I began to see that it truly is used. One thing that Mr. Reed made clear was that technology is expensive and it will not be available at every school that we might teach at. I just wonder how this will be handled in the future, as technology evolves and becomes more and more important.

Week 3

This week, our group really cracked down and completed our first module, aptly titled Module 1. I will say that we started pretty late in the week. Early on this week, with my busy class schedule and other outside commitments, I was unable to work much on the Nspire itself. It wasn't until Thursday night that I actually resumed my exploration of the Nspire. I completed several introductory activities in the Nspire, found my fellow group members, which we would later use as part of our Module 1.

After a long group meeting on Saturday, I again went home and began playing with the Nspire. I started with some basic calculator stuff, finding simple sums, products, and trigonometric values. I then began to explore some of the cooler stuff about the calculator. I find it fascinating that the Nspire can actually test the validity of statements. For example, you can define a variable "a" as a certain value, say a=30. Then you can test a certain statement, such as (a-7)=(7-a), which of course is not true except in one case, where a is 7. But since a was defined as 30, the calculator will tell you that this statement is false. It's really cool that you can test certain conditions and statements with the calculator instead of proving them yourself (although in a classroom setting, you would want to explore why a statement is true or false and provide some justification).

I also continued to work on my two activities for my part of Module 1. I completed an introductory page and located a student and a teacher worksheet for my activities. The first activity is Expression Builder, which allows students to physically build expressions with a digital equivalent of algebra tiles. You just click and drag these "blocks" over into the area where it tells you to build your expression, and it changes the expression for you. You can control what each variable equals. It allows students to see a visual example of expressions. The second activity expands on the expressions activity; this activity is called the Algebraic Number Line. Essentially, you have an expression and you control what numerical value your variable has, which allows students to develop patterns and relationships between the expression and the resulting value as the variable changes. These activities are both pre-programmed into the Nspire. Originally, both of these activities were only on Dr. Shafer's calculator (the one I am using). However, we used Chris' technology to put these activities on the other calculators in our group. This wasn't as huge of a problem as we originally thought.

In response to our prompt this week, I would like to say that I am not as proficient yet with the Nspire as I would like to be. I feel like I know how to do basic things, like open up the basic calculator tab to complete simple arithmetic problems. As I mentioned earlier, I can also test a statement for validity, and I can set a variable. Despite this, I'm still learning how to graph with the calculator and am still exploring a lot with it. I am enjoying the Nspire however. Every time I play with it, I feel like I'm learning something new and cool about it. It's also really cool to learn things from my group members about the Nspire that they also seem equally excited about. But as I said, at this stage, I can do several things on the Nspire, but I am not as proficient with it as I would like to be. This is changing rapidly though, as I have more time to play with the Nspire.

TI-NSpire Week 2

This week, I finally borrowed the TI-Nspire from Dr. Shafer. I also borrowed a connection cord to connect the NSpire to a computer via a USB connection, and a CD that has some things about the NSpire on it. I continued to research various articles on the Nspire and its technology, while continuing to read the guidebook and completing some basic tutorials. I also received some articles and other material from fellow group members (I posted most of what I received onto my BSU_Shared iLocker account). We will be researching these and deciding more on what we're going to do for our first "lesson module" as a group in the next couple of days. All in all, this week was more experimenting with the TI-Nspire. I felt it was necessary for our group to work individually initially and then now we are ready to come together to discuss what we've found, what we like, and so forth. I can't wait to finally get started on our first lesson with the NSpire.

I would like to note that it seems difficult at this stage to progress on the NSpire as a group as well as completing the other tasks that we must do for our class. I can't help but feel that attention is being diverted from our work on the NSpire to complete other activities just so we can "get our grade." Hopefully this mentality or the course load will change as we progress further into the semester and we actually begin rigorous work on the NSpire.

First Blog Entry

This is my first blog entry using my new Blogger account. I will be adding to this later with my updated journal entry for Week 2 in our MATHS 331 course at Ball State University.