Week 9

This generation of children and adolescents, otherwise known as “Net Gen,” relies nearly entirely on their technologies. These technologies include computers, internet, cell phones, instant messaging, video chatting, ipods, video games, etc. The list goes on and on. The effect that these technologies have, both good and bad, on students’ brains is discussed in the book, “Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age.”

Technology is good for these students because the brain craves novelty, excitement, and innovation, and these technologies hugely involve and support each of those. Using the internet and other technologies helps students be keyed in visually to what they are reading. They might not spend time reading an entire article, like those without as much technological experience. They can skim and pick out the key words they are looking for and then read closer. Students’ efficiency with technology can come in handy when working on school projects, and also when the get to college they will already be familiar with, to say the least, how to explore new technologies and find their way around. Lastly, having to use technologies and communicating with them often might make students appreciate face to face interaction.

However, all this technology may be having a negative effect on students’ brains as well. The whole world has not changed so children and adolescents still need to know how to communicate with others in a traditional manner. Their brain growth, social skills, language development, emotional intelligence, and physical health may be at risk. Students have a much shorter attention span, which can negatively effect their learning capabilities while in the classroom for an hour at a time. When always communicating via texting, skyping, or emailing, students do not learn essential skills needed for social interaction, i.e., reading nonverbal language/gestures, listening, relating to others, because their frontal lobe growth is stunted. Another negative possibility is that technologies may be affecting the comprehension skills of our students. When always skimming through things and trying to rush on to the next text message or video game level, students may not efficiently learn how to comprehend and reflect on what they’ve learned or encountered. Lastly, students might believe that they can multitask between text conversations, background music, and homework, when in reality multitasking is impossible. (No matter how tech-savvy you are.) In the worst case scenario, students may even become addicted to these technologies, which can affect their social lives, academics, and both sleeping and eating habits.

Week 7

This week we were supposed to journal about Geogebra. I'm a little behind, I know. But the Geogebra lesson was one worth remembering so I think I'll be okay. Ashley and Elizabeth did an excellent job with Geogebra. It made me want to learn a lot more and become a Geogebra expert! Their activities were at a very good difficulty level for someone who is new with Geogebra. The difficulty progressed throughout the activities as well which was good. I liked Geogebra better than GPS. I thought it was easier to navigate my way around in Geogebra and the set up was just better for middle/high school aged students I felt like. I think it can really help students who are struggling come around and develop a deeper understanding of whatever they are learning and using Geogebra for. It lets you give multiple representations for those students who need it, and will further the understanding of the students who already have a firm grasp. Of all the modules we have done thus far I would like to work more with Geogebra. I can really see myself using it in the classroom.

Week 8: Fathom

Week 8

This week I have been working on Fathom like it's my job! At first when I looked and saw all the activities I was a little overwhelmed, but after working on them I don't feel that way at all. The program was not hard to navigate through or around at all. I actually really enjoyed working on the activities. I could definitely notice myself getting more comfortable and acclimated with each passing activity. The last one provided no instructions at all really and I actually felt pretty accomplished and pleased with myself when I finished it. The activities really spanned age wise I think also. The first seemed simpler and perhaps could be used with middle grade students, while the later ones might be more appropriate for high schoolers. It was good to see that Fathom could be useful to both age groups. It seems very versatile.

I liked the activity that compared wrist circumference, armspan, and height. I had heard before that armspan (or wingspan) and height were nearly the same for most individuals but I wasn't sure if it was true or not. Now I know!

Also, the activity that related attributes A,B, and C, where the (prev) function was introduced, was really interesting. It was cool to see how it related derivatives and integrals, I don't think I would have even realized that had it not explicitly stated it in the activity. And lastly, I liked the last activity for sure! It made me use everything I had learned about Fathom and also involved actual mathematics as well, what with having to develop the recursive formulas for each vehicle.

I think we should use Fathom as one of our summer modules that we were talking about. Although it seems somewhat similar to TinkerPlots, I think I like Fathom better. It seems like it has more functions, and I liked the graphics better.

Week 6

Week 6

1) This week's activities:
I already somewhat commented/reacted to this week in the documents I posted on ilocker. However, I really enjoyed searching through the Illuminations site for various activities. I was glad that they could be any activities really, and did not have to pertain to my specific technology. I found many that I wanted to look further into, but my computer would not load the interactive part. This was frustrating because I had to settle for activities that I may not have chosen had the others worked out first. However, I found one that I really loved and that was the graphing trig functions activity. I tutor at the learning center, and almost want to show this to one of my clients who is struggling with graphing in MATHS 112 here at BSU. I think it would be really helpful. I also spent some time with a cousin of mine this weekend who has been teaching math at the middle level for many years now, and she introduced me to the site math-play.com. She said she uses it to let the kids play games, many times to introduce a topic, and see what they already know. It keeps things fresh, not just lecturing day after day. She also said she uses excel often and sometimes GSP. It helped me to see that I really do need to learn as much as I can while in this course, and afterwards as well. She told me that two different people interviewed for a job at their school and one interviewee said he didn't have much technology to bring to the classroom and they immediately crossed him off the list. This almost scared me into wanting to learn everything I can about mathematically beneficial technologies ha. Ok, that was kind of off track but I just wanted to share.

2) Criteria for NOT choosing an Illuminations activity:
Any activities that had too long, or involved instructions led me away. I don't want the majority of the students' time to be taken up by trying to understand the directions rather than the math itself. Also, if I tested out an activity and found it boring, I did not choose it. I tried to put myself in the shoes of adolescent students and imagine if the activity would keep their interest for long or not. Lastly, if activities seemed too baby-ish, as in not challenging enough for students, I went on to the next activity. They will lose interest rather quickly, I'm sure, if the task is too easy.

Weeks 1-5

Week 5

1) Have I changed my opinion towards technology in the classroom since I began this course? Most definitely. I had never planned on using technology in the classroom; it hadn't ever really crossed my mind as a tool or a possibility because when I was in high school we never used technologies. However, now that I have seen the endless possibilities that mathematical technologies can create, I think they are a must. I wish I had learned how to use Excel when I was in high school. I feel a little behind the eight ball now that I am at this point in my education and am learning the ins and outs of the program. I do not want my future students to find themselves in a similar situation. I want them to be well prepared and given as much knowledge as possible. Also, I have seen through my own experience with GSP that it can be an excellent tool for fostering understanding in geometry. It gives students a hands on experience that can help them learn in their own ways and at their own individual pace. I have yet to learn about the other programs being utilized in our class, but I'm sure when I do I will find them extremely useful and relevant as a future mathematics teacher.

2) One thing I could not determine with Excel was how to drag an equation down into multiple cells, but keep some components of the equation constant. At first I couldn't figure it out at all, but then I learned that you had to insert a $ ahead of whatever cell you want to keep constant in the equation. I then could still not get it but soon after realized it was because I was simply placing the $ in the wrong position. I was writing, for example, B$4, but you need to insert $B4. This is extremely helpful in the activities I am finding for this class, but also for my own benefit in my MATHS 335 class. I will continue to share my 'aha' moments throughout my blogging. Hopefully I will have a lot more because they get me excited to keep learning about Excel and other technologies as well.

Week 4

Busy busy week! I feel like I was working on Logo all week long! I partly was but I definitely enjoyed it. I want to play with it some more and try to make things like Christian did in his video we watched in class on Tuesday. At first, I was taking the really long, more difficult route in making anything in logo. I was relieved to find that I could program things in it and use them continuously. My favorite thing I programed was 'ngon' which allowed me to make any polygon with any side lengths, instead of programming each polygon separately. I'm not super happy with my quilts. I feel like I should have programmed them differently, or there should have been an easier way to program them. They are pretty long; lots of steps. I'm not sure, I'll have to look into it. Also, using colors makes it more fun!

I also thoroughly enjoyed the reading comparing learning principles to video/computer games. As I said in my reaction, I never would have thought the two had anything in common! Although I've never played any of the games mentioned in the article, perhaps I should look into them ha.

Lastly, I'm glad we got to speak with Mr. Reed. He had some very helpful information, and I'm glad we can go back and review the conversation and be able to reference it if we need to. It blows my mind that you can just voice/video chat with anyone, anytime. The technology we have today is crazy. I wonder what my great grandparents, etc. would think!

Week 3

This was a busy week for me. I'm still finishing up everything for module one. We have our three activities but need to put them together and make an assignment matrix. I did find two articles (actually many more than that) about excel spreadsheets and how they benefit students' learning. I posted my readings and reactions in my ilocker. I learned a few things through making the module and reading the articles so that was great! The more I learn the more I am changing my mind about using technologies in the classroom. I used to think it just made things more of a hassle but I am getting away from that track of thinking as the weeks go on.

I'm looking forward to meeting face to face the next two weeks. I think it will help clear up confusion and make us more aware of expectations as well. I am excited to begin working on the logo assignments this week, just as soon as Matt and I finish putting together our first module. I'm also interested to see everyone else's modules in order to learn about the other technologies going on in our classroom. That's about it for now. I'll be back in a week! :)

Week 2

Ah voicethread. My new favorite thing. I played around on voicethread for quite some time over the last week. I watched some of the tutorials and other videos as well, practiced making comments on them, and made a little one myself just for practice as well. I think they would be very helpful when trying to teach students. I like the idea of having a group for your class where everyone can view the videos and make comments and even draw to make their ideas or questions more clear. Also, sadly, I didn’t know about taking screenshots on my mac so that was definitely a useful thing to learn. Jing seemed somewhat pointless to me. Maybe I just don’t know the ins and outs of it enough to make it useful. I’m working on it.

I worked with iMovie and garage band also. I had used garage band before so that wasn’t anything surprising. However, I’ve never used iMovie and found out some neat stuff you can do with it. There is probably a lot more than I even discovered. I made a slide show with pictures and music, considering I don’t really have any video footage to upload and work with.

This is off topic but I just remembered it: I was looking for that patch for Microsoft 2007 to enable me to open .docx documents and I still cannot finding it. Any help?

Week 1

The spreadsheets are going pretty well. First I worked on the “how do you spend your day” tutorial you emailed me. The directions were very helpful and I was able to complete the worksheets fairly easily. I had to figure out that the total hours in a day did not include the “nothing special” category and I had to therefore change the formula in order to include it. That used the SUM command, which isn’t difficult to understand/use. The only thing I had some trouble with was the graph. I knew how to insert it and everything, but then I had trouble figuring out how to label each bar a different category (i.e. sleeping, homework, watching tv, etc). I finally realized that I had to actually highlight those categories’ cells and not just the cells with the number of hours spent on each of those categories. Also computing the averages wasn’t too difficult. Oh and learning how to put the worksheets as “protected” was helpful because later when I was getting activities off the internet they were protected and since I had done this tutorial first I knew how to make them unprotected so that I could work with them.

The internet activities I found just let me insert information and play around with different functions. Namely mean, median and mode and other elements of a box and whisker plot. I don’t think you can actually construct a box and whisker plot on excel but perhaps I should look into it. I didn’t know you could find the quartiles of a set of values so that was interesting, and the commands aren’t complex at all. The other activity I messed with was one involving slope. They had developed a graph and if you changed the value of the slope the line on the graph would automatically change. I cannot figure out how this was made. I don’t know the equation in order to make the worksheet know that it’s dealing with the slope of a graph. Also there is a group of cells that gives the intervals for the x and y-axes and you can change them right on the worksheet. I also don’t know how they did this. Like how do these cells know that their job is to change the intervals on the graph? I’m still working on determining this. I posted this file to my ilocker so maybe someone else in our class can take a look and see what they can figure out in the mean time.

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