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.