MathVids.com currently offers educators a chance to win a TI-Nspire prize pack through October 14th, 2009. MathVids is asking students and educators to submit video lessons that effectively incorporate TI graphing calculators. Upon submission, site visitors and MathVids.com staff will rate the videos. The highest rated video in each the educator and non-educator division will win a TI-Nspire prize pack. Invite educators and students in your area to visit MathVids.com to learn more about the contest and to submit their video lesson!
Three weeks ago, Texas Instruments invaded Seattle, Washington to play host for the 21st annual T3TM - Teachers Teaching with TechnologyTM International Conference. Check out these brief clips to take a sneak peek into the conference sessions and exhibit hall. Also, hear what our blogger panel said when we caught up with them at the conference. Hope to see you in 2010 for T3 International in Atlanta!
Welcome to the 2009 T3 Conference Seattle, Washington
http://timath.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/intro.movInterview with Dan Ilaria
http://timath.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dan-illaria.mov“I walked away with information I could take back to the classroom and share lesson ideas with teachers who use graphing technology and with those who don’t. Students and their parents should be ecstatic that their teachers are taking the time to learn more about how to use technology and bring back exciting activities for the class that help them learn better.” - Dan
Interview with Sean Bird
http://timath.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/sean-bird.mov“From the inspirational things said by the Leadership Award recipients at the opening session just before the humorous and engaging keynote speaker, to the evening reception where I had the opportunity to networking with friends or people I’ve only known electronically, and all the sessions in between, I was refreshed and rejuvenated to teach, lead and continue to grow.” - Sean
Interview with Lisa Blank
http://timath.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/lisa-blank.mov“This year, 27 countries were represented. In addition to the outstanding training available in sessions, the discussions amongst educators outside of sessions were extremely valuable. Love of technology as a tool to enhance the learning experience for our students in math and science was clearly a common theme.” - Lisa
Interview with Tracy Wingert
http://timath.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tracy-wingert.mov“Whether it was between sessions, at lunch, in the lobby of a hotel, or at dinner, it was an honor to visit with some amazing people from all over the globe and share ideas. To any math or science teacher out there that is reading this, I would highly recommend attending the T3 conference if the opportunity presents itself. “ - Tracy
Interview with Patricia Brooks
http://timath.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/patricia-brook.mov“I was also able to meet with other educators from California to discuss ways in which we can assist students that struggle with Algebra. I learned about formative assessment with the TI-Nspire and about TI-Algebra Nspired.” - Patricia
Interview with Bryson Perry
http://timath.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bryson-perry.mov“I am looking forward to meeting with great friends and colleagues and put what I learned into practice. And I can’t wait until next year’s T3 conference in Atlanta where I know everyone will be learning about the possibilities with TI-Nspire Navigator and continuing to share ideas.” - Bryson
In this day and age of testing and gauging instruction by the resulting data, many fear education has become far too “robotic.” Many textbook materials are coming out with “recipes” merely to be followed to achieve success on tests. These methods may yield desired results, but do they really challenge our youth to think outside the box and develop higher level thinking skills?
Albeit unpleasant, I refer to the teaching method some teachers use to achieve high test results as “drill and kill.” The subject area content is drilled and the interest in the subject matter is destroyed through monotony. I regularly hear about students who perform well on a high school test in a challenging subject area only to go on to college and fail the very same subject. Why? The teacher taught to the test, not the content.
In addition to the testing pressure, educators face the challenge of appealing to students interests. It’s apparent that the majority of students today are drawn to technology: texting friends, updating their social networking pages and competing with friends in online gaming - to name a few.
How did students reach such a high level of expertise? They sought answers because they were interested and personally engaged. So, in order to apply this to the classroom, we must reach out to students with activities in which they have personal interest or a personal connection. While my example utilizes TI technology, the concept can be applied to any classroom activity.
The activity I recently used with students for the TI-NspireTM that impressed me was the “Dog Days, Dog Years” activity on the TI Math. In this activity, students input the age of their dogs in actual years and the age of the dog in “dog years” is the output. Students explore this relationship to test the hypothesis, “1 year in the life of a human is like 7 years in the life of a dog”.
The students took great interest as they explored the ages of their own pets and they developed linear equations to represent the actual patterns. Working with personal data resulted in a much greater level of student interest in the activity than the typical listing of ordered pairs with which students write a corresponding equation.
A similar exploration is included for the life of a cat.
Other sites with wonderful data available online include: DASL - The Data and Story Library, U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Labor. Sports sites and newspapers are also great sources of content.
The TI-Nspire activities that are available through the TI Math website provide a variety of means of interaction for students as well. Students manipulate graphs, data, and geometric figures to observe the results, resulting in a deeper understanding of relevant patterns. Many such activities are available at this site as well as through the TI Education site in the Activities Exchange.
Contributed by: Lisa Blank
Loading ...