A very close friend of mine, Guy Barmoha, has been involved in the development of ancillary math resources for a free program available to all middle and high school math teachers. This free math program is called GeoGebra and it dynamically combines concepts from algebra, calculus and geometry. GeoGebra can function in an internet browser or can be downloaded and installed on a computer. Upon talking to Guy over the phone about it, he compared it to a program he had used with his middle school students for nine years, "GeoGebra is like Geometer's Sketchpad...but on steroids". He finds the free math program that powerful and is very excited to be part of project that has been funded by the US National Science Foundation, Austrian Ministry of Education and Austrian Academy of Sciences.
The GeoGebra team has a simple mission...to get GeoGebra into every math class possible. Even though they have many online resources such as a Wiki and User Forums, they are available for workshops. Trainings include the integration of free online resources such as lessons and dynamic worksheets.
GeoGebra has been well received and has been awarded with many accalaids.
Read more about or download GeoGebra here.
The Cool World of Science
I remember how I learned science when I was in 5th grade. Lots of worksheets and on occasion the class would watch a science film that was checked out from the library. How can I forget that film projector? I was the official "film helper" in my class. And of course, let's not forget the annual dose of science through the school-wide science fair. We really didn't do a whole lot of "hands-on" activities to reinforce scientific concepts back then.
Not so at the Utah State Office of Education. They have developed an online textbook to teach science in 5th grade. And on that site they have posted "Change is happening", an excellent activity to teach physical change. Students are challenged with the following question, "Do you think it is possible to walk through a hole that you cut in a 3X5 card?"
This webpage has a breakdown of what materials are needed and the step-by-step procedure with great photos to reproduce this activity with your 5th grade students. There is even a video of a scientist walking through the 3X5 card. There is even some great prompts to have students reflect what happened with this activity by writing in their science journals.
What a great way to learn about the cool world of science!
Do you teach in Georgia? Well here is the standard and element for this activity to align to the Georgia Performance Standards for 5th grade science:
Not so at the Utah State Office of Education. They have developed an online textbook to teach science in 5th grade. And on that site they have posted "Change is happening", an excellent activity to teach physical change. Students are challenged with the following question, "Do you think it is possible to walk through a hole that you cut in a 3X5 card?"
This webpage has a breakdown of what materials are needed and the step-by-step procedure with great photos to reproduce this activity with your 5th grade students. There is even a video of a scientist walking through the 3X5 card. There is even some great prompts to have students reflect what happened with this activity by writing in their science journals.
What a great way to learn about the cool world of science!
Do you teach in Georgia? Well here is the standard and element for this activity to align to the Georgia Performance Standards for 5th grade science:
S5P2 Students will explain the difference between a physical change and a chemical change.
a. Investigate physical changes by separating mixtures and manipulating (cutting, tearing, folding) paper to demonstrate examples of physical change.
Free Algebra Math Videos
Tonight I was dusting off the cobwebs as I was trying to tutor a high school student in Algebra 2. It was the old slope intercept, rise over run and graphing of ordered pairs stuff. Using her textbook was a good refresher. But once we hit the World Wide Web for reinforcements I was amazed at the amount of resources that were available through video tutorials. I mentioned how lucky her generation was to have access to such resources and she agreed. It was really amazing watching her view the videos as she made connections to content from the lecture she had earlier that day in her Algebra class and her homework.
The one we really liked was this one (slope man really brought it all together for us):
Here are some additional videos that we utilized for reinforcment:
>> Determine the Equation of a Line Using Slope and y-intercept
>> Graphing Linear Equations
>> Algebra 2 Tutor: The Slope Of A Line
The one we really liked was this one (slope man really brought it all together for us):
Here are some additional videos that we utilized for reinforcment:
>> Determine the Equation of a Line Using Slope and y-intercept
>> Graphing Linear Equations
>> Algebra 2 Tutor: The Slope Of A Line
Social Bookmarking with Delicious
I've been using the social bookmarking site delicious for about a month now. And I'm loving it! It is a really easy way to create and access bookmarks across different computers or even between the Windows or Mac platforms. The ability to add tags, or keywords, to a bookmark is just brilliant. Tagging is one of the main premises on Web 2.0 sites. There are other features that are worthwhile in creating a free delicious account. I found this great video tutorial to explain the concept of social bookmarking.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)