Friday, June 26, 2009
Classroom technology
Today in class we discussed what sort of technology we would like to have in our future classrooms. Being a math teacher, I struggled to figure out cool ways to combine math and technology. Math does not lend itself to technology particularly well. The history and English people had really creative ways to incorporate technology into their classrooms, so it was a little discouraging to look at my drawing and not see very much technology. However, looking back on it and thinking about it a little more I can see a few ways to begin to incorporate technology and math. There are some very engaging computer graphing programs that could be useful in a middle or high school classroom. Even though I did not see much today, I am very hopeful and excited about the potential ways for math to become more technologically friendly. I think we can find some unique methods for making math instruction interesting through technology.
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I'm going to teach math too and I also struggled to figure out how technology could be used. I think my first reaction was to think of calculators. I really don't like how students have become so dependent on them so my first thought was "I DON'T want technology in my classroom." But you're right, there are other things out there that can make math more exciting for the students and I'm working on figuring out what they are too.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was in high school, we learned about non-euclidean geometry and the teacher showed us a video that some people at UofM had made to demonstrate what infinity looks like in different types of spaces. I remembered that video when I was applying to grad school and it was one of the reasons I applied to Michigan. :) I wonder what kinds of fun math videos one could find now on youtube!
Ryan, I agree. As a fellow math person, I didn't know what to put in my classroom either. Although I don't have the answer, I am excited at the potential. I hope that we learn more in our student teaching assignments. I have a feeling there are some really great programs out there that we don't know about yet.
ReplyDeleteRyan
ReplyDeleteGood questions about technology and mathematics. I would like to point you to a blog by Jim Lamb. Jim is an excellent Math teacher in PA. He has done everything from using cell phones in math to interactive whiteboards. You might get a few ideas from Jim.
http://misterlamb.blogspot.com/
If you're looking for tools students can use to practice solving equations, number skills, etc you may want to take a look at the National Library of Virtual Initiatives at http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vLibrary.html. The site breaks down the resources by grade and math topic; I've seen it be useful for visualizing certain concepts (like balancing equations) or just getting more comfortable with mental math. I also like the site because it gives students with computer access something they can do at home that is more fun than a worksheet, but equally helpful.
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments. I do think that technology can be incorporated into a variety of classrooms regardless of the academic discipline. Still, I'm sure the appropriate technology to use depends on the subject and age level. As a prospective social studies teacher, I look forward to seeing the differences between my classroom and a math classroom.