Mathematical Practice #5: What tools do your students use?

To what extent are you integrating technology as a TOOL in your math classroom?  How are you preparing students for the 21st century?  Did you know that students can go to wolphram alpha to type in a math problem and it "spits out"  a variety of information?  The screen shot below is an example:

The key to using this website with students is not just so they can find an answer...it is so students learn to discriminate which information is needed for their purpose.  Imagine assigning a math concept that students can explore using Wolphram.  As they are considering the results and making new meaning of the content, students can share their learning with classmates via facebook, twitter, edmodo, blogging, or through other social networking. This is just one of many examples of how teachers can teach students to use appropriate mathematical tools in the classroom.  Mathematical Practice #5 states,

"Use appropriate tools strategically. Mathematically proficient students consider the available tools when solving a mathematical problem. These tools might include pencil and paper, concrete models, a ruler, a protractor, a calculator, a spreadsheet, a computer algebra system, a statistical package, or dynamic geometry software." (CCSS, 2010) 

As we are plan for teaching students to consider which tool to choose, teachers have to decide which tool to use with students and how the tool will support student learning of the mathematical concept.  Below are some guiding questions:

• How will this tool develop student understanding of the content/standard? 
• What tool can assist with displaying student solutions?  
• Will the tool present dynamic and multiple mathematical representations?
• Can I use the tool to collect and disseminate formative assessment data?
• How can I use the tool to enhance student collaborative learning?  (Common Core Mathematics in a PLC: 9-12, In press)

Here are some resources for mathematical tools that PUHSD Math teachers have readily available. 

Graphing Calculators

Math Tools website resources
Future of Math Technology tools
Cabri Jr. 
TI-Navigator Tutorials
Math Bits (Tip for TI-84 and TI-Nspires)

SMART board lessons
Library of Virtual Manipulatives

GeoSketchpad
Resources
Sample lessons for GSP

What tools are using in your classroom?  Post your best tool idea. 

Reflect on the progress we are making and CELEBRATE!

As we are going through our first year of implementation of the CCSS within the ACT Framework, I plan on sharing some of the “great news” as teams of teachers focus on rigorous expectations of student learning.  PUHSD has amazing mathematics teachers and I want to “shout from the rooftop” and share some of the exciting stories.  Below are just a few examples from the first few weeks of school. 

Story from a Pre-Calculus teacher at Maryvale High School:

“I just wanted to take a moment to share some good news from Phoenix College.  I recently took my 3 pre-calculus classes to the computer lab and a representative from PC came to administer the accuplacer which is the college entrance exam.  I was able to get 79 students cleared to take the test and just received the official results yesterday.  Of the 79 students that took the test, 20 of them actually tested into Calculus (MAT220, which also allows them to take my class), 51 tested into the appropriate Pre-calculus class (MAT187) and just 8 didn’t make the cut.  Of the 8 that did not make it, the largest margin was missing it by only 3 points!

These results make me very happy that we, as a department, are moving in the right direction.  An interesting note is that these students came through our math program where we implement the use of the calculator daily.  The reason this is interesting is because no calculators are allowed on this test.  I feel we are doing a much better job implementing higher reasoning skills that can only be accomplished by using the technology we all have available to us and appreciate all the hard work that has gone into increasing our students’ level of understanding.”

Story from an Algebra Team: 

“We used the data from the Pre-test exam on D2SC to modify our pacing calendar.  We found that the students had specific strengths and weaknesses so we readjusted the calendar to spend more time on concepts that students didn’t understand”   

Thank you to the teams/teachers that are sharing their stories.  If you have a success story, take a moment to respond to this post.  Sometimes, great ideas stem from hearing what other teams are implementing on other campuses.