Glogster with Animoto

Click on the picture to link to the multimedia site.

Glogster

Link: http://bridgetpg.edu.glogster.com/linear-relations/

Math education is probably one of the most  linear of all subjects. While I strive to help students discover the connections between concepts I found it difficult to present the ideas surrounding the equation of a straight line in any other form but linear. It doesn’t help that my family is made up of math/science people whose thinking pretty much matches my own.

I thought Glogster was an interesting tool that my Middle school students could use to create multimedia posters. In the spirit of Mabrito and Medley (2008) I jumped in to see it from the student’s perspective.

I also used Animoto to create a visual introduction to linear relations and Clkr which allowed me to import and edit clipart. It’s a great tool and had a surprisingly impressive editing tool.

I had  a lot of fun with this and can see potential but I think I need ideas from students  to see what they would naturally do. I have something planned for grade 7 and 8 so we’ll see what happens. I expect that they will use the grapics to the full extent and items will leap all over the screen. Experience tells me that content might be weaker than I expect but they will be individual and visually appealing-just like their social network pages. I think I’ll be pleasantly surprised and learn a bit about creativity and math.

Bridget

References

Mabrito, M., and R. Medley. 2008. Why Professor Johnny can’t read: Understanding the Net Generation’s texts. Innovate 4 (6).http://www.innovateonline.inf /index.php?view=article&id=510 (accessed November 1, 2011)