ETEC 533 – Technology in the Mathematics and Science Classroom
Category Archives: Resource Sharing Forum
This resource share forum is a place for you and your peers to contribute free or low-cost digital resources to the whole class that exemplify the lesson topic, for example, “Knowledge Representation and Information Visualization for Learning Math or Science”.
Socrative is an interactive questioning app. While it is to specific to Math and Science I have used it often in both subject areas. The program offers the opportunity for students to work in groups and enter their response to a question that you push out to the linked devices. All answers show up on the display and then in their groups they vote on which answer they think is the best. It allows for lots of discussion and interaction between peers and even if they are unsuccessful in finding the correct answer they get to see all of the answers and then decide why one is better. Great at getting kids talking and talking about their learning and explaining why.
that has a number of free online programs for elementary to high school students. One program is called VROC (or virtual researcher on call that connects specialists in the field with students) and the other is PIR Live Events (webinars). I have done several PIR Live events and been a part of webinars with inventors in the UK. Webinars cover a variety of STEM topics – from makerspace to cancer research. Students can pose questions and “chat” to the guests in real time. It was a great opportunity for students!
They also have their own YouTube channel and PIR TV to get students interested and enthusiastic about STEM.
For those new to computer programming, the Hopscotch App provides a great opportunity for students to learn in an engaging way. Hopscotch uses drag and drop format so it is ideal for elementary school students. Decimals, sequencing, co-ordinates, and negative numbers are some of the mathematical concepts that “come to life” as students program their own games and activities.
In my experience teaching Math to grade 6 and 7 students, I have found that incorporating Scratch (https://scratch.mit.edu/) has helped solidify most students understanding of x y axis and coordinates. If you’ve never used Scratch before, it’s a free, on-line programming software that allows you to program and code animations and games. Scratch uses a coordinate system, which determines where you place sprites and which directions you want them to move. Each sprite has two values to locate its reference point. The students I have worked with quickly pick up how the x-y axis works. As an educator, you can set up student accounts to see their work and help share it on their digital portfolios. It’s also a way for students to share evidence of their learning in math. This is a youtube video to show you the basics:
Scratch Ed (http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/) is a site dedicated to educators. You can exchange resources, share ideas, and ask questions.
Teachers can sign up their class using individual logins. Students will enter the Prodigy world, select a character and complete battles throughout the game while encountering math problems. Teachers can set specific topics or grade levels and will receive feedback on how each individual student is doing with a topic as well as the entire class. This engaging game provides a great support to your math curriculum.
Tynker is a website for students, teachers and parents. It provides students with an opportunity to code in various settings.
Jeff Bradbury just hosted a teacher podcast on March 22 about using Tynker in the classroom
What I have learned about using on line programs such as tynker, code.org and scratch is that it brings coding alive through the use of block coding. Students learning is scaffolded from the most basic coding steps to more advanced. The programs provide immediate feedback to the student so they know if they are correct or not. Most also provide the students with a “safety” key so that they do not become too frustrated and quit the program. Students who are shown the answer still must go through the steps of coding the information properly before they are able to move on.
The excellent thing about today’s coding programs is that they are also geared toward the student’s interests. Students can code with princesses, minecraft or a whole host of other themes. For the more creative student they can create thier own characters and storylines to code with.
When I was a student I was taught to code on paper (sorry I tried to code on paper) but because I never understood what I was writing, I never understood how the program would react. Students love working with these programs. It is vital that we start coding with our students at an early age as it has been said that coding is the language of the future. The language all workers will need to understand.
Here is a fantastic collection of math and science games. “I’ve found that this works great in a computer lab setting where I can hop between groups of students and chip in extra information and examples. I encourage my students to take notes and try every possible solution noting not just what works but what doesn’t and why.”
www.youcubed.org is a comprehensive math site created by Stanford University to build math confidence in students and provide practice with basic to advanced problem solving. Youcubed is a resource for educators parents and teachers.
ALICE stands for A Large Ion Collider Experiment. The ALICE website provides information, history of the Cern supercollider, a kids corner and much more.
