Spreadsheets

I watched the tutorial entitled: "Do Larger Pumpkins Have More Seeds?", by Mr. Patrick Oliver. I really liked this tutorial. When I was watching it at first i thought it was going to be rather boring. Once i started watching it, it pulled me in and i liked it. This project incorporated many different things into it like: learning to use spreadsheets, mathematics, he was even talking about the writing that he has had them doing. The students were asked to guess the weight and amount of seeds that were in each one. The students were split up into groups, after they made their predictions, they were asked to weigh the pumpkins and pull out the seeds and count them. Once they were done with this, they then took their data and inserted it into the interactive learning spreadsheet that the teacher made. In the end they were able to view their predictions vs. the actual amount in a bar graph. I thought this was very cool. not only does using the spreadsheet and using the bar graph put things into prospective for the student, it is a new and interesting way to learn.

There are several ways that i could incorporate this into my geometry class. In using the pumpkins we could make it so that they would have to predict the diameter. Then using the formula the student would find the real diameter of a circle. we could then insert it into the spread sheet so they could see their differences. When working with geometry there are many different things that can be done. If we were looking at trying to do angles. we could bring in a pool table and use that. then plug the different angles into a spreadsheet to show the differences (acute, obtuse...ect). I really like this way of teaching. Not only does it bring technology into the classroom but it also allows the student a different and more fun way of learning.

Classroom Netiquette

http://docs.google.com/View?id=df6hqdf4_0d7zf3sf2

Jigsaw and Education

Jigsaw and Education

In today’s age there has been many technological advances, several of them apply to the educational field. I think it is exciting the many ways that technology has been incorporated into the classrooms. One of the various ways of incorporating technology is to use a learning method called “The Jigsaw” method.
When using this method the teacher would break the class up into groups of 5 or 6, and give them a topic. Then each individual would get assigned a subtopic to research. Once the subtopic is given then each groups breaks up into topic specific groups. These groups are known as the “Expert Groups”. Once the research is done and they have gone over their research with the other “experts”, they return to their original groups of 5 or 6. The individual then presents their research information in the form of a presentation to the rest of the group. Once everyone has presented their information the groups are given tests about the entire topic. How would I use this method in my classroom with limited computers?
The answer to that is simple. Once I have everyone in their groups, I would assign one computer per expert group. That way, a wealth of information is shared that is topic specific. There are a few problems that I foresee with this. The children would have to take turns, and that as we know can be difficult sometimes. The other thing I see being the problem is I don’t think everyone would be putting in 100%. If the subtopic groups are together researching, then some of the students don’t really have to pay attention, because they have the others doing the research. No matter what way a teacher decides to run this program, there will be disadvantages. I also think there will be advantages as well.
Some of the advantages to using this method would be: students learn from different methods, researching done by the student helps them to retain more information; a student may listen and learn more in the smaller groups. These are just some of the advantages to learning, using the jigsaw technique.