I liked this article. The enthusiasm from the students as well as the teacher came through very clearly. Using graphing calculators enables them to visualize the picture, and so many students are visual learners. This type of technology can only enhance their learning of what the math they are learning about acually looks like, and working on the calculator is much more stimulating than randomly (and not always accurately) plotting points on graphing paper.
The teacher said, "Seeing their eyes – I’d say it was successful. I saw it through their emotions, their gestures, their – just the non-verbal communications that they’re throwing at me. Their intrigue – like: What if we put x squared in there? What would happen to that? Or, what if I just punch in all these numbers, what would happen? I said: Try it, see what happens, and then they say: Oh cool! All right! You know, just the fact that they had a chance to explore beyond what I was teaching them gave them a sense of power of looking ahead. I would definitely say just their physical attributes and their emotions." Her ending comments made it evident that this technology is a positive step in math education.
Here is the link to my Kite article.
http://kite.missouri.edu/jkite/basicresult.jsp?caseid=5045G&doctable=term&keywords=calculator%20graphing
3 comments:
Cory this sounds interesting. I wonder if students are allowed to use the calculator on tests?
Cory, the use of graphing calculators seems to open up a whole new world to math students. How do you think it best to introduce the use of this tool? Does everyone in class have one?
If so, would you have them work in small groups or individually?
How does a graphing calculator differ from a regular calculator and can the students in this case study describe the differences?
It seems like the students in that case study were really getting into their classwork! I think a lot of people (like me) dislike math because they struggle with it. If a graphing calculator helps kids understand the concepts, they'll enjoy it more, and their grades may go up. Sounds like a win-win situation!
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