Earlier on I was struggling to find an app that had the discovery capability of GSP for the iPad. As I have mentioned in a previous post, Sketchpad Explorer gives a partial solution as students can manipulate previously made GSP files. The problem... they can't make anything new!
So along came Desmos. And, by the way, you don't need an iPad to use it, just head to https://www.desmos.com/ and launch the free calculator.
It's fantastic! Students can graph lines, parabolas, sinusoidals, exponentials, ... If you can name it, odds are Desmos can graph it. But, beyond simply graphing an equation, students can create equations with parameters and truly explore how each parameter affects the graph.
How I've Used Desmos
3U
1. Students explored the various parameters in our general function equation to determine the effect of each. f(x) = a f[k(x - d)] + c
Here is an example of a set-up a student could use to explore the parameters in an exponential function.
*Note that I have restricted some of the sliders and altered the windows.
**You can create a link just like this to share with your students, or they can share the link with you or eachother: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/46fyqy1xcg
2. Students used the app to check the correctness of their hand-written graphs.
3C
1. My grade 11s spent a lot of time in Desmos during our quadratics units. Making connections among all of the parameters in factored form, vertex form and standard form was really a lot of fun!
In addition, they explored the graphical properties of Differences of Squares, Perfect Square Trinomials, and Quadratics with a c-value of zero (common factoring).
I really believe that the interactivity and exploratory nature of the program helped my students get a real appreciation for the graphical properties and relationships therein.
Coming Soon
This semester I will use Desmos with my 1Ds to explore linear relations and linear systems.
In addition, I will bring Desmos back into my 3C course to explore exponential relations.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Friday, 15 November 2013
Using the iPads to address the ambiguous case
The iPads have continued to grasp student attention and keep them focused throughout a 75 minute lesson.
Video Examples with 2Ps
I have continued to create and share solution videos with my 2Ps with this week and these videos have become a staple in my instructional strategy.
Following a teacher-led demonstration where students have an accompanying solution with pieces missing or notes to add, students have the option of accessing a "Video Example" on the iPads or trying the example on their own. I have found that many students utilize the video example and even pause or "rewind" the video as they work through it. Some students have resisted the iPad videos and have chosen, instead to work through it on their own asking myself or a partner for help, but I guess that's differentiated instruction!
The beauty is that because so many students are working with virtual me, it frees up real me to focus on students that require that extra 1-on-1 support. Students have been great at using the iPads for their intended purposes and I have had almost no issues with misuse or abuse. They respect the technology and are very good at closing them down and tucking them away / plugging them in each day.
Today I had students work through a linear systems summative activity with a partner and full access to the iPads and all apps therein. It was great to see students taking the initiative to run the myScript calculator app, access pdfs and videos on the course website, and revisit the video examples in their Google drives.
My goal of improving students online literacy, resourcefulness and competence seems well within reach.
Drawing diagrams with 3Us in Sketchbook
Sketchbook is a tremendous piece of free software that allows students to put a lot of creativity and variety in their diagrams. Yesterday, I had students draw the diagram for a real-life trigonometry example and upload it to our class folder on Google drives. Because the situation was "ambiguous", and the first ambiguous situation they had dealt with, the effect of seeing the alternative diagrams was very rewarding. Students were able to peruse their peer's diagrams on their iPads and on the smartboard and realize that two diagrams are possible and equally correct! It was great. (see photo below for example of each)
Working towards digitized peer assessment
I have been experimenting with Sketchbook and Skitch as complementary programs to have students write solutions and then provide descriptive feedback through Google Drive sharing. I am running into roadblocks with solution space as only short questions can be written in the limited space provided. Trying to find a program that will allow students to write a little more :)
-Dave
Video Examples with 2Ps
I have continued to create and share solution videos with my 2Ps with this week and these videos have become a staple in my instructional strategy.
Following a teacher-led demonstration where students have an accompanying solution with pieces missing or notes to add, students have the option of accessing a "Video Example" on the iPads or trying the example on their own. I have found that many students utilize the video example and even pause or "rewind" the video as they work through it. Some students have resisted the iPad videos and have chosen, instead to work through it on their own asking myself or a partner for help, but I guess that's differentiated instruction!
The beauty is that because so many students are working with virtual me, it frees up real me to focus on students that require that extra 1-on-1 support. Students have been great at using the iPads for their intended purposes and I have had almost no issues with misuse or abuse. They respect the technology and are very good at closing them down and tucking them away / plugging them in each day.
Today I had students work through a linear systems summative activity with a partner and full access to the iPads and all apps therein. It was great to see students taking the initiative to run the myScript calculator app, access pdfs and videos on the course website, and revisit the video examples in their Google drives.
My goal of improving students online literacy, resourcefulness and competence seems well within reach.
Drawing diagrams with 3Us in Sketchbook
Sketchbook is a tremendous piece of free software that allows students to put a lot of creativity and variety in their diagrams. Yesterday, I had students draw the diagram for a real-life trigonometry example and upload it to our class folder on Google drives. Because the situation was "ambiguous", and the first ambiguous situation they had dealt with, the effect of seeing the alternative diagrams was very rewarding. Students were able to peruse their peer's diagrams on their iPads and on the smartboard and realize that two diagrams are possible and equally correct! It was great. (see photo below for example of each)
Working towards digitized peer assessment
I have been experimenting with Sketchbook and Skitch as complementary programs to have students write solutions and then provide descriptive feedback through Google Drive sharing. I am running into roadblocks with solution space as only short questions can be written in the limited space provided. Trying to find a program that will allow students to write a little more :)
-Dave
Monday, 11 November 2013
Day 1!
Day 1
I have decided to abandon Siri as my method of blog-writing. He and I (I changed the voice to a man) don't seem to understand each other very well...
Day 1 was actually last Friday, but I decided to write about it today.. busy weekend!
Day 1 was awesome!
The Grade 11s
I had my 3Us go through a GSP investigation that I put together using a GSP file I made in SketchPad Explorer and a handout.
Students accessed the GSP file from their google drives seamlessly and with ease! Solutions can be found here.
I think they enjoyed it, and the novelty of the iPads certainly didn't hurt.
It definitely required a little bit of guidance, but that was to be expected.
The Grade 9s
I also had my 1Ds use a GSP file I created to explore linear systems. They had a handout that they worked through where they manipulated the slope and y-intercept of their lines using sliders, wrote equations, found POIs and checked solutions using the L.S. R.S. method.
The assignment was kicked up a notch when students were told to make their lines intersect at a specified point. They then had to work with lines with slope of 0 and finally had to activiate a 3rd line and ensure all three lines met at one point.
My favourite part of the whole exercise was the freedom to develop "on the fly" bonus tasks for students who finished the assigned work early: "Make two lines perpendicular and have them all intersect at one point" or "Have all three lines intersect at (5, 2) and ensure two of them have positive slope" etc...
It was fun!!!
And at the end of the class a few students asked if they could finish it up at home. I said that they, unfortunately, couldn't take the iPads home and they replied that they could do it on their own device! And they did... they downloaded the SketchPad Explorer app, logged into their Google drives and opened the file. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!
-Dave
P.S. Check out this photo of something I've come up with to increase accountability and responsibility. I got 5 different colours of cases and have assigned each numbered iPad to a student or pair of students (depending on class size). iPads were assigned in increasing order of lates/absences.
The colours will also allow for easy group manipulation: pinks get together or pink-purple, orange-red etc...
I have decided to abandon Siri as my method of blog-writing. He and I (I changed the voice to a man) don't seem to understand each other very well...
Day 1 was actually last Friday, but I decided to write about it today.. busy weekend!
Day 1 was awesome!
The Grade 11s
I had my 3Us go through a GSP investigation that I put together using a GSP file I made in SketchPad Explorer and a handout.
Students accessed the GSP file from their google drives seamlessly and with ease! Solutions can be found here.
I think they enjoyed it, and the novelty of the iPads certainly didn't hurt.
It definitely required a little bit of guidance, but that was to be expected.
The Grade 9s
I also had my 1Ds use a GSP file I created to explore linear systems. They had a handout that they worked through where they manipulated the slope and y-intercept of their lines using sliders, wrote equations, found POIs and checked solutions using the L.S. R.S. method.
The assignment was kicked up a notch when students were told to make their lines intersect at a specified point. They then had to work with lines with slope of 0 and finally had to activiate a 3rd line and ensure all three lines met at one point.
My favourite part of the whole exercise was the freedom to develop "on the fly" bonus tasks for students who finished the assigned work early: "Make two lines perpendicular and have them all intersect at one point" or "Have all three lines intersect at (5, 2) and ensure two of them have positive slope" etc...
It was fun!!!
And at the end of the class a few students asked if they could finish it up at home. I said that they, unfortunately, couldn't take the iPads home and they replied that they could do it on their own device! And they did... they downloaded the SketchPad Explorer app, logged into their Google drives and opened the file. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!
-Dave
P.S. Check out this photo of something I've come up with to increase accountability and responsibility. I got 5 different colours of cases and have assigned each numbered iPad to a student or pair of students (depending on class size). iPads were assigned in increasing order of lates/absences.
The colours will also allow for easy group manipulation: pinks get together or pink-purple, orange-red etc...
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Day 0.5
We brought out the iPads today for the first time. It was a little frustrating trying to get iOS 7 put on all the machines. It seems that the schools Wi-Fi can get bogged down pretty quick.
The students didn't really seem to mind. I think they just really enjoyed being able to finally use the iPads that they've been waiting for for so long.
I had my 3Us put all the cases on today. We are still waiting for two cases to come in but otherwise we are really getting set to go.
All that's left now is to have my students help me install a whole bunch of great apps onto them and then we will be cooking with gas!
PS can't seem to attach photos to the blog post :(
Friday, 1 November 2013
Day 0
Got the iPad minis today! Super excited to get them going with my students. Going to be a busy weekend!
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