Google Earth

Obviously a very powerful app. It would be interesting to incorporate Google Earth in a math research project. During the study of exponential and logarithmic functions we look at the Richter Scale used to measure seismic activity: earthquakes. (The Richter Scale is logarithmic.) We could use google earth to locate earthquakes of differing magnitudes to give students a sense of where and how frequently earth quakes occur.

Marvel

Did some searches on Sarah P. Read a few articles about how she could become a serious Republican candidate for president in the future? Poked around for math stuff. Can't quite see how I would use this in a mathematics classroom. However, the high school leadership team is talking about research projects in all the content areas so maybe before I know it I will be using Marvel in the class room.

Have not looked at Slideshare yet.......

AP Study Guide

Wiki or shared document through google or another file service?

Both would allow collaborative development.

Which would work better?

Perhaps pilot each technology and evaluate.

One concern I have is support for mathematical equations. I do not believe google.docs support any "equation editors". Not sure about a wiki. Hmmmmm.

Need to find some time to explore this. Maybe the day we set the clocks back!

September 29th

Not much news here. Classes are in full swing. We have beautiful fall weather to buoy our spirits. Students are out on the playing field of their choice creating memories they can lie about to their children. And I am drinking a cup of strong, black coffee!

Wikis

I plan to identify a classroom activity that would support a low-cal application of a wiki. I'd like us to get our feet wet with the tool without getting to tangled up in deep mathematics.

We do have a project coming up that involves the students working in small groups to produce a final product but I do not yet see if it will be a good fit. I will have to give it some more thought.

Another thought is to create a wiki for AP Calculus that can be a study guide for the AP exam. As we pass through the year the students can update the wiki with key concepts, solution processes, etc. All students will have access. All students can contribute. All students can benefit. This might work!

Tuesday Afternoon

So the high school students have all been issued a laptop. The horses are out of the barn!

We better get busy with these web 2.0 tools or ... else...?

Voicethread

Looks to be a very interesting and promising tool. Browsed through several "voicethreads" to view how they were used. Some seemed to be "teacher tutorials" while others were student displays of processes and/or products. Inconsistency of voice comments(volume, clarity, etc) might be a concern for finished products but in a classroom activity it might not be a problem?