Goals of the Workshop:
- To show that technology, particularly the Internet, can be used together with manipulatives, activities, and exercises as a tool for teaching mathematics effectively.
- To help mathematics teachers think of places in their curricula that align with available Web page lessons.
Background:
In the summer of 1996, I learned to write Web pages as a participant in a Summer Institute offered by the Math Forum. The following year I taught one section of 8th grade mathematics in a Macintosh computer lab with 10 Internet-accessible computers.
During the 1997-98 school year I taught two sections of 7th grade mathematics in a two-hour block schedule, making use of two rooms - one hour in a classroom with tables, and a second continuing hour in a Macintosh computer lab with 20 Internet-accessible computers.
This school year I am again teaching two sections of 7th grade mathematics, in a classroom three days a week and the Macintosh computer lab two days a week. I was hoping to have 36 Internet-accessible computers, but that probably won't happen until the end of the year. Because my students have limited Internet access this year, I have made extensive use of simulated Web pages.
I have written Web pages for Math 8 and Math 7 classes both for direct student use and as a record for myself. In addition, I enjoy sharing with teachers in my own school and with others via the Internet the curriculum and the expertise that I am developing in using the Internet as an effective tool for teaching mathematics.
Description:
My presentation will be a hands-on demonstration of how I use manipulatives, activities, exercises, and technology - software that I have found and aligned with the curriculum, and Web pages that I have written - to teach mathematics to middle school students.
Participants will work through at least one example of an activity that has all the components I have mentioned: manipulative, activity, exercise, and technology. A discussion of how to develop a mathematics curriculum that encompasses the use of all of these tools will be an important feature of the program.
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The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel University School of Education.