MATH TOOLS NEWSLETTER - MAY 1, 2004 - No. 14 We enjoyed meeting and talking with many of you who attended our presentations and visited our exhibit booth during the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It was great to be able to receive user feedback about the Math Tools site in person. We are excited to unveil a new feature: Technology PoW, affectionately known as the tPoW. Link to the tPoW by looking at the right sidebar, under RESOURCES, and clicking "Problems." Technology problems (tPows) are modeled on the Math Forum's Problems of the Week, with the additional feature that the problems take advantage of an interactive mathematics tool. We are planning to add more tPoWs soon. Feel free to have students submit solutions to us following the "Submit your answer" link. ***FEATURED TOOL Factor Tree National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool.html?id=415 This manipulative allows you to construct factor trees for two numbers, and then from that prime factorization, asks you to identify the Least Common Multiple (LCM) and the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) of the two given numbers. RELATED DISCUSSION: http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?id=415&context=tool Pre-service teachers discuss uses of the tool. Do you have ideas to add to the discussion based on your classroom experience? ***FEATURED TOOL Coin Toss - Heads in a Row National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool.html?id=3060 Explore probability concepts by simulating repeated coin tosses. RELATED DISCUSSION: http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?id=3060&context=tool In discussing this cataloged resource, an inservice teacher recommends some as-yet uncataloged tools that allow for custom-tailored instructions, lessons, or activities. He also cautions that some sites might contain too much or too little information, depending on the level of the student. ***FEATURED DISCUSSION General Discussion: Frustrations Math Tools users reflect on differences between tools used in Japan vs the United States. http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?do=m&thread=_____g-11 How do you use technology in your classroom? Do students work independently using technology? Do you use technology as part of your explanation of material? CHECK OUT THE MATH TOOLS SITE: Math Tools http://mathforum.org/mathtools/ Register http://mathforum.org/mathtools/register.html Discussions http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html Research Area http://mathforum.org/mathtools/research/ Developers Area http://mathforum.org/mathtools/developers/ Newsletter Archive http://mathforum.org/mathtools/newsletter/ \`. .--------------.____________) \ |//////////////|____________[ ] `--------------' ) ( '-' The Math Forum -- 1 May 2004