Consider this: What is “schoolisyzation”?

This post could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: Did you ever come across a school problem, especially in math, that uses a real-life context, but still didn’t make any sense?

What is this about? In this 6-minute video presentation, my colleague Marc-André Lalande presents his thoughts on the subject of “schoolisyzation” and how he thinks technology can help us improve our pedagogical practices. (Source: Marc-André Lalande, RECIT FGA Pedagogical Consultant, via r.u.aware blog)

Feedback: Comments? We really want to hear what you have to say! Please feel free to leave your comments on our blog with the “leave a comment” link below this post. Also, if YouTube is blocked in your school, you can view Marc-André’s original SlideRocket presentation from his r.u.aware blog...

ICT Tip: Wolfram Alpha is a lot more than a search engine!

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

Link: www.wolframalpha.com

Quick overview: Like Google, Wofram Alpha works with keywords. However, Wolfram Alpha does a lot more than simply retrieve information from web pages. Instead, it creates a “custom fit” for you by assembling or calculating the information you’re looking for.

Can you give me some examples? If you type in the name of any two cities (i.e – Montreal and Ottawa) you’ll get a rich comparison between the two cities. If you type in the name of a food item (i.e – big mac) you’ll get a detailed breakdown of the nutritional information of that food. Best of all, if you type in a math equation (2x + 15 = 45) you’ll get a visual representation of the equation. You can even download the results or equations as PDF files!

I want to know more! Here is a great organized list of some other possible keyword combinations to try on Wolfram Alpha. In addition, here’s a link that explains how to use some of the more important features on Wolfram Alpha. (Source: Tammy Worcester, ISTE 2011 Philadelphia conference)

ICT Tip: A website with over 1,100 video tutorials covering basic arithmetic, algebra, physics, chemistry, biology and finance!

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: Hundreds of videos covering topics from basic arithmetic, algebra, differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance.

What is this resource? These videos are provided free of charge by the non-profit educational organization, Khan Academy. The goal of the Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org) is to use technology to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Each video on the site is individually recorded by Salman Khan. The site has been positively reviewed by CNN and USA Today and receives over 35,000 hits a day! Salman Khan aims to bring his videos to people who can’t afford private tutoring or in poorer countries where traditional classrooms may not be available. If you’d like to know more about Salman Khan and the Khan Academy, please click on this link.

How can this be used in the classroom: Videos should be screened in advance (by you) to determine which would be most useful for your students. These videos can then be provided to students in an individualized classroom or provided as supplementary study material.  The only caveat is that a connection to YouTube in your centre is required.  If YouTube is blocked in your centre, I have created a Blog posting which offers you a possible solution to download specific videos in your own home and then bring them into your classroom as “off-line” video files, therefore bypassing YouTube in your centre. (Source: Guillermo Bautista, Math4allages blog)

Note: Sections of the “Quick overview” and “What is this resource?” have been paraphrased from the Khan Academy website.

ICT Tip: Two Canadian websites that aim to educate adults about everyday financial concerns, available both in English and French

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Quick overview: Two Canadian websites that aim to educate adults about everyday financial concerns. Both sites contain loads of reputable information that can be used within a learning situation or courses dealing with finances. Available in both English and French.

How the Money Belt website can be used in the classroom: The Money Belt website aims to teach financial life skills in easy “down-to-earth” language. The website is primarily intended for young Canadian adults but is also useful for adult learners of all ages. On this site your students can test what they know (and don’t know) about managing their money. Some topics include how to avoid high levels of debt, avoiding fraud, choices that exist when choosing credit cards, loans, bank accounts, and general financial knowledge. The Money Belt website is maintained by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) a federal government agency that aims to protect and educate Canadian consumers of financial services.

How the CBA website can be used in the classroom: The CBA (Canadian Bankers Association of Canada) is a Canadian website that contains a large amount of information regarding Canadian banking and financial services. In particular, the consumer information section contains information on banking basics, financial rights and responsibilities, saving, investing, and identity theft. There is also a very useful glossary (the link can be found on the top right hand corner of the CBA webpage) containing definitions in relation to finances. (Source of websites: Nancy Sher at the CDC Vimont Adult Centre, SWLSB)

• The Money Belt in English at (www.tinyurl.com/moneybelt-english)
• The Money Belt in French at (www.tinyurl.com/moneybelt-french)
• The CBA website in English at (www.cba.ca)
• The CBA website in French at (www.tinyurl.com/CBA-french)

Note: Sections of the Money Belt description have been quoted from the about section of the Money Belt website.

ICT Tip: A huge collection of easy-to-follow interactive math and science examples

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Quick overview: A huge collection of visually interactive on-line math and physical science concepts. Concise and to the point, each example can be used to illustrate potentially complicated topics to your students in the classroom. The content on Daniel Mentrard’s website (http://tinyurl.com/6odcbl) is well organized, interactive, straightforward, and great for visual learners.

What does it do? Daniel Mentrard’s website contains over a thousand interactive math and physical science examples that he created with the Geogebra software and then placed on-line to share with others. However, this amazing web resource does not require you to install any special software to use with your students – it can be accessed just like any other web page! Most of the interactive examples on his site contain “sliders” that can be moved into different positions (representing different values) to dynamically change the equations on the computer screen. Below is an animated sample of a teacher demonstrating a “Slope and Intercepts” example using this type of technique:

How can it be used in the classroom: Instead of using a traditional blackboard to teach your students, you would use a computer connected to a digital projector (or Interactive White Board) in your classroom. Specific examples can also be shared with students who are weak in one area and need extra curricular study aids.

Important Notes: The math and science examples on this site were created by Daniel Mentrard, a teacher from France. As this is the case, all the examples on the site are written only in French. However, most of the math and science concepts can easily translate to an English language math or science classroom. On a technical note, if you happen to receive a “Java error” when opening examples on the site, please contact me by e-mail for assistance. The above animated sample image has been linked from the Math 247 PB Wiki site.

ICT Tip: World Clock “odometers” of world statistics (births, deaths, consumption, etc..)

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: The World Clock website (http://tinyurl.com/5bqgdx) provides “odometers” of world statistics. This site is similar to the Worldometers website that I highlighted in an earlier ICT Blog posting, however, the World Clock site allows students to change between daily, monthly, or yearly world statistics. It also offers a different set of statistics.

What does it do? The World Clock website allows your students to see “real time” world statistics updated every second. This includes statistics such as births, deaths, consumption, etc.

How can it be used in the classroom? This site can be used to stimulate a real life discussion in regards to statistics in a math class or a math Learning Situation. It can also be used as a source of inspiration in a language class to bring up a discussion on environmental awareness or carbon footprints.

ICT Tip: Using GeoGebra to construct dynamic geometry, algebra, and calculus equations

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Quick overview:GeoGebra (http://www.geogebra.org/cms) is a mathematics software designed for education. It helps teachers or students construct dynamic geometry, algebra, and calculus equations.GeoGebra works great for visual learners who may otherwise have difficulty following along in a math or science class with more traditional teaching approaches. It’s free too!

What does it do?Instead of using a traditional blackboard to teach your students, you would bring a computer connected to a digital projector into your classroom. GeoGebra then allows you to perform constructions with points, vectors, segments, lines, conic sections as well as functions and change them dynamically afterwards.In addition, equations and coordinates can be entered directly. GeoGebra has the ability to deal with variables for numbers, vectors and points, finds derivatives and integrals of functions and offers commands like Root or Extremum.

How can it be used in the classroom? Using GeoGebra, you could create interactive equations and then dynamically change them in front of your students.For example, using GeoGebra you could demonstrate how to construct a right angle triangle.Once the triangle is constructed, you could then dynamically change the relationship between the points.This is accomplished by either entering in different numerical values on the keyboard or moving the points with the mouse along the axes.Modifying these values will immediately cause the triangle to change.Furthermore, you can save any of your GeoGebra examples as a file to use again later in another class or provide printed or electronic copies (see example) for your students to study from.

Additional Resources: If you’d like to get started with tutorials of how to use GeoGebra in your own classroom, I highly recommend you visit the “Math 247 GeoGebra” page at geogebrawiki.wikispaces.com

Advanced ICT tip: If you are a math or science teacher already using an Interactive Whiteboard (i.e – SMARTBoard) in your classroom, you or your students can take things to a whole new level with GeoGebra.Using GeoGebra on your Interactive Whiteboard will allow you or your students to touch and manipulate the visual math equations with their hands!

Source: Sections of the “Quick overview” and “What does it do?” definitions in this ICT suggestion have been paraphrased from the GeoGebra website.

ICT Tip: Real-life budgeting activities for a math class

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Quick overview: Budgeting and savings activities for a “real-life” situation in a math class.

How can this be used in the classroom? If you are looking for a “real-life” situation activity in your math class (or hoping to kick start a Learning Situation) then I may have a useful and easy to use ICT suggestion. Using the Vancity HomeBudget Analysis website (www.tinyurl.com/vancity-homebudget) your students can input their expenses and income and obtain a visual breakdown of all their expenses. For students not currently working, it can also be used to compare potential jobs with different salaries compared to their current expenses, as seen in the screen caputre below:

Anything more? For teachers who want to take things one step further, you may also want to visit the MyCalculators.com “Savings-Investment Calculator” (http://tinyurl.com/6sx68m) website with your students. Using this calculator, your students can see how much of a return they’ll get from depositing regular contributions into their savings account. Variables can be changed such as intrest rate, years to invest, or the frequency of contributions. I should note that while I find this page isn’t very flashy, it gets the point across well. It can be used if you wish to cover more in-depth topics on savings and investments.

ICT Tip: WebMath – A math calculator with a twist!

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Quick overview: A website that contains a variety of math calculators which provides a detailed explanation of how each problem was solved.

What does it do? At first glance, the WebMath site may only appear (http://www.webmath.com) to be on-line calculator for different types of math problems. However, the WebMath site does not simply solve equations and spit out an answer… With WebMath, you or your students can punch in any variables you’d like, and then the site will explain how it solved the problem with a VERY detailed explanation. Definitely worth checking out!

How can it be used in the classroom? Weaker students can use this ICT application to punch in different math problems and then get an explanation how the problem is solved. It may help them work through the problems that you may have covered in class but had difficulty following along.

ICT Tip: Google Earth

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Quick overview: An application that allows your students to zoom, spin, and fly around the planet with real satellite imagery.

What does it do? If you’ve used ever Google Maps in your classroom, then you may really appreciate Google Earth. Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) shares the same satellite data as Google Maps, however your students can use Google Earth to effortlessly zoom, spin, and fly around the planet with real satellite imagery. Some major US cities, such as New York, even include accurate 3D models of actual buildings.

How can it be used in a classroom? As a real life ICT suggestion for a Math class, your students can use a “virtual ruler” in Google Earth to calculate distances (KM, miles, etc) between two places with actual satellite data, as seen in the screenshot below. If that sounds interesting, here’s a site that explains how to use the “virtual ruler” function in a classroom: http://tinyurl.com/5hw7oj

Extra information: Google Earth is free, however since it is a desktop application, it must be downloaded and installed locally on your computer. If you do not know how (or have the rights) to install software in your computer lab, you can ask for help from your IT department.

ICT Tip: Calorie Calculator

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Quick overview: The HealthAtoZ website (http://tinyurl.com/2pqtdk) contains a calorie calculator where students can specify the activity, the person’s weight, and hours spent, to determine the amount of calories burned.

How can this be used in a classroom? You may want to try using this in a math, science, or biology learning situation to help students realize the amount of calories burned in different types of physical activities.

ICT Tip: Sparknotes study guides (aka Coles Notes)

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Quick overview: On-line study guides for students. Similar in concept to Cole’s Notes but free and on-line.

How can it be used in the classroom? The Sparknotes website (www.sparknotes.com) contains comprehensive study guides for English Literature, History, Film, Math, Biology, Shakespeare, etc. Even if on-line study guides aren’t useful for your particular class, you may still want to be aware of this site. Why? Like any other on-line resource, some students may often choose to go here as an easy way to plagiarize information.

ICT Tip: Creating dynamic graphs in Excel

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Quick overview: A tutorial on how to create graphs in Excel.

How can it be used in the classroom? Using Excel, your students can easily create a graph that will dynamically change with different variables. Great for visual learners, easy to setup.

Video Tutorial: If you’d like to know how to create your own Excel graphs, please click the play button below:

ICT Tip: Venn Diagrams

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: A website that allows your students to create printable Venn Diagrams.

What does it do? The ReadWriteThink.Org site (http://tinyurl.com/3huews) features an on-line Venn Diagram creator page. Using this page, your students can quickly create Venn Diagrams and then print them.

How can it be used in the classroom? Here’s a great definition from the Schools of California, Online Resources for Education (SCORE) website: “The Venn Diagram is made up of two or more overlapping circles. It is often used in mathematics to show relationships between sets. In language arts instruction, Venn Diagrams are useful for examining similarities and differences in characters, stories, poems, etc. It is frequently used as a prewriting activity to enable students to organize thoughts or textual quotations prior to writing a compare/contrast essay. This activity enables students to organize similarities and differences visually.” (Source: Vince Jansen (LEARN) Cool Tools Duel workshop)

ICT Tip: Worldometers – World statistics updated every second

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: A website that provides “odometers” of real time world statistics.

What does it do? The Worldometers (www.worldometers.info) website allows your students to see “real time” world statistics updated every second. This includes statistics such as births, deaths, food consumption, etc.

How can it be used in the classroom? This site can be used in conjunction with student projects on carbon footprints or mathematical statistics. It can also be used as a source of inspiration in a language class to bring up a discussion on environmental awareness. (Source: Vince Jansen (LEARN) Cool Tools Duel workshop)

ICT Tip: Manipulative Math, Utah State University

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Quick overview: The Manipulative Math site (http://nlvm.usu.edu) contains many interactive “hands-on” math activities.

How can it be used in the classroom? When I was out visiting the Western Quebec Career Centre to provide an ICT workshop in May 2008, I picked up some great Math ICT resources from Judith Miller, one of the WQSB math teachers. Judith explained that while there are many ICT math resources out there, this particular resource (Manipulative Math, Utah State University) is popular in her Adult Ed classroom and provides a hands-on experience with her students. (Source: Judith Miller, Western Quebec School Board)