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: Documentary Storm contains hundreds of catergorized on-line video documentaries

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

Quick overview: Documentary Storm (www.documentarystorm.com) is a website that has categorized hundreds of on-line video documentaries found across the web. Simply browse, click, and play!

How does this site work? You can search for videos by keyword or browse through the different categories. Categories include biography, science, crime, health, history, art, society, war, biology, politics, the universe, etc..

What works best? I find this site works best when you browse through the different categories instead of searching by keyword. For example, if you were teaching a world history course and searched for “ancient greeks” you may not find much. On the other hand, if you were to browse the history category you may stumble upon an interesting documentary on engineering ancient empires, which may be just as interesting and pertinent to your world history class!

How can this be used in the classroom: Documentaries can be used to start a class discussion or used as a source of inspiration for a written essay or class project. If you have a digital projector in your classroom, documentaries can be screened in class. If students all have regular access to computers at home, you can even assign a documentary to be viewed for homework. (Source: Lise Demers, Place Cartier Adult Education Centre, Lester B. Pearson School Board)

Important notes: The documentaries on this site come from YouTube, Google, Megavideo, Vimeo, or a variety of other video sharing sites. Since some of these sites may be blocked in your school, always test it in your actual classroom (or use an offline solution like keepvid) before showing to your class! For copyright concerns, please view the disclaimer on the Documentary Storm website.

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

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

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

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

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: WebMath – A math calculator with a twist!

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

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: Calorie Calculator

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

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: The Periodic Table of Videos

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

Quick overview: The entire Periodic Table of Elements in video format.

What does it do? The Periodic Tables of Videos (http://www.periodicvideos.com) is a great little site that will allow your students to learn more about each element in the Periodic Table in video format. This means that each element can be clicked on and will be accompanied by a short video file explaining its properties.

Important note: By default, the videos on this site are streamed (i.e. – broadcasted) from the YouTube website. As YouTube is blocked at most school boards, these video files may be blocked too. If this the case in your centre, an alternate link is available so that you can bypass YouTube to view the videos at: http://www.periodicvideos.com/nyt/index.htm

ICT Tip: Sparknotes study guides (aka Coles Notes)

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

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: 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: 3D Visible Human Body

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

Quick overview: A website that allows your students to explore the human body in full 3D.  As of May 2009, this site has started charging a fee to access the models.  However, a 7-day free trial is available and the “head region” demo is still free to view.

What does it do and how can I use it in my class? The Visible Body site (http://www.visiblebody.com) allows you and your class to explore human anatomy from the inside out with full 3D rotations! This site requires a PC and Internet Explorer to function. This site will not work with a Macintosh computer or Firefox web browser. (Source: Vince Jansen (LEARN) Cool Tools Duel workshop)