Ipad App for kindergarten through middle school math

BASE 10 BLOCKS

Hands On Math:

Base 10 Blocks is a virtual manipulative app that allows you to explore both whole number and decimal place value using the familiar base ten blocks. It also allows for addition and subtraction of numbers with and without regrouping. It is limited to 3 digit numbers from 100s through to hundredths. It works through simple dragging and dropping of block into a work space and the values are automatically generated as you build the numbers.

A useful feature is built in that allows for groups of smaller values to automatically transfer into the higher value accompanied by an arrow that shows where the values transfer to. (e.g. when you make 12 tens in the tens place, it will change 10 tens into a hundred and leave the remaining 2 tens intact). This works in the decimal format as well.

 I’m not suggesting we do away with the physical block usage as many younger mathematicians in training need to manipulate physical models. Where digital virtual manipulative excel is in instant feedback, quick turnaround of use, instant access and reuse and unlimited resources (we often run short of blocks in whole class settings, besides for 1,000 blocks they cost about $100, this app only cost $1.99.) Together with discussion with a teacher on a one to one or small group basis while manipulating the virtual blocks.

 I see this as a good tool for working with at risk students. I like that the app allows for the use of decimal place value as well, even though here is a school of thought that we should use different models for decimal place value. Me personally, I like to maintain the link between the base 10 system across whole and decimal numbers to show the consistent relationship. School students are eventually going to only be using the IPad in the classroom and physical textbooks with be no more. So if we start out in kindergarten teaching these type of 21st century skills then everyone benefits.

Using Hands-On Math: Base Ten Blocks students can develop the following important mathematical concepts:

• Place value concepts
• Regrouping in the ones, tens and hundreds places
• Basic operations: addition and subtraction
• Naming numbers
• Expanded notation
• Reading and writing numbers

Base Ten Blocks are a very useful way for student visualize images of numbers, intuitively understand place value and deepen their understanding of addition and subtraction. Use Base Ten Blocks to have students represent numbers, as well as read and write the numbers. Rules for regrouping can be difficult for children. Use Base Ten Blocks to illustrate regrouping by dragging and dropping blocks from one column to another.

These activities on this app have been developed for elementary and middle school age children and are arranged by order of grade level where the concepts are typically introduced.  As teachers we will want to decide what is the best sequence for using the materials with their particular group of students.  Each lesson is aimed at specific mathematical objectives including counting, representing numbers using the place value system, addition and subtraction with regrouping.  Each activity is meant to be a beginning.  Teachers will want to encourage the children to explore extensions of each activity with different examples.  Orally discussing each activity will help to foster higher level thinking. Hands-On Math: Base Ten Blocks is a starting point.  Learning should be fun and as students work with the app, hopefully this will help students and they will begin discussing, sharing and creatively exploring mathematics.
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Science and Technology Integrated in the Classroom

 

Meeting the needs of a diverse classroom of students has always been a challenge. Technology now allows you to differentiate instruction based on the learning style or instructional level of the students. Assign projects to students with a choice of how to demonstrate learning. Allow students to choose from technology-based products to create a movie, make a Prezi presentation or even design a website. Other students might use other means such as writing a traditional paper. Allowing for individual differences tends to help the non-traditional students achieve. In addition, investigate distance-learning courses that feature academically challenging courses available to gifted students with qualifying test scores.

However, there is much debate concerning the effects of using technology in mathematics instruction. In many traditional science classrooms, the teacher leads a large group demonstration of skills followed by individual practice. The students sit in rows watching the teacher as she demonstrates the procedure to be learned with a shift to student eyes intent on papers as they practice what the teacher has demonstrated (Dossey, Mullis, Linquist, & Chambers, 1988). Fortunately, this picture of a traditional science classroom is changing. Encouraged by the National Council of Teachers of Science, use of technology in the science classroom has increased, and technology-enhanced classrooms are becoming more prevalent in today's classrooms. Starting as early as pre-kindergarten and all the way into to college and beyond.

The positive effects of Science and technology instruction such as computer-mediated learning are becoming more prevalent in the Science classroom. Replacing “worksheets", with software that is one-on-one, self-paced, and provides immediate feedback can help remediate and can enhance student understanding. By doing these steps students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress.

 

 

Also, the teacher's role changes as well. The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting project goals and providing guidelines and resources, moving from student to student or group to group, providing suggestions and support for student activity. As students work on their technology-supported products, the teacher rotates through the room, looking over shoulders, asking about the reasons for various design choices, and suggesting resources that might be used. Project-based work (such as the City Building Project and the Student-Run Manufacturing Company) and cooperative learning approaches prompt this change in roles, whether technology is used or not. However, tool uses of technology are highly compatible with this new teacher role, since they stimulate so much active mental work on the part of students. Moreover, when the venue for work is technology, the teacher often finds him or herself joined by many peer coaches--students who are technology savvy and eager to share their knowledge with others.

 

 

Technology, when properly used as an integral part of the curriculum and the instructional approach, can be a very effective tool for improving and enhancing instruction and learning experiences in the content areas involving all students in complex, authentic tasks. The use of technology in the classroom can give all students a learning environment that allows discovery and creativity through the use of computer visualizations, such as modeling and simulations, and has the potential to dramatically change the way we view science and mathematics. Opportunities can range from achieving greater independence and maximizing productivity to connecting with the virtual communities across the world and sharing information and ideas. Technology can support the kind of student learning advocated by current educational reform. However, enabling students to benefit from such tools goes beyond the availability of technology in school systems. As Teachers must be ready and equipped to prepare and deliver instruction using new approaches which include technology, and hands-on and collaborative teaching.

In my classroom I will definitely be using the technology based approach. We have so many new ways of teaching science and learning skills. I have found out if you engage students in the activity then they well remember what they have done. I feel that it increases interest (and desire to learn for students) - when students get to use the latest technology to solve problems, they are more likely to be focused because they may feel they are using a new product other classrooms may not have yet (for example, the iPad). Second, it provides purpose for learning - everyday students go home from school and log onto their personal computers, both for study and play. Showing that computers can be used to learn provides a purpose for them beyond just gaming. Third, it can attach meaning to an ongoing lesson - one of the main technology lesson plans for teachers includes showing students how to set up personal e-mail accounts. By this exercise, teachers can bring light to something (e-mail) that can be used beyond just the current project. Fourth, it provides opportunities to perceive knowledge as being related, not isolated bits and seeing an activity pulled together on the screen, with all of the pieces revealed, may help some students with various learning styles be able to conceptualize the project clearly. Fifth, it allows for individual student differences - some students may know more about computers than others, but if an activity includes just learning basic skills, some students will get a refresher course, while the others will be learning the concepts for the first time. Computer interaction in the classroom allows for accounting for student differences. Last but certainly not least, it can affect students’ attitudes toward learning”: according to studies on Technology in the Elementary Classroom cited from Education.com. As in the first example, some students may view computer-based learning as cutting edge and believe that their school is using the latest technology. This alone may inspire some students to stay focused.

 

When I incorporate science and technology into my classroom lessons I have found that EducationWorld.com offers many resources for “Technology Integration Made Easy.” “Used properly, technology can be a tool for teachers as well as for students,” the Web site said. There are many science and technology lesson planning Web sites out there to help you plan an activity for your classroom. I have found the following Web sites very helpful.

Edutopia.org

Freetech4teachers.com

EducationWorld.com

Glencoe.com

Edzone.net

You just have to remember the importance of technology in education cannot be stressed enough. Technology in the education field has made the process of learning and knowledge sharing a more interactive and pleasurable experience. Perhaps the greatest impact on education is the change in perspective. As educators we need to think globally to encourage our students to go beyond one's comfort zone and reach for the stars.

 

Resources:

Dossey, J. A., Mullis, I.V.S., Lindquist, M.M., & Chambers, D.L. (1988). The mathematics report card: Are we measuring up? Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service

 

The importance of technology in classrooms | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8537484_importance-technology-classrooms.html#ixzz2NRPuUNeK Retrieved on March 7, 2013.    

 

 

Math and Technology Integrated In The Classroom

We live in a world of expanding technology and a dependence on technology like never before. The powers and abilities of technology are constantly improving thus as teachers in the 21st century we need to embrace technology in our classrooms. As teachers we not only need to be keeping up with this technology we need to be teaching our students how to appropriately and effectively use all of these great tools. Technology should be present in our classrooms to enhance the learning experience of our young students. While textbooks and like materials should not be overlooked, they should rather been seen as one of many components that are used to contribute to a students overall understanding.

Technology has revolutionized the field of education. The importance of technology in schools cannot be ignored. In fact, with the onset of computers in education, it has become easier for teachers to impart knowledge and for students to acquire it. The use of technology has made the process of teaching and learning enjoyable. Researchers have also found that games and simulations may help students learn by helping them visualize processes they otherwise could not see, such as the flow of an electron or the construction of a city. Games can also promote higher-order thinking skills, such as collaboration, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork (MIT, 2009; National Academies Press 2011).

Computers offer an interactive audio-visual medium. Prezi presentations and animation software can be used to present information in an interactive way. Owing to the audio-visual effects, this way of teaching invites greater interest from students. the method is equally helpful for teachers. Projectors and screens facilitate simultaneous viewing of information by a large number of students. Addressing systems using microphones an speakers make it possible for teachers to reach a number of students simultaneously.

At-risk students show substantial improvement when technology is introduced into their curriculum. Experts believe the reason for this is that technology provides educators with a way to individualize and customize the curriculum to match learners’ developmental needs and also provide a nonthreatening and motivating environment for repetitious learning tasks. (Valdez. G, McNabb, M., Foertsch, M., Anderson ,M., Hawkes, M. and Raack, L. 2000).

Technology resources have made possible a variety of teaching and learning strategies to help address the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. These include using virtual manipulatives, fostering mathematical problem solving, allowing representation of mathematical principles, implementing data-driven curricula, supporting math-related communications, and motivating skill building and practice.

One of the most common questions the students in math classes ask is what are we going to do with this stuff? Well, there's going to be oftentimes which you'll be asked that, but here's some ways for you to really think about that. One of the things to consider is the applications. Whatever ideas you're studying, think about where the concepts are used, what kind of areas are going to be using what it is that you're be studying from day to day. But the important thing here is, see if you can come up with a connection between the concepts and the students. Money is something that everyone as well as students can relate to. The more you can relate to money, perhaps the more successful that you'll be. But if you start each lesson by making a real world connection, you might have a chance to get the students to relate to what it is that you're about to study. And lastly, if the concepts are not going to be related to what you're studying right away, then give them a long term picture as to where they'll be using this in the near future.

Another way that technology can be successfully integrated in the classroom, especially for mathematics, is to make real world connections. Students learn much easier when they can relate information to something they already know. For example, teachers can make short videos using Voki, or Animoto, in order to introduce a topic that is more visual, and a real life scenario. By making these connections to the students this will also make the content of the lessons seem more meaningful to them.

In the classroom I will  use technology will entice the students with math and learning skills. Smart board is a great way to get students engaged in the activity. If you get students involved in the process of math then they will remember. Old Chinese Proverb: I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand. Isn't that is what we want our students to do? We want them to get involved in the process of learning and understanding.

Technology in the classroom can be gauged from the fact that it offers an experience to students similar to the working environment that one sees in offices. In technology savvy classroom a teacher acts as a facilitator who sets project goals fro the students and provides them the necessary resources and guidelines to reach those goals. The student themselves make decisions with regards to design choices, the information they want to use and display, the resources with they will use. Besides these days most students may even know more than the teachers themselves. So, there is a constant exchange of information between the students and the teachers. By using computers and technology on a daily basis, this helps the students in developing an understanding of the various computer tools and software. This kind of education prepares the students and makes it easier for them to learn about the various software applications in the future. This very well defines the importance of technology in the classroom.

The importance of technology in education cannot be stressed enough. The introduction of technology in the educational field has made the process of learning and knowledge sharing, a more interactive and pleasurable experience. Perhaps, the greatest impact of technology on education is the change in perspective. The paradigm shift in thinking from local to global can be attributed to technology.





References:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Moving Learning Games Forward: Obstacles, Opportunities, and Openness,” 2009.

NCREL-Published Research—Source: Computer-Based Technology and Learning: Evolving Uses and Expectations, Valdez, Gilbert, McNabb, Mary, Foertsch, Mary, Anderson, Mary, Hawkes, Mark, and Raack, Lenaya, 2000, www.ncrel.org/tplan/cbtl/toc.htm

Old Chinese Proverb. 1996 AIMS Education Foundation.ISBN: 1-881431-63-0

National Academies Press, “Learning Science Through Computer Games and Simulations,” 2011.