Report from the 2007 NCTM Annual Meeting
Atlanta, Georgia
March 2007
The Geometer's Sketchpad featured prominently at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 85th Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Key and KCP Technologies Sketchpad staff made several presentations; material from those talks is available below. Information on the NCTM meeting of the Sketchpad User Group is also available.
Featured Sketchpad Presentations
Spinning Around: Using Sketchpad and a FerrisAbstract: This research session considered how dynamic, Sketchpad-mediated representations, when focused on functional relationships, variational behaviors, and symbolic propositions, affect the development of students' prealgebraic thinking in grades 3–6. Interaction with Sketchpad activities, videos of classroom application, and briefings from project researchers and teachers grounded participants' discussion of open research questions. |
Discrete Mathematics and Dynamic GeometryAbstract: What do the continuous shapes of Dynamic Geometry have to do with topics in with static, discrete mathematics? It turns out—lots! In this talk we explore how Sketchpad software activities can motivate deep student insight into diverse, discrete topics in early mathematics (fractions), elementary number theory (multiples, factors, prime numbers, GCDs, Fibonacci numbers), algorithms, recurrence relations, and Boolean or binary logic. See the talk summary, with downloadable materials. |
Modeling and Exploring with Multiple Representations Using SketchpadAbstract: This talk highlights ways in which Sketchpad helps students reason across multiple representations. Examples relating to fractions, decimals, perimeter, volume, and slope showcase Sketchpad's ability to marry visual images with tabular and numerical displays.Presenters: Rhea Irvine, Daniel Scher |
Sketchpad User Group
The NCTM Sketchpad User Group featured several stations at which Sketchpad presenters spoke informally about the work they were presenting in sessions and workshops during this year's annual meeting.
Pass the MouseAbstract: Teach inverse trigonometric functions like never before. Using a wireless mouse and a data projector (or a Smart Board), you can engage students in Sketchpad-based alternative assessments of inverse trig functions. Discover how the wireless mouse assessment strategy can be adapted to explore several other math concepts. |
Forensics with SketchpadAbstract: Whether it's a robbery, burglary, or murder, there's something students find intriguing about solving a mystery. Explore how you can use Sketchpad to engage your students in forensic investigations while learning algebra and geometry. Math and technology become the tools your students will need to crack the case. |
Students' GSP Animations: A Different Way of Thinking About Proof?Abstract: A long-time goal of a geometry course has been to help kids think differently, creatively, and logically. Using GSP animations and presentations is an interesting and challenging vehicle for accomplishing this goal. We spend a lot of time thinking about proof—both formal and informal. Let me plant a seed about a different, fun way to get students thinking about this. |
Sketchpad TrigonometryAbstract: Using Sketchpad, a trigonometry unit of instruction can be motivated by using a real life investigation. From a Ferris wheel, the topics of right triangles, graphing, and the unit circle naturally follow. In addition, Sketchpad can be used to investigate: radian measure, law of sines, law of cosines, and more! |
Using Sketchpad to Make City ScapesAbstract: Model how to make a 2-D perspective drawing of various things like buildings, malls, airports, or towns. |
Geometry Up-Close, Long Ago, Far Away, and Here-and-NowAbstract: We'll tour recent Sketchpad student work on the theme of changing scale across time and space. We begin with some work from the USA on the Euclidean GCD, an algorithmic number theory jewel that, when viewed in its original geometric context, offers a startling portrait of irrational numbers. We follow a Croatian student project as it uses linear algebra to extrapolate characteristics of early human skull morphology across millenia of evolutionary development, and wind up with a variety of student projects from the USA focusing on the relation of the sun to the earth, as seen first on a Mercator map, then from a point on the globe, and finally from far outside the solar system. |