Course Description

The focus of this course will be on the use of technology in teaching and learning mathematics in grades PreK-5. We shall review the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS) as they apply to the teaching and learning of elementary school mathematics and also study the Technology Principle of the NCTM Principles and Standards 2000. Both of these documents provide guidance for the appropriate use of technology as a tool for learning and teaching.

Activities will include the following:

Reading articles on appropriate use of technology with elementary students
Reviewing a selection of commercial software
Searching for and testing software (applets and applications) on the Web

Click here for possible links

Using the web as a source of information for students’ mathematical investigations
Learning to use the following software tools for exploring elementary mathematics:

JavaBars (developed by Barry Biddlecomb and John Olive at UGA)
The Geometers’ Sketchpad
MSWLogo (a free version of the Logo programming language for Microsoft Windows)
Probability Explorer (developed by Hollylynne Stohl, NC State)
TableTop Jr. (developed by TERC and available from SunBurst)
TesselMania
SimCalc’s MathWorlds (developed by Jim Kaput and Jeremy Roschelle, UMASS-Dartmouth & Stanford)

Developing appropriate activities for use with for your students.

Preliminary Schedule

(Subject to change as necessary!)

Week One

Day 1: Getting Started

Introduction to the course; discussion of focus and goals for the course.
Distribution of text resources and articles. Discussion of required readings.
Download and installation of Java Runtime Environment for Windows on lab computers.
Download and installation of JavaBars on lab computers.
Free exploration of JavaBars using the User Manual.

Day 2: Whole Number Activities with JavaBars

Discussion of articles on TIMA software.
Using JavaBars to develop whole number relations ( connected numbers ).
Situations and activities involving multiplication.
Ways to model and explore Place Value .
Activities to encourage strategic reasoning with whole number arithmetic.
Discussion of Technology Principle from NCTM’s Principles and Standards.

Day 3: Fractions with JavaBars

Discussion of article from Teaching Children Mathematics.
Activities to develop part-whole relations.
Sharing bars among friends.
Making common fractions using a unit fraction bar.
Advancing to improper fractions.
Making the whole starting with a fraction bar.
Fractions of Fractions.
“Equivalent” fractions.
Making any fraction from any other fraction.

Day 4: Reviewing, Comparing & Creating

Review of what we did with JavaBars – discussion of affordances and constraints.
Comparison of our use of JavaBars to two commercial software products: Millie’s MathHouse and Fraction Attraction.
Initial design of an activity with JavaBars appropriate for your students.
Ideas for introducing JavaBars to other teachers in your school.
Discussion of first elementary mathematics activity from NETS.
Homework: Work through the NETS activities for elementary students.

Week Two

Day 1: Introducing Logo

Download and install MSWLogo on lab computers.
Introduction to Turtle Graphics: Moving the Turtle around the screen.
Play the Robot Game with partners to get to a specific location in the room.
Drive the turtle through a maze.
Simple programming to create geometric shapes.
Programming to create mirror images of simple shapes.
Create procedures for “Pattern Blocks.”
Combine shapes to make designs.
Homework: Articles to read on using logo with young children.

Day 2: Mathematics with Logo

Discuss readings.
Estimate angle turns and distances by directing the turtle towards targets.
Define big turtle steps to use multiplicative relations among turtle trips.
Introduce negative numbers as BACK moves of the turtle.
Define “mystery” functions that output numbers given an input.
Challenge a partner to guess your function.
Design an activity with Logo appropriate for your students.

Day 3: Introducing The Geometer’s Sketchpad

Nathan’s first use of GSP: What is a triangle?
Drawing versus Constructing in GSP.
Constructing shape tools in GSP.
Using shape tools to create designs.
How is this different from Logo?

Day 4: Further explorations with GSP

Transformations with GSP
Using Reflection and Trace to create Mirror Writing.
Paper Doll Dancing in GSP.
Animation with GSP.
Exploring area concepts with GSP.
Homework: Design an activity appropriate for your students using GSP.

Week 3

Investigations with Probability Explorer.
Exploring Web software and mathematical resources.

Week 4

Introduction to TesselMania.
Experiments with SimCalc’s MathWorlds.
Reflecting back and making plans for your own use of technology.