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3D Printer and more Technology in the Classroom (plus the last Step II lesson of the semester)

 The week before Thanksgiving was pretty busy as it usually does as the semester draws to a close with all of its final presentations and final exams. I think that the first thing I want to talk about this week is my final lesson for Step II since I will be writing 5E lesson plans to close out the semester. Unlike the two previous lessons, my time management was poor. I made the strategic decision in the middle of the lesson to forego the evaluation I had prepared since our statistical examination that closes Step II will look at one evaluation in particular. The lesson was productive for my own growth. Upon reflection, I realized why my time management was so bad. On the surface, it looked like I had just allowed students too much time in the exploration section of the lesson. Looking more closely, I realized that I should have stopped the exploration section. Many students gave answers that indicated that either the lesson section's instructions were unclear or that the students ...
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Breakout Rooms and Technology to Aid Engagement

 This week we worked through a "Break Out Room" activity in class and then spent the last class of the week designing our own. It made me think about the TED Talk we started the semester with. I feel like part of an educator's role in society is helping kids stay on the right path. The educators in that TED Talk highlighted how absenteeism is one of the strongest predictors of bad outcomes for young people. In this light, it seems like lessons that combine learning and problem-solving in a fun way keep students engaged and in the classroom. I think that our Step 3 learning would be greatly enhanced with peer-reviewed studies that highlight the effectiveness of these lesson types. Armed with that information, I feel like educators will be more likely to embrace novel teaching methods and unique efforts like breakout rooms. I know that when my group worked on them, they were a challenge, although sometimes the challenge arose from the puzzling nature of the question rather ...
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Technology in the Classroom (Part II) and a Growth Mindset

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 This week we looked at some of the real world applications that are available to on the TI INspire calculator. We looked at 4 and each group got to do one of them. My group got the pendulum lab. We got a motion sensor like this: https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-PWB-1L1-Motion/dp/B00LGNUGUE/ref=asc_df_B00LGNUGUE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693276021741&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11727828872040461247&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011420&hvtargid=pla-570086422041&psc=1&mcid=671d50a168613a4a99f920a50c762d16&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693276021741&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11727828872040461247&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011420&hvtargid=pla-570086422041&psc=1 The device measures the distance and speed of an object relative to its position. It plugs into the TI calculator and the data is ...
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Technology in the Classroom with Calculators and Probes

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This week we looked at some regression analysis much like the M&M activity that we did last week. We concluded the week with a cool technology exercise that used a probe which connects to a graphing calculator. The type of probe that is something like: https://www.vernier.com/product/easytemp/?srsltid=AfmBOopc2plpxeTLT4cvApLfJZOq9H3AYvPMdAQnBWNQHHtJ1NJpakyh The probe connects to the calculator which has been loaded with some proprietary software that has various functions. One allows the probe to transmit temperature measures to the calculator.  It allows students to study Newton's Law of Cooling. There is a good worksheet that examines this observation:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lLW4ukiSi1J7jUOpmpJuwvx-tF9B6nhK/view?usp=sharing Where Newton's law of cooling states that:  In any case, it is nice to see how technology in calculators has changed. We did not have a chance to complete the lab but the calculator did display a change in temperature that follows the ...
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A cool classroom activity and AP Stats

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 This past week we had a couple of classes where we discussed the use of mathematical models in our classrooms. We also talked about where (Lowe's) to get large whiteboard panels that can be sawn into smaller whiteboards for class activities. We've used them throughout the semester and I like the way that they work. Because each group's board is usually left in a visible place in the classroom, it gives everyone a chance to look at what classmates did and assess their own ideas in comparison (I found myself doing this a bunch during the M&M activity). It's something that I think a classroom can benefit from and I hope it aids in active learning classrooms. So, back to the classroom modeling exercise. Each group had to estimate the number of M&M's in an 89 gram bag. We had digital scales and recorded the weight of M&M's for 1-14 pieces. Then we used Excel and we got a linear fit for our data and used that to get our estimate. There were 99 pieces in t...
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Models in Mathematics and Computer Modules

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 As a future math teacher, one of the most valuable strategies in your teaching will be the use of models to explain mathematical ideas. For example, this week a UTeach faculty member had us work through an exercise on Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion. The activity is versatile; it could be adapted for science teacher by allowing students to make their own measurements of the temperatures of water at various states using both a Celsius and Fahrenheit thermometer. Students would then fill in tables of associated values and attempt to deduce a relationship. Likewise, this activity could be adapted into a statistics classroom where students use linear regression to account for measurement error in their attempt to create a best guess for the relationship between the two temperature scales. An item that stood out for me was the incorporation of physical measurements into equations. That is, slopes contained the proper measure in the numerator and denominator as well as the constant term. ...
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Lesson Planning and Artificial Intelligence

This week we investigated the uses of AI in lesson plan creation. I was already familiar with ChatGPT but in Step 3 class, we were shown a version of AI that is designed with educators in mind. The name of the site is MagicSchoolAI, which I link for posterity: https://app.magicschool.ai/tools It has a large number of tools that create 5E plans. It unpacks standards and has a large assortment of tools for teachers. In our class assignment for the week, we had to use it to create a sketch of a 5E plan based on a standard and use Bloom's taxonomy. It sort of feels overwhelming when looking at all the things that it has available. Looking through all of it, I thought that the time perusing all of it could be used to find better resources written by humans who had already taught the content. I think that teachers who have been at it for a long time would benefit and because of their experience, they would be better suited to knowing what suggestions work and those that don't. When I...
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