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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Technology in the Classroom with Calculators and Probes

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 above function. I don't know if this is physics, precalculus or calculus. However it is classified it will expose students to the fact that there are various attachments to calculators that allow them to directly observe physical quantities. It seems like students could use Newton's equation to deduce the outside temperature by observing how their liquid's temperature changes.

It would be cool to see a demonstration of something like: https://mathpix.com/handwriting-recognition

Because, for example:

It's something that I have noticed when I have classes where exams are given in handwritten format. In those cases, the examination itself increases retention. Others have observed this phenomenon in similar contexts.

1) https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/writing-by-hand-may-increase-brain-connectivity-rcna135880#:~:text=Health%20news-,Writing%20by%20hand%20may%20increase%20brain%20connectivity%20more%20than%20typing,may%20improve%20learning%20and%20memory.

2) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evidence-based-living/202402/writing-by-hand-is-good-for-your-brain

3) https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945/full

4) https://www.washington.edu/news/blog/uw-prof-handwriting-engages-the-mind/

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