Standard 3 | Application of Technology in Instruction
The competent teacher will apply learning technologies that support instruction in their grade level and subject areas. He or she must plan and deliver instructional units that integrate a variety of software, applications, and learning tools. Lessons developed must reflect effective grouping and assessment strategies for diverse populations.
Artifacts:
Motion Detector Activity
GSP Activity
Graphing Calculator Activity
PowerPoint Presentation
The first artifact for this standard was created in a summer internship teaching students of various grade levels from middle school to high school in the South side of Chicago. The lesson is aimed at students learning Algebra, and involves the use of motion detectors to explore the notions of distance over time and slope as it applies to linear equations. Using the motion detectors, I had the students get into groups in different areas of the classroom and have them go through a worksheet I prepared that let them walk in real time and either form a graph from instruction or mimic a graph that was already made. The students had a lot of fun with this activity, and were able to have a hands on experience learning about slope.
The second artifact is Geometer's Sketchpad activity designed for students to discover various properties of circles and proportions. The third activity is a regression activity for students to use calculators to find the best fit line and best fit parabola for a given set of data. The third artifact is a presentation used for a forensics unit during my STEM internship on the relationship between distance, speed, and time.
The motion detector activity demonstrates my ability to instruct and plan a lesson using technology, specifically motion detectors, and using it to support the instruction given to a mathematics secondary education class. I used this lesson to promote active learning for late middle school and early high school Algebra classes. The students were allowed to manipulate graphs in order to visualize what slope actually meant. I believe that my students gained a deeper understanding of slope and were able grasp the successive material with more ease. I also grouped the students in three or four in order to promote collaborative learning, making sure each student got a chance to use the device. I walked around and assessed their understanding, reviewed their worksheets, as well as help them use the devices.
In the future, I plan on incorporating motion detectors into various lessons that involve graphing and slope in Algebra. I also plan on incorporating various technologies, such as Geometer's Sketchpad, Geogebra, Graphing Calculators, and Powerpoint Presentations to demonstrate various math concepts and engage students. These technologies have helped me create and interesting hands on lesson that students really enjoy.