Solve Me is a free website which provides a few different kinds of puzzles including mobile-type puzzles, riddle puzzles, and sudoku-type puzzles. In class, we focused on the one called Mobiles. Mobiles is a place to practice solving equations using balanced diagrams. Here is an example of one of the puzzles:
Some students find it much easier to solve equations visually than through the typical algebraic equation, which in this case would be x + y = 3y. We know that y = 2, so we get x + 2 = 3(2), which works out to x = 4. Many students struggle with this type of equation, but would be able to solve the equation logically through the above diagram by reasoning that if the heart is 2, then the right side equals 6. The left side has 2 from the heart, so therefore since the scale is equal, the trapezoid must be 4. It allows students to work out the problem whichever way they feel more comfortable doing!
We were also introduced to another website called Desmos. This website is typically known as a graphing calculator, but it also has an amazing teacher section where there are many different activities to use with the class, but not only that, it allows you to actually build your own activities! Teachers do have to pay for these capabilities, but it seems well worth it! In class we played an activity called Polygraph, which was basically "Guess Who?" for math.
Students navigate to the Desmos website and put in a code provided by the teacher. This connects the student to a unique session with other students in their class. The website pairs people up randomly and they play a game of Polygraph. One student chooses a parabola, and the other is shown 16 parabolas (including the correct one) and has to ask "yes or no questions" in order to figure out which parabola is the one their partner chose. This allows the class to learn proper terminology for parabolas while having fun doing it. I loved this activity! Here is an example of the game being played:
I honestly never realized there were such creative ways to teach math! When I learned math in high school, it was pretty much all lecture format (the internet was around, but wasn't used to anywhere near the capacity it is now) and, while I actually enjoyed that way of learning, if these activities were available it would have truly enhanced my learning. I also realize that for some students, these activities may be the reason they continue on in math - the activities help them understand!
In the past, technology in the math classroom was generally limited to calculators. But now, there are just so many choices. It's a wonderful way to help students learn and practice math without making it feel like they're learning and practicing math.
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog on Solve Me and Desmos. As technology keeps increasing, we continue to see it increase in the classroom as well. I believe that technology is a great way to cater to all learning styles as it can make the concepts more tangible. For instance, with Desmos the user can move around the graph that they have plotted and it gives it a more tangible feel which can engage the learner and make their experience more influential. As graphing calculators are useful in the classroom, Desmos can do similar operations but allow the user to drag and move the graph. A great way to use Desmos is on a SmartBoard so the students can physically drag the graph around to further their understanding. I believe this is a great tool especially for kinaesthetic learners who need the physical connection in order to get the best out of their learning. In my future teaching, I plan on using these interactive ways to learn math and hopefully move away from the fear of mathematics.