Mathematics in a Digital World: Google, OneDrive & More

I’ve been giving a lot of thought on how to effectively integrate a 1:1 approach in my mathematics classroom next fall.  When my students are able to access technology on their personal device anytime, anywhere, what impact will that have on my teaching methods? I’ve been writing and creating hands-on resources, games, Foldables®, and activities for my students for over 20 years.  There have been many changes along the way.

I am both excited and anxious about this new outlet for creativity. I want my students to be engaged and challenged.  I wonder if this paradigm shift will improve learning or stifle their minds.  Will they just search for answers and click buttons? Will the world of mathematics education become a series of multiple choice test banks from publishers?  I think there are unlimited opportunities for discovery learning and so much more. Who will create these online classrooms for the next generation? And, most of all, when will teachers be trained? So much to ponder!

Being a proactive person, I’ve started to explore GOOGLE SLIDES.  I’ve made a handful of lessons and activities that my students and those of my colleagues have experimented with.  I’m beginning to see that these activities are a great brain break from the regular routine.  For example, the Digital Curve Sketching Card Sort activity only took about 10 – 15 minutes to complete.  My students were talking to each other as they reasoned through why the cards belonged in a certain order. They argued and discussed which was the graph of the  function, which was the first derivative graph, and finally the second derivative graph.

When we return to school for second semester, I will be teaching Trig Identities. It seems that each year students have such difficulty with the algebraic thinking related to proving identities.  My newest activity Proving Trig Identities, has eight identities with each step scrambled for students to sort and order. My rationale is that students will see the proper algebra and begin to think along the lines for proper procedures.  I plan to use this lesson before students are asked to process the steps on paper and pencil.  I believe that this will help their thinking processes and improve the depth of understanding for my current students.

There is a new world coming for students and educators around the world.  The focus should be on the positive possibilities.  How  can we enhance the delivery and exploration for our subject area?  We can explore and utilize the many tools already tried and tested like Geogebra, Desmos, and Wolfram Alpha. Now we have the ability to build our own ideas with the many platforms that are becoming available through Google School, Microsoft One Drive for Education, and Office 365. These learning management systems can track and store data to enhance our understanding of what our students know and streamline our paperwork.  But, the best use of these new tools will truly be in the creation of new lessons and methods to teach basic concepts in different ways.