Google Earth is a really fun place to play and explore. I discovered some kmz files a while back that I thought might be useful to teach some math concepts. I had GE installed on all the laptops in my room and placed the kmz file on our school server(simplest way for me). The students just had to click on the file and it would open to the placemarks created in the file. I had them write the formula for the shape, the dimensions measured with metric units and their solution. There was some discussion about why the answers they were getting were not exactly the same. A screenshot video taken with Jing.
Here is the link to the Screenshot movie done in Jing. Cannot seem to make embed show properly. http://screencast.com/t/wesuCI5Jo
The kmz file can be downloaded here if you want to try it out. There are files here also. And here are my bookmarks relating to Google Earth .
It seems to be a reoccurring theme here on my blog, but the students were very engaged during the activity. Once they got the hang of navigating through the bookmarks (they were quicker than me!)they worked diligently on their assignment. The results of the unit test on perimeter and area weren't as good as I had expected. The retention of formulas, even after deriving them using cut up pieces of bristol board, the GE activities, and textbook assignments. I'll have to add something else into the mix next year, any suggestions?
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Google Earth and Math
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3 comments:
A very cool activity--no wonder the students were engaged! Thanks for sharing this.
I just came across this quote and it made me think of your post--you had asked if there were any suggestions on what to change re: your area and perimeter lessons. Here's the quote:
"Little true learning takes place from experience alone. The must be a conscious effort to build understanding from the experience, which requires reflection, abstraction and testing the abstractions." I found the quote at Clive on Learning by Clive Shepherd. I wasn't sure from the post whether the quote came from The art of changing the brain by James E Zull (Stylus, 2002)or from David Kolb's 1984 experiential learning model.
I don't know if you have a reflection and connection portion to your lessons, but thought I'd mention this. I really like the activities you've described (bristol board derivations, GE activity.)
Thank you Claire for the quote. I really need to work on my relective self, I appreciate the reminder. I do find it difficult to make the time for focused reflection, although I know it is important to my professional development. Success is a difficult thing to measure in activities like these, I don't feel just being able to do well on a written test is the sole measure of success, but just having a student feel successful and excited about learning is worthwhile. Although my job is to teach the standards. It really depends on what hat I put on when I reflect on a lesson. I guess I always feel it could have gone better.
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