Redesigning curriculum with embedded technology

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 13, 2008 at 6:33pm

I did this several years ago for our district--it was back in the Web 1.0 days so basically I matched district standards to websites that could be used for practice or enrichment. You can see what I did here. The standards are probably similar.

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Permalink Reply by Cary Harrod on March 13, 2008 at 6:48pm

We matched district standards to tech standards several years ago but essentially they are invisible. Not only do I want the tech standards to be connected to our district standards but I see this as an opportunity to embed some professional development in the process of redesigning the curriculum. I just don't know exactly how to go about doing it. We have already set up a wiki for the committee members to use for their work and it includes pages for digital resources. I just have this feeling that more can be done. Thanks for your suggestion, Nancy. I'm off to look at your link.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Tybursky on March 14, 2008 at 10:19pm

There are an enormous amount of Java applets that are fantastic in the math classroom. They demonstrate many geometric concepts and show change. I would suggest starting with NCTM's Illuminations and also Shodor. If you have SMART Boards in your district, the gallery they provide is great to use as "manipulatives" - there is also the "National Library of Virtual Manipulatives" which provides items to use in conjunction with the SMART Board. good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Shuchi Grover on March 15, 2008 at 7:43am

Perhaps some custom search engines for Math resources that I have created might help? You can find them here (on my blog).

Other than that, some other technology tools that I would suggest are Scratch (or Microworlds LOGO), Geometer SketchPad, use of animations and simulations such as those found in the foll. sites (I've included them in my custom search engines) -

http://clem.mscd.edu/~talmanl/MathAnim.html
http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/
http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/
http://nlvm.usu.edu/

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Martinez on March 17, 2008 at 9:29am

Cary,
Congrats on this very ambitious project!

There are many resources out there to rethink math curriculum using technology in the previous comments here to consider. I'd also consider using the Math Forum. It's a great place to find things to spice up the curriculum AND there's a teacher's section that's just excellent.

Also, to create some comfort for the teachers, I'd ask them to each focus on a project they've done in the past that's been successful, and then have the group brainstorm modifications to that project. Usually it takes teachers several years to perfect a project, so you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. You can subtlety push them beyond just translating it wholesale to Powerpoint.

You want to make sure that your technology use doesn't fall into one category of use. For example, I would consider many current uses of technology to be more about discussion and presentation. While a good thing to do, talking about math is different than doing math. Blogging about what you do in math class, presenting math Powerpoints, making movies about math, etc. tend to focus on verbal ability. Like I said, not a bad thing to develop, but it barely begins to tap the power of technology.

Allowing the kids to have access to programming languages, designing games, building simulations, even adapting 3d animation tools (like the free Google Sketchup) can add so much to a math curriculum. Designing games is very powerful - you might see if someone would like to be the "game guy/gal" and get involved in a very vibrant community of educators using game design to teach. Here's a blog post I did about the Australian community of teachers.

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Permalink Reply by Stu on March 20, 2008 at 12:05pm

Hi Cary!

Our district houses it's curriculum on our network. Any documents, resources, etc are easily attached within these folders of curriculum. So on a Word document, as group writes the curriculum, they can easily link to unitedstreaming files, pictures, worksheets, or starting this year, hopefully interactive whiteboard lessons. This helps a ton for teachers who aren't comfortable finding technology resources. All they need to do is click and git (get). If your district doesn't have their curriculum online, that would be the first step in my opinion...if it is online, linking great tech resources and ideas is easy. Hope that helps!

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