WorldWide Telescope is Microsoft's answer to Google Earth and Google Sky. It's pretty cool and does a lot of stuff that I don't understand but am sure someone interested in astronomy would love. I look at it and think about using the zooms of planets to have student calculate the size of some features knowing the scale. It's not utilizing the total power of the software, but it gets me in the door, makes it a cool activity for the students, and creates a little love to science in a math class. i can live with that!
A little dated, as I'm sure that the data is now skewed since the primaries are over, but still a good idea for showing calculating winners different ways.
Podcasts for simple shortcuts/tips for doing some simple math calculations. Mostly procedural but worth letting students listen to and use to develop their own.
This problem comprehension or schema knowledge is facilitated when the schema underlying a given text is used as a vehicle to translate the information in the text into a semantic representation. this would involve restating the problem, identifying the problem type (i.e. change), discerning relevant and irrelevant information, determining information that is needed for solution, and representing the problem as a diagram (Mayer, 1999).
Problem solution requires representing the problem as a number sentence or list of operations or identifying subgoals for multistep problems (i.e. strategic knowledge) and carrying out single or chains of calculations (i.e. procedural knowledge; Mayer 1999). Because additive problem structures (i.e. change, group, compare) involve a "family" (e.g. 3, 5, 8), connecting the number family to the problem structures is critical to problem solution (Van de Walle, 2004). Although procedural knowledge is important, it (is extremely limited unless it is connected to a conceptual knowledge base" (Prawat, 1989, p. 10).
SBI- Schema-based instructionGSI- General strategy instruction
SBI Components (some not necessarily all) a) SBI that used either number line diagrams to understand the semantic structure of compare word problems or schematic diagrams to solve a range of word problems. b) schema-induction instruction, c) SBI that explicitly taught for transfer by focusing on similar problem types, and d) SBI combined with metacognitive instruction.
different format, different question, unfamililiar vocabulary, irrelevent information, combining problem types, and mixing superficial features
Great site for having students calculate some proportions and develop proportional reasoning from a variety of contexts. Based in KY but can still connect to many students.
I know the Hubble is not new, but the addition of the new spectroscope adds new life to this old tool (yes it's almost 20 years old). If nothing else exposing students to the different pictures that Hubble generates would be an addition. If you can use the pictures to help develop math/science connections then what a powerful tool.
Take one picture a day and ask students to calculate how long it would take a human to get to that point in space traveling at 100,000 miles per hour (twice as fast a any human has ever gone) or at 1,000,000 miles per hour (way faster than we can currently travel)...
A collection of 279 Math Applets designed by International Education Software. Apps show individual concepts from multiple perspectives, usually conceptually from a diagram and graphically. Not very dynamic in that students wouldn't be able to manipulate multiple variables, but great to use with an interactive white board to show connections between representations and to confirm calculations/predictions.