Tag Archives: Use Appropriate Tools Strategically

Educational Technology

Starting with Sketchpad Activities on Day One in Grades 2-5

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As an 18-year veteran teacher in Philadelphia public schools, my initial reaction when I first saw Sketchpad was “This would have completely changed the way I taught geometry.” I phrase it differently today: “This would have completely changed the way students experience mathematics.” a perspective that differs in two important details. First, I now understand that the … Continue Reading ››
Conferences

A Swan Song for Sweet Karen Coe

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Today I leave for my first proper vacation in a year and a half. Last time I took such a vacation, Key sold its high school textbooks to Kendall Hunt and transformed from a publishing company to a educational technology company. This time I just hope to survive the end of the world. 🙂 Before … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology

Pass the Candy! Sweetening the Study of Probability

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As part of our guest blog series, we bring you another post from Kathryn Shafer. A former middle school and high school math teacher, Kathy is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Ball State University, Indiana. She's done a variety of … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology

Exploring the Law of Large Numbers with TinkerPlots

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As part of our guest blog series, we bring you a post from Kathryn Shafer. A former middle school and high school math teacher, Kathy is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Ball State University, Indiana. She's done a variety of work for Key, including presenting webinars, moderating online courses, and … Continue Reading ››
Math Software

Functions Come Alive in a Precalculus Classroom

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Ken Gordon has written our first in a series of guest blog posts from people working with Key Curriculum products in schools. Ken teaches Precalculus and Calculus in an accelerated program at Sisler High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He has been using The Geometer’s Sketchpad since first seeing it at an NCTM conference in 2004. … Continue Reading ››
Math Software

What’s the Appropriate Role for the Teacher when using Computer Games?

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I had the privilege this year of participating in the CADRE Fellows Program of NSF's Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, and met a number of colleagues in the program whose projects, like our Data Games project, are exploring the classroom benefits of computer-game- or simulation-based-learning. (In this post, I’ll refer to technology-oriented … Continue Reading ››
Math Software

Preparing Tomorrow’s Data Scientists Through Data Games

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According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, "Big Data’s Problem: Little Talent," the technology industry faces a major dearth of employees with strong data analysis skills. The article quotes a 2011 study by McKinsey:
A significant constraint on realizing value from Big Data will be a shortage of talent, particularly of people with deep expertise … Continue Reading ››
Math Software

Branding isn’t about math. Are you sure about that?

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At around Pi-hour on Friday afternoon we successfully launched our new website. The night before (the night of the big storm for Bay Area folks), Andres and I were out with a dear former colleague and I mentioned I was going to blog about our new branding, new website, and new name. She said, “You … Continue Reading ››