Tag Archives: Web Sketchpad

Introducing Web Sketchpad at the 2021 NCTM Annual Meeting

NCTM’s Virtual 2021 Annual Meeting ran from April 21 through May 1, and in Session 299 Daniel Scher, Karen Hollebrands, and I presented an on-demand video workshop to introduce Web Sketchpad (WSP). Even if you weren't able to attend the conference, you can still take … Continue Reading ››

Visual Models for Adding and Subtracting Fractions

How can we visualize the process of adding or subtracting fractions with unlike denominators? The Web Sketchpad model below (and here)  offers tools for representing fraction addition and subtraction on a number line as well as a parameter (called "divisions") that allows you to find a like denominator through visual inspection rather than calculation.

[iframe … Continue Reading ››

Constructing the Pi-Petal Rose

When I was introduced to radian measure in high school, I knew just one thing: How to convert between radians and degrees. Had you asked me to illustrate a radian on a circle or to explain why radian measure was useful, I would have been stumped.

In this post, I'll describe a Web Sketchpad activity … Continue Reading ››

Tweaking the Expanding Circle Construction

In last month's blog post, I described a parabola construction technique dating back to the work of Persian polymath  Ibn Sina  (c. 970 – 1037). After I published the post, my colleague Scott noted that my construction could be more robust to allow for parabolas that are downward facing as well as upward facing. … Continue Reading ››