Virtually Manipulating

It is amazing how many wonderful tools there are for teaching math, and a bit pathetic how much teachers dismiss them from their instruction. I have not only complete my own schooling in math, but I have also helped out with and observed many other math classes and tutoring sessions. It continues to baffle me, all of the great tools and manipulative that would make learning math so much more accessible for students. This week, in class, we worked with a mira. This is a plastic square that is used to reflect lines of symmetry. I have witnessed many students, and also myself, struggle through geometry, reflections, and lines of symmetry. This tool could have come in handy in these situations. The mira makes it easy to see what is actually happening, versus simply learning the line of symmetry rule. This week we also looked at gapminder.com. This is an amazing website that allows students to look at math through an interdisciplinary lens. Getting students to look at math with a different mindset allows the students to experience real life application.

One question that arose for me this week was in regards to equally sharing virtual manipulatives, when they are not accessible to every student at the same time. In my main placement, there are only 5 student computers with limited space around each one. I have talked with the teacher about how she evenly splits up computer usage between all students in a fair way. After having played around with the manipulatives, I realize that each student can gain something important from this tool. However, it is obvious that some students require more differentiated instruction and benefit more from virtual manipulatives. My question becomes, how does a teacher prioritize who gets to use virtual math manipulatives (i.e. the iPod touch and computer) when supply is limited? Is it more important that all students get an even turn using the virtual tools or that certain students, who would benefit more from them, get more opportunities to use them?

There were two great tools that we looked at this week that are going into my box of teaching tools. The mira is a great tool for helping students with reflections and lines of symmetry. Should I get a job in a middle school, this will be one tool I would invest in. The gapminder.com website is another great resource. This is not the first week we have used this website and each time we looked at, we did so with different objectives. I can foresee using this tool in a number of different tools. I am also confident that my students will find this website as fascinating as I did when I first played with it. Overall, another great week and an ever expanding teaching tool box.