I liked what Carrie said about designing in the classroom keeping in mind universal interface design principles. This makes a lot of sense especially when designing 'explorations' in math and science.
Robin made a good point that how I believe people learn, will determine how I teach so that people can learn.
What questions do you have and what do you want to learn more about?
Going back to what Robin said about Theoretical frameworks and Pedagogical frameworks, I had hoped that this course would open a window on current cognition research and pedagogical models for the applicaton of the research, in the context, of course, of technologies more current than markers, whiteboard, and DVD players. We have covered a lot of ground in the course so far, but I don't have a sense that I am any closer to a framework in my mind that will allow me to utilize all these ideas with my students (at least not without a lot of trial and error).
Here's a 1997 example of the things I'd like to explore more - Educational Technology's Effect on Models of Instruction . A more contemprary version of this that will tie all the loose ends together.
What applications do you see to classroom practice based on what you learned?
I was impressed with the response time of the motion sensors ($100) we attached to the TI graphing calculators. Jim and I used them to measure a falling object. I wanted to see if they could be used to find the acceleration due to gravity (2nd derivative of distance), and for the students to then see if it was the same or not for a range of objects.
Although we weren't successful, it should work in principle. Here are some tips: The resolution is 1mm, so do not sample faster than that. Don't hold the probe, you will introduce too much noise.
Here are more links from Vernier
Sample Experiments
Looking for ideas of how to incorporate Go!Motion into your classroom? Here are three exciting sample labs to get your class in motion!
Air Ball! - Elementary Level
Graphing Your Motion - Middle School Level
Air Resistance - High School Level
Uncover more great ideas with our curriculum for math, physics, physical science, and more!
[I wonder if the prevalence of laptops/netbooks in the classroom means the demise of the graphing calculator. At $200+ some of the TI graphing calculators are bumping up against the price of a 8.9" netbook. Vernier has a series of USB sensors, which means students can do data collection and analysis directly to their laptops just the way real scientists in fancy labs do. The motion sensor we were playing with was in fact USB, so we had to plug it into an adaptor just so we could use it on a graphing calculator.]
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