AlgebraPrep Apps for the iPhone® and iPod touch™ Your 24/7 Algebra Tutor—Anytime, Anywhere! REALLY?

Some one once told me a long time ago that in the future most math instruction would be done via handhelds. With the proliferation of graphing calculators a part of that reality has been with us for some time and these calculation wizards continue to dominate the handheld math hardware/software market. The downside is that they are hard to use and don't take advantage of the full power of technology particularly the Internet and Web 2.0. But times they are a changing. I don't know if you've noticed but the killer hardware of this decade - the iPhone and iPod Touch now have apps that help kids learn math. There's even a free graphing calculator app that you can download.

Publishers have also taken notice. As part of my Codie Judge duties I just received access to Pearson's entry into the app world for math AlgebraPrep which is up for a Codie award this year. I'm looking forward to reviewing it.

In the meantime you can check out some of the apps that are now available. I did a simple Google search and came up with mostly links to test prep, drill and practice, and puzzle/game types. I'll do a little more research and and share about some apps that I find interesting and useful in my next blog entry.

NCTM joins the gaming world with Calculation Nation

Something new from NCTM arrived in my snail mail post box recently. Yes, indeed. Not only was it a busy year for Illuminations, but a productive one as well. Their Calculation Nation brings math more prominently into the online gaming world. See this blog review from Future-Making Serious Games. Definitely worth a look.

Algebra Magic with Dynamic Spreadsheets

Dynamic Math Software Spotlight: Google Doc's Spreadsheet. One of the dynamic math software programs that doesn't get the credit it deserves is the spreadsheet. It’s also underutilized in schools despite the fact that Microsoft's Excel is installed on nearly every PC. Today there is growing trend towards using Web-based versions of which Google Docs Spreadsheet is the most often mentioned.

The spreadsheets potential as a dynamic algebra program has been touted over the years but not a whole lot has made it more mainstream. Wendy Petti‘s A Dynamic Path to Understanding Math is a significant contribution. She has created a series of Excel worksheets containing many interesting and engaging activities using the spreadsheet as a platform for interacting with them. (You can download the Excel file from her link above.) Future teacher collaboration may produce Math 2.0 versions of these activities that use online spreadsheets that would also make it easier for students and teachers to discuss, adapt and update these activities. Included on Wendy’s webpage are references to interesting articles from NCTM publications.

Other Math 2.0 updates

In my last blog I mentioned the difficulty of discussing the Illuminations lessons with other teachers. Patrick Vannebush manager of web-based projects at NCTM informed me that NCTM is planning to roll out (in early 2010) a comment field on every Illuminations activity website. That's great because now visitors to the sites will have any opportunity to comment and read other comments about the activity without having to go to Facebook to post a comment!

Math 2.0 online conference (April, 2010) planning group met on Elluminate on November 11th 2009. The archive of the one hour session is available here. 

Please let me know if you would like to participate in some way in this ground-breaking grassroots event.

Some Math 2.0 Bigger Picture Items

You may not have noticed but Web 2.0 has given math education a kick start. There are now ways of teaching and learning math that were nearly impossible just a few years ago. Today there are cohorts of pioneer educators who are experimenting with how to use Web 2.0 in the teaching of math. Early returns show much promise. But whether it delivers the goods or not depends on how it is implemented. Take for example the opportunity that Web 2.0 allows for us educators to improve math lesson collaboration. Right now there are literally thousands of web sites offering lesson plans, projects, activities, Webquests etc. each claiming to be aligned with the Standards. But is this explosion of resources making a difference in how teachers teach and learn mathematics? All that depends on the quality use of the activities and software tools that we have at our disposal. Making the right curriculum choices including software & accompanying activities continues to challenge us. What might help is a bit of hand-holding.

According to NCTM the Curriculum Principle: “A curriculum is more than a collection of activities: it must be coherent, focused on important mathematics, and well articulated across the grades.” (Reference)

So how can Web 2.0 help make the activities be more coherent, focused, and well articulated?

One powerful way to make an activity more effective is to take advantage of web-based learning objects that usually come in the form of an applet or Flash program. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of them out there on the Web and new ones are being created daily. So what’s a time challenged teacher to do? You can Google for math applets on the web that focus on your topic of interest and use of technology. A more time efficient way is to search through popular collections of applets developed by groups of educators. The Virtual Manipulative Library, Shodor Interactive, and of course the Illuminations site that NCTM provides come to mind. But how do you use them in your classroom? Each of the sites mentioned have lesson plans associated with the applets but these tend to be very general and rarely is there any feedback available from teachers who have used them.

A couple of weeks ago I read NCTM’s new on-line Illuminations newsletter Bright Ideas which featured the article Love at First Site describing how Vicki Miles a math teacher from Massachusetts parlayed her interest in the Illuminations applets to become a participant in an NCTM sponsored Illuminations Institute where she created a tessellation lesson around an applet designed to help students explore tessellations. In thinking about how to use this applet in my work with teachers, I had some questions about the lesson and wanted to get in touch with the author. Unfortunately, there was no contact information for the her but I did eventually get her email address from another participant in the Institute who I recognized from a group photo a little further down in the newsletter.

I know that NCTM is trying to encourage more online discussions and collaboration about topics relevant to math education through the use of Blogs, Twitter, Ning and Facebook, so I wanted a find a venue for a viable discussion around Illuminations activities and applets. I found out via Twitter that Facebook is at the moment NCTM's preferred arena for discussions. Despite the fact that I'm not much of a Facebook user, I did go to NCTM’s Facebook site to see how the collaborative dynamics might work out. Here's what I posted to the discussion board. I wondered if this would generate (if any) discussions. (I'm writing this now more than 2 weeks later and still no one has made any comment.) I also revisited the Math Forum’s ambitious effort to create teacher collaboration around Math tools. It's full of good resources, but again its hard to get a group together to discuss issues around topics of interest. I did find some posts about Tessellations as a topic which included lots of good resources but not a lot of discussion about them.

Some of my CLIME friends suggested that a group site (like Ning.com) might be better for this. CLIME now has a Ning group site to see how well that will work (I'll keep you posted on my progress with that.)

So the bottom line here is that I’m looking for effective ways of collaborating on building effective lesson scenarios using dynamic math tools that generates lots of input from interested educators. I'll be posting some examples of what I have in mind at CLIME's new Wiki. Please share your ideas about this by replying with a comment below.

Other Notes of Interest

Math 2.0 Unplugged Virtual Conference (Coming in April, 2010). A Math 2.0 conference where people share their experiences of using dynamic math and web 2.0 software tools that inspire both teachers and students to explore and learn math the way you always dreamed it could happen. [More discussion at CLIME Ning site]

Math Educator Blogs of Note. Scott McLeod started a wikipage encouraging math folks to post their favorite Math blogs and bloggers. It’s now just another lost item in cyberspace. I’m reviving it by updating the list to have as part of the CLIME directory and have some monitoring going on. Here is CLIME’s version (open for your editing).

Dan Meyer blog (Dy/Dan) shares lesson ideas and lots of discussion using a strategy which he refers to as WCYDWT (What Can You Do with This?) Here's an example entitled What I Would do with This: Pocket Change

On-line NCTM publication closes its doors

OnMath NCTM’s technology based journal is no more. Cal Armstrong who was on the OnMath Editorial panel is now on the Math Teacher Editorial panel working towards adding more tech and Web 2.0 features to their long time journal. I assume a lack of readership did OnMath in. I hope the Math Teacher will be able to overcome the loss and create something even better.

Math 2.0/FutureMath Weekly Webcast. Maria Droujkova leads a lively weekly Wednesday session hosting pioneers in the field who do presentations and lead Math 2.0 related discussions in various webcast environments (i. e. Elluminate, WizIQ, etc). I try to attend as many of these as I can. they're fun. Everyone is there to learn and help others to become more familiar with how these tools work. This gives us a peek at what 21st century conferences are becoming. Schedule of weekly events at Math 2.0.

Math 2.0 Unconference 2010 opportunity - WCYDWT*?

As a president of an affiliate group of NCTM I can get a discounted table in the exhibit area in San Diego next April. (See NCTM's Announcement). This might be an interesting possibility for having a HQ for the Math 2.0 (Un)Conference that I'm planning for next April.
So the question of the day is what would you/we do with this space? It will cost us $475 for the furnishings, but the space itself usually costs vendors about $2000.00. (We can worry about the cost later.)
Please share your ideas with me by adding a comment to this post. (If we go with this, I will definitely make the trip.)
*Thanks to Dan Meyer and Kate Novak for promoting WCYDWT (What can you do with this?) in your math class.

Math 2.0 – Making a Virtual Splash in San Diego?

This week I was reminded rather abruptly that Math 2.0* will most likely not be a major theme at the NCTM conference in San Diego next April. The reminder came in the form of a friendly email from the program committee that informed me that my proposal to speak there was rejected. Not that this was unexpected. I’ve been getting rejections more regularly than acceptances ever since 2004. That’s the year when NCTM stopped inviting affiliate groups (mine being CLIME) to host a session at the annual conference. I did argue a bit with Johnny Lott (the president at the time) that NCTM should allow the affiliates some perks since they do most of the heavy lifting for NCTM, but the decision to make conference presenting more of a free for all won out. You see once the main speakers are invited, the rest of the program’s participants (other than vendors) are chosen anonymously based on what is in the proposal. But I digress and this blog entry is not intended to be about my personal sour grape peeves. (Back to why no Math 2.0 focus in SD.) At the previous NCTM conference in Washington last April there were only 4 sessions that made any reference to Web 2.0. Mine was one of them. Since there was only 1 the year before, can we expect twice as many for the next year? Maybe. But I’m not that optimistic. Mostly because NCTM’s “powers that be” have been to preoccupied with putting out fires like the ongoing math wars with their publication of the Focal Points and their recent support of a national curriculum initiative by penning the Guiding Principles for Curriculum and Assessment which made no reference to technology’s role in the enterprise (see my previous blog entry “What’s Missing from This Picture”.) These reform initiatives though admirable I don’t think will do much to change the status quo. For the anti-reformers this is more like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic. Certainly not that bad, but not much of an effort to redirect the ship toward a more promising future with a stronger technology infrastructure.

It appears that technology as a Principle has not made much of an impact either. Technology continues to be relegated to a support tool status something that NCTM first decided to do in the early 1990s when it stated that using technology as a tool was OK to use in its position paper, but not technology all by itself. (It still is used that way. See 2003 version of paper.) So when technology as a Principle came on board in 2000 I thought, naively that this would encourage a paradigm shift to think of technology as a platform for all the other principles (equity, curriculum, teaching, learning and assessing) from which to build on and innovate from. But nothing of any substance has materialized since then. Nor will it any time soon. Not because it isn't important, but because its too disruptive.

When Seymour Papert first introduced the idea of a Logo Microworld** he was thinking how this could be framework for creating a new paradigm for the teaching and learning of math where teachers and students work as partners in the learning enterprise with emphasis on developing and nurturing the student's mathematical habits of mind which in turn illuminates content in more dynamic and personal ways. But Papert was marginalized as a utopian dreamer and his vision was mostly ignored. But today his ideas are more accessible than ever in this new dynamic world of Web 2.0. But is NCTM planning to encourage this? No, but they are not ignoring it either.

After NCTM I went to the NECC (National Educational Computing) Conference and found some of the energy that was missing for me at the NCTM gathering. There I found lots of math teachers who were very eager to use Web 2.0 tools in learning math. Unfortunately, the conference can be overwhelmingly technocentric and can easily be a turn off for an educator who is skeptical about over use of technology and its potential for improving students’ achievement. In other words as a colleague recently pointed out to me, "This Web 2.0 world is still a bit too wild and woolly." I agree. I’m one of the first to scream when a techy-type tells me that something non-intuitive is a no-brainer. But the potential is there and needs to be ferreted in a way that pushes the envelop in a more meaningful and disruptive*** way.

You may not have noticed but there is a groundswell of support out there by pioneers who are now blogging, tweeting, organizing social networks, creating alternative route conferences including a Math 2.0 group that convenes every Wednesday on Elluminate to discuss Math 2.0 issues. And that's not all...

How about a Math 2.0 Conference next April? I hope to help put together a “parallel conference” to showcase what Math 2.0 is all about around the same time as the April, 2009 NCTM conference. Please share your ideas of what this conference might look like it and how you might like to participate.

Meanwhile I'm starting a CLIME Wiki (my first) which will include notes on planning for this conference. I'll even try to explain all the Web 2.0ish terms as I go along. What's a Wiki you ask? Here's a Youtube video that will get you started. It has an example of how I hope we can plan for the Math 2.0 event next April.

The Wiki I will be using is at http://clime.wikispaces.com. For those of you are novices (like me) join and we can learn how to build one of these Web 2.0 things together. :-)

*I think of Math 2.0 as a contraction for "Teaching and Learning Math with Dynamic Software and Web 2.0 tools"

**A microworld is a software environment that encourages students engagement in learning math ideas in a empowering way. See Microworld

*** Disruptive as in the way it is described in "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns." See Edutopia article for a summary.

In Search of Math 2.0

On July 8th Maria Dourjkova was interviewed by Steve Hargadon at an Elluminate Webinar on the question "Where is Math 2.0?" I unfortuntely was not able to connect to the live cast but managed to listen to the archived version. Since the notion of Math 2.0 intrigues me, I was eager to learn more about what others thought the term Math 2.0 might mean. Here are some of the responses to "What is Math 2.0?" from the chat log of the event.

• Math education involving social networking
• Math education using web 2.0 tools
• Using Web 2.0 to build knowledge and share knowledge of math concepts
• Maths anywhere, anytime, for anyone
• The ability of any skill level to place mathematics on any social networking site
• Math created and shared between people.
• Math that you create and/or contribute to, rather than just passively receive
• Math that is interactive among teachers and students
• For me math 2.0 is collaborating and connecting with others on problem solving, math thinking & learning
• ... interactive, participatory, engaging... you know... the stuff that you don't get with textbooks.
• Math that is interactive and communicative
• Breaking math into concepts, and components, and methods that can be shared interactively between people
• Math 2.0 is the ability of users to create their own math-rich social objects, using web technologies.
• My contribution to the list (sent by proxy – thanks, Cal) was that Math 2.0 is a contracted form of math and Web 2.0
• For complete chat log click here.

Building on Math 1.0 For me Math 1.0 began in 1989 when NCTM announced the release of their Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. Since then there has only been one major revision in 2000 when NCTM published their Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and made technology a principle (joining teaching, learning, assessing, curriculum and equity.) I was optimistic at the time that NCTM would forge a new initiative into exploring what it means for technology to be a principle, but to date I’m disappointed that no such initiative has emerged. In fact, given their latest Guidelines (where there was no mention of technology) and disappointing tech support at the last April’s NCTM conference, it looks like they are not yet ready to embrace technology in a bold, new way that includes the promise of what Web 2.0 offers.
A New Paradigm for Teaching and Learning Math That’s why CLIME is joining Maria and other interested individuals and groups in banging the Math 2.0 drum to encourage a grass roots movement that will make the possibility of a paradigm shift reality. Web 2.0 has the potential to change the way we learn and teach mathematics not unlike what Apple Computer did back in 1984 with their launch of the Macintosh which changed the way everyone uses computers today. Maria is having another Math 2.0 event on Wednesday, July 22 at 9:00pm (Eastern daylight savings time). Come join us as we search for Math 2.0: a new and exciting frontier!