New Buzzhub at NCTM Annual Meeting

Full page announcement

Look what's new this year. Does this mean the Cyber Cafe is no more? Will there be Wifi in the Buzzhub? Not sure yet. Will find out. [The answer is yes! Check out the latest from NCTM.] Here's the description from the announcement:

Get connected at the NEW BuzzHub 
Download, upload, and get connected at the BuzzHub. With a social networking lounge, Internet station and the Presentation Spotlight and CTM's buzz hub is the central place for attendees to network and connect - plus you'll be surrounded by exhibits with advanced resources and technology to test and explorer. Stop by the BuzzHub in the exhibit hall to:

• Network with teachers coaches supervisors and other educators. 
• Check out free online resources and activities for your classroom. 
• Surf the web and check your email.
• Learn how to make your membership work for you. 
• Stay connected with the latest social media updates. 
• Collect free resources and activity packets. 
• Hear special presentations from online resource specialists and journal editors.
• Charge your devices and relax- be sure to BYOD (bring your own device)!

Clime Connections #97

Technology's role in Math Education - A preconference discussion

This year (2011-2012) NCTM is focusing on technology at their regional meetings and the upcoming annual conference in April. CLIME will once again be actively supporting this initiative. In Philly, CLIME will be exhibiting, presenting, tweeting and waving the Math 2.0 flag as much as possible. As a friend of CLIME I hope you will join us in supporting this initiative whether you are attending the conference or participating at a distance. Here is the first of a series of preview blogs leading up to the main event during the week of April 23rd - Mathematics Awareness Week.

NCTM writes:

The intent of this yearlong focus on technology is to help teachers, school leaders, and teacher educators expand their view of how technology can be used as a tool to [1] support effective mathematics teaching, [2] enhance mathematics learning, and [3] influence what mathematics is taught. (Source: Strand Goals & Overview)

What are your views on these three goals? I'll be thinking about my responses between now and the end of the conference in April and I hope you will engage me in a blog-style conversation by posting a comment. (See my reply below that I added on 4/2/12.)

Tech sessions in Philly
In my last blog entry I put up a one page “at a glance” summary of all the sessions in NCTM’s technology strand. I now have a more detailed version of the sessions here. Unfortunately, these descriptions were submitted last May and do not include any links to more information about the session or the speaker(s). The CLIME descriptions are at the moment (1/6/12) rather "boring" since I have not as yet invited the speakers to update their listing. (Since I'm on the list, I'll invite myself first. Check out my addition here.) So if you are speaker or involved in some way with the learn/reflect technology strand I invite you to review your session description and send me more details i.e. a photo, links to relevant websites such as your powerpoint (or other) presentation, blogs and especially links to your handouts.

If you are doing a technology session at the conference and it's not part of the tech strand please send me details as well and I will include you in my next listing.

Technology's role in math education
NCTM has posted 4 questions for folks attending the Strand sessions to reflect on and share responses at the debriefing session (#283).  If you have any comments, answers or questions about these questions, please share them with a reply.

Coming soon in future blog entries

• There are a lot more technology related sessions than just the ones in the tech strand. NCTM has listed 99 sessions (if you search with the key word technology.)  I will have a dynamic version of those sessions and others that I find in my next entry.  

• NCTM has a personal scheduling planner that you can use to make a print copy of the sessions you want to attend or download  the listing to your smart phone. Next time I'll share my experiences with using it. 

• CLIME has sent a resolution to NCTM to present to the Affiliate Delegate Assembly at the NCTM conference. (See draft with comments in a previous post.) More about this later.

• CLIME is planning an online event on April 23rd. Gary Stager will be “keynoting” with his presentation on “Electrifying Children’s Mathematics.” If you are interested in participating in this event please let me know so I can personally respond to you about it.

You can subscribe to receive CLIME Connections by email here.
Clime.blog.96

Technology Strand Details for Annual NCTM Conference 2012 is now available!

At a Glance

Here's the agenda for this all day (Thursday, 4/26/12) Technology Focus Strand. For speaker information click on "At a Glance" figure on left.

It will be of bit like a chinese menu with several choices for 3 of the 5 time slots.

Altogether there are 25 sessions. Participants following the strand should attend the opening kickoff, choose at least one other sessions from 3 time slots and finally participate in the Learn<->Reflect session at 3:30. [more]

Keynote speakers announced
Diane Ravitch & Ed Burger. More detail about their presentation: (Diane) (Ed)

Featured Technology inspired Presentations...

• George Hart, The Museum of Mathematics - more
• Nick Jackiw, 
Key Curriculum Press Technologies, Inc.
 "Euclid’s Elements: An Interactive Geometry Perspective" - more
• Cliff Konold, 
University of Massachusetts Amherst.
 "Breathing Life into Data and Chance with Tinkerplots 2.0" - more
• Dan Meyer, 
Stanford University.
 Why Students Hate Word Problems - more
• Jim Rubillo, 
DeSales University.
 Are We Using New Technology Strategically? - more

And one more that I would include in the featured list is the kickoff session for Thursday's technology strand.

• Thomas P. Dick,

 Guidelines for Choosing and Using Technology in the Mathematics Classroom - more

If you are planning to attend the conference I hope you will stop by the CLIME booth to say hello and/or catch my session on Thursday at 11:00am. 

• Math Learning 2.0: New Vision for a Web 2.0 World - more

Can't make it to Philly?
For those of you that were hoping to present at the conference but either forgot to submit a proposal or were not accepted, there will be an online technology & math event the week of April 23rd sponsored by CLIME. Gary Stager will be one of the presenters/discussants.

Notes
Much more detail about all the above in my next blog entry.

Wannado Math at Educon 2.4

Climeguy and Math 2.0 will be participating in the conversations at Educon 2.4 in Philadelphia next January. Here's the description of the conversation I'm leading:

Title: Math 2.0 and the Wannado Curriculum
Description (short and extended): With todays push for college, students are forced to follow the Algebra-Geometry-Algebra II Royal Road to Calculus (RRtC) with most coming up empty about what math is all about. Web 2.0 offers the possibility of a new paradigm where students actually want to do the math.

The power of Web 2.0 is just beginning to become a part of the consciousness of the average math teacher. Historically, the potential of emerging technologies is usually tamed to fit in with the grammar (current paradigm) of school. How can we avoid the same pitfalls with Web 2.0? One response is to create math curriculums that kids actually want to do (i.e. via simulations & games). Lead discussant will pose potential pitfalls and barriers, which the group will explore and offer ideas for a path that will lead us out of the wilderness of the old "hafta-do" curriculum paradigm to a new one where students actively want to do it!

Note: I borrowed and edited the logo above from Wannado City* which was an indoor role-playing amusement center in Florida which closed earlier this year. (Maybe I can get permission to use it. Or just do a redesign.)

A recording of this event is available at this link.

*Where kids can do what they wanna' do. I hope Wannado Math will do better than Wannado City. Read article about the demise of Wannado City.
CLIME Connections #94

NCTM Regional Meeting Highlights

The main highlight for me was Karim Ani's presentation and his visit to the CLIME booth afterwards where he continued conversations he started earlier at his talk. For those of you who like Dan Meyer's work this is the guy to watch. He runs a shop called mathalicious.com where he is raising the bar on curriculum development with his own brand of quality math lessons.

NCTM Regional - Atlantic City

If you missed him at the regionals he will be speaking at the NCTM annual meeting in Philly next April thanks to a "write in" campaign by his fans - including me.
News Briefs

• The Resolution to the delegate assembly (see previous blog) was submitted and will be reviewed this month for inclusion in Delegate Assembly agenda.
• Michael Schaughnessy, NCTM's president says in John Lennon style "Give the Common Core Standards a Chance" Read here. Are they really that bad?
• Sue Hellman reports that The Computer Based Math Summit is going on in London Nov. 10th & 11th. Here are the links to two Twitter feeds #computermath and @mike_geogebra and to the conference website. Friends of CLIME: Maria Droujkova, Sol Lederman, David Wees and Gary Bitter will be presenting at the conference. They are recording it and it and archived sessions will be available in some form.

Math/Web 2.0 learning stations proposal to NCTM for Future Conferences

Tom Petra (realworldmath.org) sharing Google Earth Ideas

Learning Station Poster session-ISTE 2011

Each year at the annual NCTM conference there is an affiliate group Delegate Assembly where delegates propose ideas in the form of resolutions to the Board of Directors for review and possible adoption. The last technology proposal was back in 2008 (see Board's response to the technology resolution is in... and it ain't pretty) which the Board pretty much dismissed. So it seems appropriate that since technology is NCTM's Focus of the Year that we try again particularly since CLIME is it's technology affiliate. So here we go.

Be it resolved that the Delegate Assembly recommends to the NCTM Board of Directors that they provide an area in the convention center that would model how current technologies are changing and empowering math education. This area would include:

• Free Wi-Fi access to those with laptops, iPads, and smartphones (which run faster with Wifi.) The cost for this limited location access could be shared among the corporate sponsors for the conference.
• Tables where conference goers can comfortably sit, connect with their own personal computers as well as with colleagues and new acquaintances.
• Learning Station Poster session(s) could be scaled appropriately and modeled similar to the ISTE learning station poster sessions described as "...All poster stations located in a public space and will include access to power, wireless Internet connectivity, and (optional due to expense)  a large-screen monitor or projection device to connect to their own laptop. They will also include a counter-height presentation table. (See photo above.) This area can become the Math/Web 2.0 Space and replace the dated Cyber Cafe model.*

Rationale:
In 2008 the board responded to RESOLUTION O.NR.08.01, which recommended that the board increase the opportunities for participants to use technology in sessions at the Annual Meeting. The board offered one option that included a limited number of workshop and session rooms will be provided with Internet connectivity for the presenter. CLIME believes that this recommendation should be revisited and revised to reflect the current trends in technology. By offering an area where Wifi is available conference attendance can interact with selected poster session presenters (teachers) who would share how Web 2.0 tools combined with dynamic math software can significantly enhance mathematics education and model the unique blend of activities that occur in a 21st century classroom.

As a friend of CLIME please let me know what you think of this draft of the resolution and share any ideas you might want to add to it. The deadline for submitting this resolution is today, so I hope you will respond before the end of the day.

Thanks - Ihor

ihor@clime.org

*Note: NCTM has been hinting at a replacement by setting up independent computer kiosks at recent conferences for email checking/surfing for those without Wifi/Smartphone access.

cc blog #92

NCTM Regional Meeting in Atlantic City - The Technology Strand

This is the year (2011-2012) that NCTM celebrates technology at their regional and annual meetings. Since CLIME is exhibiting at the regional meeting in Atlantic City this week, I thought I would highlight the technology events at the conference.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

         More about Greg

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Thursday is the day to follow the technology theme. Here's what you do.

1.  Start your day with the morning Kick-Off session:

2. Choose from a variety of presentations throughout the day focused on Technology and Mathematics.  See list.
3. Conclude with a Reflection session:

Learn <-> Reflect Strand: Reflection Session with discussion leaders Cheryl Giordano, Brian D. Rawlins and Christina Tondevold
Thursday, October 20, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

This culmination session of the Learn↔Reflect strand will facilitate a discussion of four reflection questions. Those who attend the Kickoff, at least one Learn↔Reflect session, and the Reflection session will earn a personalized certificate. The four questions are as follows:

1. What role does technology play in providing multiple representations and opportunities for communication to help students develop mathematical understanding?
2. How does technology influence your instructional decisions?  And, how do your instructional decisions influence your use of technology? 
3. How can technology increase access to significant mathematics to all students? How do you promote social justice for access to and facility with technology in learning mathematics?
4. How are you thinking differently about your use of technology as a result of participating in the Learn-Reflect strand? What are some of the steps you plan to take to promote growth in your own use of technology

Where to find Wifi?

You can check email and browse the Web at an internet kiosk near the registration area. But Wifi? We're looking into it. So far the word is that it is free everywhere. This I got to see. More about that when I arrive in AC.
Lost your program book?
 

You can access it online. (click on book's image.) See also how you can use the Conference app on your smartphone to help you find sessions. You can download it here.

Where to find CLIME (in person):

• October 19-21, 2011 - NCTM Regional Conference in Atlantic City. CLIME will be exhibiting and promoting Math 2.0. Visit them at Booth #116.

CLIME in Exhibit Area-
Atlantic City

• February 14, 2012 - AMTNJ Winter Conference, Somerset, NJ. Talk: Math 2.0 Teaching and Learning Maths with Dynamic Math Tools in a Web 2.0 World
• April 25-27, 2012 - NCTM Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA. Presenting and exhibiting. Read more about it.
• April, 2012 - CLIME sponsored online math & technology conference (tentatively planned) More details to follow.