I was in La Crosse, WI earlier this month to give a keynote talk at the University of Wisconsin Teaching Mathematics with Technology conference. The night before a group of the conference attendees were treated to a cruise on the the La Crosse Queen which is a replica of the old riverboats which used to ply the Mississippi River in the 1800s. Our host was Josh Hertel (the tall guy in the photo) who organized the conference.
A unique feature of the conference was that all the attendees including the speakers were in the same room and got to see all the presentations. It made for a more intimate experience. Unlike most conferences my keynote was the last scheduled talk so I had the full flavor of the conference before I spoke.
I focused on the 3 big technological ideas that are driving math education today.
- Dynamic Math Software
- Web 2.0/Social Media
- Technology-based learning Communities
I shared several activities that did just that.
- The Famous Jinx Puzzle
- Fermat's Last Theorem... Debunked? (By Homer Simpson no less.)
- Average Traveler Activity
- The Weird Number Video and the Irrational Invasion
- The Librarian who Measured the Earth 220 BC
- The Green Globs Challenge
Handouts of other presenters are available at: http://www.uwlax.edu/conted/tmt/speaker-handouts/
Here are some additional ideas shared by David Wees that I should have referenced in my talk.
http://davidwees.com/content/ways-use-technology-math-class/