Zero Podcast

Here is my podcast about the history of the number zero! Enjoy!!

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GPS

I really enjoyed this lesson on GPS and geocaching. It was a lot of fun having the scavenger hunt. While Nate and I were able to find the first cache, which happened to involve aspirin, we were not so lucky in finding the second one. As you can see in the second photo, Lisa and Kirsten we not able to find that particular cache either.

While the GPS was able to direct us all to the general area, it is too bad that it could not tell us an exact location. For example, when looking for the second cache, perhaps it was there in the right spot, but we just happened to not be able to find it. In that case, if the GPS was able to give an exact location of the cache, we would have known exactly where to look.

As far as using GPS in the classroom, I think it would be neat to use it in math. One way would be to use it when learning about geometry. You could give students a particular set of coordinates as a starting point, and then have them find something that is so many degrees in a particular direction. That would relate directly to using polar coordinates and would definitely motivate students to learn.

Delicious

Image from google.com

Delicious is a definitely a great way to keep online resources organized. In my own classroom, I could show students how to use Delicious when doing a math project, in order to look up resources on their topic and save them. Students would also be able to search for their classmates and add them. That way, students who are in the same group can work together and add bookmarks that their group members have found.

For my own personal use as a teacher, it would be helpful to use when designing a unit for my math classes. I could simply search for websites to use as resources or lesson supplements, and by tagging them, I would be able to refer back whenever I needed to. Also, if trying to find a particular website while teaching, it would be a lot easier to just log in to my Delicious account in order to find it, rather than having to search for it again using Google.

Zotero

Zotero seems to be very useful when doing any kind of research, whether it is a lot of information or just a little. I like how all of the information stays organized and can easily be found by search according to a specific topic or tag. I would definitely think about using this the next time I am writing a research paper or even doing a short presentation or speech. The only down-side of Zotero, however, is the fact that you are somewhat limitted to having to use the same computer each time. While it is possible to export your library onto a travel drive, I'm not sure I would want to wait for it since it does take a lot of extra time to do so.

Prezi

Image from google.com

My Prezi was about the main topics Nate and I discussed during our Twitter presentation. I really enjoyed using Prezi and think it is a fun alternative to using PowerPoint. I especially like the whole "nonlinear" aspect and how you can make a path to any of your topics and return to them as many times as you would like. In that case, it is pretty sweet that you can basically make your presentation into a concept map.

Google Sketchup Study Area

This is my study area that I just made with Google Sketchup. The program, along with my study area of course, is pretty sweet! I love it! Because it is so quick and easy to use, I definitely plan on using it whenever I can in the future.

Recently Tweaten

Image from tweetwhatyoueat.com

The application for Twitter that I found was Tweet What You Eat. Just as the name says, it is an app that allows you to tweet about what you have eaten throughout the day. Then, along with what you have eaten, you are able to track the number of calories each food contains, as well as your weight.

This app could definitely be related to education, especially in a math classroom. While having students participate in a nutrition unit, they could use their stats that they have been tweeting about and do all sorts of math related tasks. Students could graph their calories consumed each day, as well as their weight. By graphing those two things using overlapping line graphs, students would be able to see the relationships between calorie intake and body weight. They could also, then, find the average calorie intake and body weight over a certain period of time, such as a month or so.

I believe this application is a great way to motivate students to want to do math. It is definitely not as ordinary as just doing some practice problems out of an old math textbook. Also, not only would this unit discuss mathematical topics, but it would even cover nutritional topics as well. That has got to be, without a doubt, a win-win situation for everyone! =)