Tinkercad

Tinkercad is an application that I found by chance but I was really impressed and liked it after some testing.  It has tools for creating simple designs from scratch to quickly modifying existing designs. Also, It is a free online 3D design program that you can use in your web browser without downloading any software.  Math teachers can use this application for free in their lessons while teaching 3D shapes. You can sign the app from https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/ 
The app facilitates producing new shapes such as robots, homes, and whatever you want. While producing you can look at them from different sides such as the back, above, right, left, or inside, it is up to you.
The interface is easy to understand and use. Custom Shape Scripts add more flexible tools like text, shape generators, and parametrized forms. You can cut things into parts, add simple features, make holes, and combine, align, and arrange objects. If you make your designs public then other people can open their own copies of your models and you can also follow educators and students from your personal account.

Tinkercad allows users basic training after they create their own account. Also, it includes teach and learn buttons which means you can teach your students with this app. If you still have problems with using Tinkercad, you can follow the youtube training videos about tools and producing basic shapes from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdqT5MyMzik .

I think Tinkercad is very useful for teaching 3D shapes. It has a colorful and simple interface that may attract students' attention. You don't need to create basic shapes, they are available on the tools bar. Therefore, students can construct their own shapes and share them. This really improves their learning and spatial visualization. 

 

You can give projects like constructing your dream item (house, car, clothe, computer) and draw it from different perspectives. Also, you can connect this app and activity with the ratio subject. Maybe you can give them a determined scale and want them to construct according to this scale. To do this they should measure real sizes of items and also use the measure tool on Tinkercad to take their ratios.

Another good feature of tinkercad that can be used for lessons is making simulations. You can create different types of simulations with Tinkercad as shown in belove.

Gimp and Pdf Exchange Viewer

Hello All,
I want to introduce you Pdf Exchange Viewer and Gimp programs. The idea of offering these two programs came to my mind when I tried to take screenshots of two pdf pages and tried to get only small piece of these pages. Many people do it with Paint and it takes time and effort as you know. However, with these two programs, it only takes 30 seconds.

For example, I have this math test and I just want to get only 8th question of this test.

,
Firstly, move the pdf file into the pdf exchange viewer, and select the screenshot tool which is in the middle of the tools bar and drag the mouse on the question which you want and select it totally
.

After that, you can send the selected piece by e-mail just one click on the tools bar also, you can print out and scan your selected object but what  would yo do, if you want to save it in the format of png file? Gimp is the second program that can help you. Open it and follow these steps
-choose files
-select create from screen
-click to export the image as tool

This is Gimp interface and it is really easy to use, you can play with image with menu bar above as you see. After saving (from files) your document as png format just like shown in below you have what you want as an image.

There are also easy ways of having image format of your screen such as screenshot tool in microsoft word that I used to prepare this page. These are not big programs or tools but they are really life saving and useful for teachers.

Technology Tools for Your Math Class

Hello everyone,
I want to talk about two technology tools to enrich math classes for this week. These are just great ways to incorporate technology in your math classroom so, feel comfortable to give them a try!

The first one is Desmos! - https://www.desmos.com/
Graph functions, plot data, evaluate equations, explore transformations, and much more – for free! 
Desmos has created an activity builder which teachers can use to build interactive lessons that students can do on their own tablet or Chromebook devices while the teacher monitors student work in real-time. What’s more, they have curated the best lessons into a comprehensive library of lessons that are free for teachers to use as well!
To give more ideas, I am giving examples of great jobs with Desmos.

Mathchamp is a very innovative iOS app that turns a student's iPad into a "buzzer" to answer questions before their classmate.  This requires a teacher to "host" the game as well as set up a class list. The application supplies all the Common Core Standard questions

from a wide variety of math problems. In the full version of the Math Champ Challenge, players are able to practice and build skills in a non-game version of Math Champ. Players can select specific subject areas (aligned with each Common Core Domain) and work through questions at their own pace. The skill builder allows players to answer both open-ended and multiple-choice (self-marking) questions while also gathering XP points. The skill builder provides a PLE (Personal Learning Environment) to help players build confidence as they strengthen their understandings of mathematical subjects. The adaptive engine will move advanced children towards mastery, while those who might be struggling with particular areas will be served less challenging questions.

Some Useful Web Sites

1. http://unplugthetv.com/page/2 

When you click the link, you will find a page which head is ''Instead of Tv, you should watch...''

There is big window that shares some random educational videos from Youtube, and the topic changes from medicine to history. If you want to watch videos from different fields, you can click and enjoy.

2. forget. me

Everyone has the right to be forgotten in Google, remove yourself from google results. Forget.me is the best solution for efficiently handling your Google and Bing removal requests.

          

3. cloudconvert.com

Online file converter. Convert what you want into what you want.

Articulation Paper

Technology is a major part of everyone's life. Every day we encounter technology at home, school and at work. We use this technology to make work easier and more productive. Machines, microwave ovens, computers and refrigerators are beneficial for people to make things easier and to save time. However, when we look at the other investments such as atom bombs and nuclear reactors new questions arise.  Is technology always useful? Are there any drawbacks or malfunctions?  In this context, we can say that technological advance can affect our lives in a both positive and negative way in many areas. Education is one of these areas and technology has become a very important part of the learning process for students. Most homes have connected computers or Internet-enabled devices. It is easy for students to reach technology everywhere. So why don’t we use it in a classroom? When effectively integrated into the curriculum, technology tools can extend learning in powerful ways. Therefore, students not only become more engaged, they begin to take more control over their own learning. According to me, effective technology integration changes classroom dynamics and encourage student centered learning. However, I knew from my experiences that some teachers only use projectors to show power point representations. It sometimes makes me bored and careless to the topic so, a teacher should not only use technology but also integrate it to the learning process. If you use technology only to say ‘’I use technology.’’ The learning process may end with unexpected results because, every technological application has its own affordances that you should take into account. For example, ED-Puzzle is designed to pick a video and GSP is designed to manipulate dynamic models. Their affordances are different so their uses and aims can differ in classroom, so while planning instruction teachers should think whether the application is appropriate for the topic, encourages students and make abstract things more concrete to understand well or not. In this respect, I recommend the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) model for teachers to prepare more effective and technology integrated lesson plan. This model allows teacher to decide which technological application overlap with the topic and welcomed by students.

As a math teacher candidate, I want to talk about the use of technology in math classes. Math concepts sometimes come more complex and difficult to understand for students since, math theorems, ideas and postulates are abstract in nature. Students couldn’t get the whole idea even if they can make calculations easily. We can use many technological applications to make abstract topics more concrete and understandable. For example, I design a game for fractions and their decimal and percentage representations by using Articulate Storyline2. In the game, a student is shopping and have some money, s/he tries to buy more product with less money. In the game students see the both real world examples such as discount and do some computations. Also, depicting a video from ED-Puzzle and integrate anchored instruction type to the classroom, using GSP to make easier the visualization and orientation for geometric concepts or making pop up quizzes by using Kahoot to keep students attention on the topic  can be examples of integration of technology.

All in all, while writing this paper I feel a motivation that when I become a math teacher, I want to integrate technology to my lesson plan if it fits to the topic and motivate students, so that not only to excite students but also to excite myself and feel interest. 

About Me

Hello,
I am Büşra, ı am a student at the Boğaziçi University. When I graduate, I will be math teacher. Hence, I am interested in math and its diverse use in daily life.