The interactive whiteboard in the mathematics classroom

1. The interactive whiteboard in the mathematics classroom Dr Geoff Tennant g.d.tennant@reading.ac.uk

2. Approximate plan… Introductory activity What an interactive whiteboard is and what it can – and can’t – do Bringing bearings to life Use of Geogebra and Geometers sketchpad Use of Autograph

3. Introductory activities Single best place to start looking for IWB activities for maths that I know: National Library of Virtual Manipulatives: http://nlvm.usu.edu/ Starting points: Number and operations -> 9-12 -> Circle 21 Algebra -> 9-12 -> Coin Problem Algebra -> 9-12 -> Peg Puzzle (also see http://nrich.maths.org/1246) Algebra -> 9-12 -> Towers of Hanoi (also see http://www.cut-the-knot.org/recurrence/hanoi.shtml)

4. Consider: Could we have done these activities without an IWB? Yes! All an IWB is is an enormous mouse pad. In principle, everything we can do on an IWB we can do without. Towers of Hanoi – with actual disks Frogs (pegs) – with people Coins and circles – with pen and paper.

5. But an IWB… Can bring an immediacy to the situation Bring things to life And children love coming and using it! For some associated research, see http://www.keele.ac.uk/education/research/interactivewhiteboard/

6. On a technical note… This board is a Smartboard with a soft membrane, don’ t need a pen to use it. As the signs say, do not use ordinary whiteboard pens on this board as this will damage it irreparably! Also available are Promethean boards, which are hard and do need a pen for use. Better not to use ordinary whiteboard pens but not quite so disastrous as for Smartboards!

7. If using IWBs with children…. Make sure you practise actually in the room first! All kinds of things can go wrong. Note – all of the activities I’ve done so far need an Internet connection. As with all lessons, key thing to decide is what you are wanting children to learn, ie. what are the lesson aims? IWB may or may not be the best way of achieving the aims.

8. Consider underlying pedagogy Nothing magical about the IWB. Consider this website: http://e-learningforkids.org/Courses/EN/M1107/index.html What is the underlying teaching model here?

9. Before we leave the NVLM • Go to balance scales • …and then negatives • Consider: • Would you want to use this with children? Why (not)? • What would be the benefits? • What would be the potential pitfalls? • Remember: • There’s nothing magical about the use of the IWB; • No third party software ever quite does what you want it to do.

10. A brief break to show you one of my favourite websites I am about to show you a leaf in Florida Incidentally, for web resources for mathematics, single best place that I know to start is: www.tsm-resources.com

11. Software with IWB Why would you want to use this rather than go about things some other way? Consider also the use of bearings

12. Geogebra Free software available at: http://www.geogebra.org/cms/ Angles in a triangle Angles in a quadrilateral Joining midpoints of the edges of a quadrilateral Circumcircle Incircle Reflections, rotations Quadratics with sliders

13. Formal statement of quadrilateral problem Points P, Q, R and S are midpoints of each side of quadrilateral ABCD.Prove that quadrilateral PQRS is a parallelogram. Please note: use of Geogebra and IWB no substitute for proof! But may be really helpful in giving a clear sense as to what is going on before engaging with formal mathematics.

14. Geometer’s sketchpad Introduction to differentiation Vorderman, C., Porkess, R., Budd, C., Dunne, R., Rahman-Hart, P., Colmez, C. & Lee, S. (2011). A world-class mathematics education for all our young people. London: The Conservative Party.

15. So to conclude…. IWBS are a great resource in bringina an immediacy to the maths classroom There is nothing magical about them, what you are going to do needs thinking through Please do make sure you practise their use and have a back up plan if things go wrong Thank you for coming!