Technology

Integration Form COLLABORATION

ANDRE ROUHANI

GENERAL INFORMATION
Selected Technology/Resource Name:
Age/Grade Level:
Technology/Resource Type:
Graphing Calculator (hereafter GC, as it is commonly
Secondary

referred)
Application Software Device Website
Source: (Web address, company name, etc.)

Available for purchase from Pacific Tech at https://www.pacifict.com/. I just learned GC is also available on iOS, though its most
often used on Mac or PC. Currently 50% off in September. ASU students of MTE 250 (Technology and Math Visualization in the
Classroom) get a copy for free. Single-user regular, single-user- student, and one-year subscriptions are available for $100, $60,
and $20 respectively. Quite affordable, considering what the app can do. Its amazing.

Associated Learning Standard(s): The resource may be generally applicable, if so, simply state that. List any ISTE-S standards that
seem to naturally align with the selected resource.

Teacher standards 1, 2, & 3.

Student standards 1, 2, 4, & 6.

Theres not a lot of room in GC to learn about how to ethically use technology and be a good digital citizen. Its not linked to any
sort of network or internet community, other than the folks that create crazy examples that one can download. But for students,
its a math visualization and discussion tool, and thats it.

RESOURCE DESCRIPTION
Give a brief description of the technology/resource.

GC is exactly what it sounds like: it is a graphing calculator. If youre familiar with the new craze in the Math Ed technology sphere
Desmos (by Google), its similar. Where Desmos is a webapp, GC is a standalone offline app. GC allows students to plot the graphs
of any 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional function they wish. The best part is that there is no (or virtually no) programming involved.
GC simply interprets true mathematical statements. And so when something goes wrong with the visualization, it means
something is wrong in the mathematics the student typed in, and thus the students way of thinking can be improved.

One of the best parts about GC is the ability to easily animate graphs and also create sliders to easily adjust the value of
quantities. Multiple colors are available, and text and images can easily be imported too. We know that for students to think
covariationally, they have to see things in motion, and so putting things on loop as the basis for a conversation is a great way to
use GC.

GC is also very accessible. Anyone can jump into it, as, again, no programming is required. And so students can work independent
of the teacher, collaboratively with their peers, and also follow along with the teacher on their own computers.

INTEGRATION IDEA - COLLABORATION
How might you integrate this resource in a lesson plan to promote collaboration among students in your classroom, or among
students and others outside of the classroom?

One of my favorite ways to use GC is to create an animation, project the file, and press play, allowing the animation to run on a
loop. Its fascinating being able to talk about how two quantitates change together. What relationships exist. Being able to
anticipate what will happen next and why. Theres a lot you can do with multiple views: adding on more layers of information as
the class discovers things on their own.

Additionally, theres so much one can learn about the mathematical ideas involved by creating a GC file that represents some
situation. For example: lets make a GC file that compares two growing squares: one whose side length increases at a constant
rate of change, and another whose area increases at a constant rate of changeand lets display them side by side. You cant
imagine how hard that is! But students can do it! Its amazing. Ive done such an exercise in MTE 250.

The real key is that nothing should be typed in until the mathematics are understood. Because GC does nothing other than plot
points according to true mathematical statements. And so there has to be discussion and thinking and writing before writing any
command lines. GC also helps students avoid shape thinking (ex: a graph is a piece of wire floating in the air) when they write
the mathematics down first, rather than just trying to make the images look like the example.

In sum, its all about the discussion. As we watch the GC file move and change, we all talk together about why, and work together
to write the same file in groups.

Value-Added Rating Scale
3

The integration idea described:

The integration idea described:

The integration idea described:

aligns to content standards

aligns to content standards

aligns to content standards

transforms a lesson in a way that would

be impossible or very difficult without it;
very likely to increase student engagement
and contribute to mastery of the
concept(s)

enhances a lesson; likely to

increase student engagement and
support mastery of the concept(s)

serves as a nice supplement to a lesson

but wouldnt necessarily play a critical
role within the lesson

will most likely be used by the

students directly

will most likely be used by the teacher

during a lesson (e.g., a demonstration)

optimal in a student-centered
environment where students are active
and engaged in learning content

VALUE-ADDED EXPLANATION

Based on the value-added rating scale above, how would you rate the technology integration you described, using the
selected resource?
Explain your rating based on the rubric indicators.

Though GC doesnt meet all the standards, it meets half for both teachers and students. Thats pretty good! I dont think a good
digital technology resource has to meet all six for both teachers and students.

As mentioned above, its impossible to think covariationally without viewing movement and change. A teacher cant talk at her
students about how two things change together. Imagininganticipating what we think will happenis great. But we need to
contrast our mental images with what we see moving on the screen.

GC is a great component of didactic objects: images or animations taken with the discussion they foster. Its a focal point for the
discussion. But the key is the discussion itself.

This template has been adapted from the following resources:
Christie, A., (2007). Dr. Alice Christies 6C Model for Evaluating Apps. Retrieved from

http://www.kathyschrock.net/uploads/3/9/2/2/392267/evalipad_content.pdf
ISTE, (2012). iste.netss Advancing Digital Age Learning. Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-s-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=2.
LearnZillion, Inc. (July 2014). TeachFest Guide | Mathematics. Retrieved from http://ctcorestandards.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/Math_TeachFest_SA_Guidebook.pdf.
Schrock, K., (2011-14). Critical Evaluation of a Content-Based IPAD/IPOD APP. Retrieved from

http://alicechristie.org/6C/6C.pdf.