Project #10

FluidMath- My Use of Technology
I will mostly likely be teaching Algebra, Algebra II, Geometry, or Pre-calculus to 9-12 graders. To help me with teaching math to these students I will use the software FluidMath.
FluidMath is a software used on Tablet PC or Interactive Whiteboards. It animates, graphs, creates, and solves math problems. Teachers or students can write the problem by hand on the board. The software graphs equations and animates them by allowing teachers or students to change bits and pieces of the equation and show how each section of the equation can affect the graph’s appearance. This is mainly an assisting software for teachers and a source of exploration for students. It allows students to understand difficult concepts through graphs, animating the problems, and more; therefore, allowing the abstractness of the concept appear more “concrete”.
I plan on using the “Flip the Classroom” idea. I believe it will help me target all of students’ needs. I plan on using FluidMath to help with some of my students’ questions during class and to add more substance to my online podcast lessons. I will definitely use the animated graphs to explain Conic Sections! I still have problems understanding how each part of the equation for a parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola affects the shape, length, direction of the graph. The animation, which allows the student or teacher to change each part of the equation independently, shows how the shape changes. This is a lot easier than graphing each change to see how it affects the graph.
In an example in the youtube video linked to this post, the “narrator” draws two cars and a line with a distance written under it. The equation to determine which car will reach the end first is next to each car. The software animates the race and shows who wins based on the equation of car. It brings to life word problems. Word problems are difficult for many, many students. I think this software will help my students tremendously. By using this software, I expect my students will find many math concepts less abstract and difficult. This software will make math more interesting for my students.
FluidMath makes SMARTboards and other interactive whiteboards more useful in math classes. It recognizes handwritten math. It can be used on many platforms such as:
• Tablet PC
• SmartBoard
• Promethean Board
• Mimio
• Interactive Projectors
• eInstruction Mobi
• eInstruction Touchboard
• Hitachi StarBoard
• Polyvision
• PC with a keyboard
The main reason I chose this use of technology is for clarifying abstract concepts in math. This tends to be the problem with students in math. If I can make math more “concrete”, I can help my students learn to enjoy (or at the very least, tolerate) math. I want to teach my students to think more critically. This is not a “spoon-feeding” software. It helps students wrap their head around concepts; therefore, they can successfully apply the concept to current and future problems.
The following link is to the FluidMath youtube video and information page. The second link is the site where I found this great software and other suggestions!
http://www.fluiditysoftware.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27&catid=6&Itemid=3
http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/teaching-technology/tmwt