Hi Everyone!
I spent a few hours clicking on links offered through the weekly assignment. I was really fascinated by the tour of the Berlin Wall, since I'm old enough to remember it existing and falling. I also enjoyed views at the Grand Canyon, which I've never visited but would love to see someday. I also spent some time on the Ellis Island link; a place I have visited and am fascinated by. The virtual White House tour is pretty cool, since it is up to date with pictures of the Obamas and Hillary.
Since I teach Math, I don't feel I can use any of the above VFTs in class. However, I did find some Math and Physics related material on the Nova link. I viewed part of the video on fractals, which are repeating patterns which appear in nature. I want to view the entire video (52 minutes) and see if I can incorporate it into a two or three day lesson for my Problem Solving classes. My thought is that the students could view the video one day and then spend one or two days designing a fractal pattern and coloring it. Since we are currently studying Geometry this would fit in. I did something similar last year, where students designed a tesselation (another repeating pattern). If interested, the link is http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-hidden-dimension.html.
If anyone has found anything else related to middle school math, please let me know. I am always looking for ways to get my students to be more interested in Math and how they can use it in daily life and future careers.
Eileen
Hi Eileen
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean by hours. I really spent a lot of time looking for different VFT's. I know I will be using these before going anywhere new. I use the internet a lot but when I think of going away I flock to books. VFT's are quicker and just as informative. It is also such a great way to compare 2 possible places. The Grand Canyon is of course on our list of places to visit and now my family can see it and learn more before actually going. What did we ever do without the internet.
Rosanna
Eileen,
ReplyDeleteMath is probably the hardest subject to find VFTs for but I'm glad that you were able to find one that might make for a good lesson. I'll keep you in mind if I find any new ones that may work for you.