Math 371 Technology for STEM Educators

When I was a student I probably asked the question why? too many times in a day. Sometimes, in math especially, the teacher could give me the answer to that question and I would still not understand (I’m looking at you, π, who decided what you were?) But there is an important tool teachers have at their fingertips to answer some of these questions. Why is a circle 360 degrees?   Because the Babylonians and other ancient cultures used a number system based on 60, and degrees is left over from that mathematical tradition. Why does the Pythagorean Theorem work, and…who was Pythagoras?   Well, Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician, and his proof using geometry proves this algebraic equation in a different way than showing them the equation does . Why do we need math?   There’s so many historical answers to this question. Point to the computer scientists and mathematicians that made it possible to go to the moon and have the computers we have today. Point to any of the ...

     Thinking back to the days of elementary, middle and high school, I remember many of my teachers. All of them I would be able to recognize, some I would be able to recall their names, and still others I remember the class they taught and some important things I learned. The last teachers I mentioned have clear memories that define them as my favorite teachers, but hold the phone, why do I remember these teachers? What features or experiences did I have with them to hold this memory? After some thought, I discovered that every teacher I remember either guided me to a new way of thinking or motivated me through the way they taught.       One of the most noteworthy teachers I had was in elementary school. She was my first-grade teacher that also taught second grade, and she was the teacher that recognized my skills in math. I still remember the day that she asked me to join the second-grade lesson and all the other second graders ...

Stop Boring Students As a big sister, a tutor, and a nanny I am no stranger to helping with homework. I have helped in all types of classes. One thing I have noticed is that the person I am helping always seems uninterested. It is not that they do not really understand, but instead they just do not want to do it. Another thing I have noticed is that I always was a nd am helping with worksheets or problems out of the book,  and have never been asked to assist someone on a project, study for an exam or help with a paper . After a discussion in class I have begun to realize that the students understand what they are doing, they are simply just bored and tired of repetition. Handing out worksheets and book problems are boring, never seem fun and by default students can become uninterested . Believe me, even some of the best students will become bored and unintrigued, and instead of changing it up, teachers continue to assign the same generic things. Once a student is bo...

Ed Camp 2017             Just this past weekend I had the privilege of attending my first ever Ed Camp here in Brookings, SD. I had many people tell me that you won’t regret going and they were correct. For those of you that don’t know what Ed Camp is, Ed Camp is a day of self-driven, high-interest professional development. It is a day to collaborate with teachers and future teachers of all grade levels. The best part is that you as participators get to choose the topics that are discussed that day. After a short introduction, you are asked to write down on a piece of paper what topics and ideas you want to discuss with other teachers. All of the ideas are then collaborated and you as a teacher participate to facilitate the discussion within the room. There are no presenters or power points, it is simply just teachers wanting to learn more from other fellow teachers.          ...

So quite recently Taylor gave a talk in class about gamification in the classroom, and I was actually quite surprised. It seems as if I was used to a completely different concept of gamification than what Taylor presented to the class. It is not entirely strange that there exist two different definitions of gamification, and it did allow me to grow more used to the idea of gamification in the classroom. Before I talk about the new ideas that I have thought of for gamification I’ll take a few sentences to explain the differences in what I thought to what Taylor knew. My thought of gamification was of applying the concepts of a game to the classroom. I’ll just start making analogies to World of Warcraft because it boils down game mechanics to their base state. In World of Warcraft you do quests, kill creatures and explore a world all for many different reasons. In the essence of World of Warcraft everything you do is to level up, all of the tasks are just to get the “ding” ...

After spending two college Spring Breaks at home on the couch, I decided that I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone and use college as an opportunity to experience new things. Last Spring, I learned about an opportunity to complete a ten-day course called “Educational Leadership in Service- Learning: Belize” through the College of Education and Human Sciences at SDSU. This Spring, I completed that course over my Spring Break with eleven other SDSU students and twelve Brookings community members. I never expected this trip to have such an impact on my life that I would shed a tear when I had to part ways with these amazing people who became like family over the course of this trip. Not only the people that I served with impacted me so greatly, but also the children, adolescents, and adults whom I met and worked with while in Belize. It has been eleven days since we have returned and I am still trying to process this life changing experience. I had two goals for this trip. ...

     Recently in one of my courses we had the privilege of receiving a visit from the 2017 South Dakota, Teacher of the Year, Beth Kaltsulas. To our liking, Beth just so happened to be a fellow math educator at the middle school level. While visiting our campus, Beth was able to visit and present to many different content areas of the education department, and fortunately to our math class as well. Dr. Vestal gave a brief introduction and then Beth took the floor. Coming into our class she had up to three different presentations prepared to share with us young, future educators and you could feel the energy within her as she was realizing her reality at the moment.      As Beth began speaking and sharing her experiences and stories, I found my mind wandering (sorry Beth) to the same questions over and over again: What did she do differently that set her apart to become teacher of the year?   As a young educator, did she set this ...

     My 13 year-old son has been sick this week.   He has a soccer tournament this weekend and wanted to play tonight so last night he decided he would go to school for part of the day.   This is what he said to my husband, “Playing soccer is easier than going to school.   If I can go to school, I can play soccer.”      While I found his comment amusing, it also made me sad. I think he was saying that sitting in school all day in classes is hard for him. Knowing how active he has been since he was little, it doesn’t surprise me.   Even now when he watches TV, he is either kicking a ball or throwing a ball—never sitting still unless he doesn’t feel well.      Last week, he asked me if my classes were the same every day.   I said that it depended on my class, but one of them was never really the same any day.   He then said that he doesn’t like school and thinks it is boring because his cl...