Math 371 Technology for STEM Educators

Every spring semester I get to write the last blog post for Math 371, Technology for STEM Educators. I always title it, "What I Learned This Semester," but this year I want to be more specific about why educators need to keep learning.  If we don't continue to learn, how can we ask our students to learn? As a teacher educator, I have always felt that modeling what I want our future teachers to do is the most important aspect of my job. How can we say one thing and do another? So I try to model good teaching, fair assessment practices, and being a lifelong learner.  Last semester I did an action research project with collaborators from Georgia Southern University and the University of New Hampshire. We used a two-column proof software in our Geometry for Teachers courses at our respective institutions. We collected data through student surveys and the software. When it came to analyzing the survey data, I initially used a Chi-square Test of Independence on the pre-and post...

By Allison Johnson This semester has been full of learning. I have learned about a lot of different technology tools to potentially use in my future classroom. I have learned about a lot of different iPad apps to use. I have decided that I like having an iPad and being able to take notes on it so much that I am highly considering getting one. I also learned how to do things on a SMARTboard and Promethean board, which I was very excited about. Elementary-aged Allison would be so happy, I remember always wondering about how you work a smart board and I loved playing on it when I could. This week we had a Desmos art project due. Desmos is an online graphing calculator. We had to create an image of some sort in Desmos. This activity was challenging, you had to graph a line and then just keep changing the numbers in the equation until it looked right. I was able to find some resources online to help, which was very nice. After I finished my activity, I sent a video of it to my parents. My...

By Hunter Hanson Accounting is becoming more and more technology-savvy with each day that passes by. Right now, in the United States, legislation has introduced accounting to be considered part of the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field instead of being in the business field in K-12 Education. Accountants are responsible for recording the financial transactions of a business or organization. The accounting process includes summarizing, analyzing, and reporting financial statements. All businesses need an accounting professional to do their finances, which makes them in high demand in almost every economy today. STEM provides some of the fastest-growing jobs related to cloud computing, engineering, mathematics, and sciences. The legislation would allow STEM K-12 grant funding to be used to help with accounting awareness and education. The activities would promote the development, implementation, and strengthening of programs to teach accounting. The goal of t...

By Melissa Christlieb Have you ever been assigned a homework assignment online? Or have you ever assigned your students online homework? Online homework is being implemented more and more in education each day. So, what are some pros and cons of online homework? Let’s start with some pros. A major pro of online homework is the flexibility that it allows. Students have complicated schedules and are involved in more things than just your class. Having homework online allows students to learn when the time suits them and the opportunity to work in a different environment than a classroom. There are so many resources online now to help with homework and understanding. Online homework can be beneficial to students who are shy or do not like to talk in the classroom. Having discussions posts online gives those students a way to communicate what they are learning in a way that is comfortable for them. As a student, one aspect of online homework is that immediate feedback is provided in most c...