ED636 - Fall 2006

ED636 - Fall 2006
Thomas Petra
Visual Thoughts

What I’ve learned so far is that I am already applying many of the concepts presented in the textbook, but I am behind the times in a lot of areas. Technology can be hard to keep up with, and some of it requires money and advanced equipment.
After reading the chapter on visuals in my book, I thought about how I may be already applying those ideas. I am a math teacher so we are quite dependent on visuals in my class. The majority of visuals I use are nonprojected visuals. I try to make my room visually appealing to the students. I use motivating posters including one of Albert Einstein. I have charts of conversion tables, early Chinese number systems, and one for tracking typhoons. Sometimes I will hang something on the wall that in unrelated to math just to stimulate ideas, for instance a Guam fruit chart or a topographic map of Mount Rainer. My students and I use drawings and charts on an almost daily basis to solve math problems. Drawing a picture is a method they apply in problem solving. When my students make a graph or chart, I require them to do it by hand. I know there are computer programs to generate these, but I think my students need to arrange and produce these by pencil on paper to learn the concepts fully.
We do not use projected media as much as nonprojected media. I have an overhead projector in my room but I don’t use it often. Although I have produced transparencies, when I do use the overhead, it is usually by drawing directly on a clear sheet. I have used the projector to demonstrate with manipulatives. I had never heard of a document camera before. That would seem to be a useful tool for a math teacher to use.
But as far as overhead projectors go, I find it quicker and easier to do things by hand on a white board.
I was surprised the book even mentioned slides. That seems so ancient now. What interests me most now is projecting via a computer. That would really make things easier for me. I could make charts or diagrams on my computer and display them the next day. I could display information downloaded from the Internet or even have a modern-style slide show.
We use visuals constantly in math to diagram the abstract and communicate ideas. This has been done since Euclid drew in the sand with his finger. I could continue to represent visuals as I am, but I also have to understand that my audience is getting a lot more sophisticated. So, I would like to place an order for a computer projector for my classroom and a document camera for the math department. Are they cheap?