Friday, February 27, 2009

Tech Tools Week 3

This weeks activities been be very interesting to use. I have dabbled with using Excel programs and have seen a variety of people utilize their tools. I found it interesting when working on the assignment because I had some of my Calculus and Physics students help me fill out the formulas. It was shocking to me how much these students knew about the program. I have seen college students struggle in business finance classes trying to use these functions. Thankfully with there help and the knowledge that I possessed from the assignments, I was able to easily complete the tasks.

One way that I am going to utilize these formulas is for my fuel mixture in Small Engine Class. Students continually bring in engines that require different fuel mixtures. By creating a simple formula on Excel, we should have very little problems figuring out the correct mixture.

The readings have been very beneficial. I really like the ideas that the book is generating. Reading the problem solving techniques discussed in the chapter really helped me out because most of the coursework that I provide students is of the problem solving nature. I pulled a few good techniques out of the text, including the KWL charts, that I hope will benefit my curriculum.

4 comments:

  1. It is amazing how quickly students can adapt to a new program. I think that it is a great idea to use spreadsheets in your class. It will give your students a whole new prospective when it comes to the information in your class. The visual representation should hopefully strengthen their learning. Good Luck!

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  2. This seems like a great real life application of spreadsheets in your student's lives. I'm jealous that you were able to find this connection. Unfortunately this is one of my greatest struggles in 7th grade Geography. A lot of the things I would like to do definitely connect to my life and have real meaning, but 7th graders are still just kids and its hard to predict where the connections will be. I definitely have had more hits in my second year than my first so I'm sure my accuracy will get better with experience.

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  3. Nick,

    Your post reaffirmed my belief of how important it is for me to be in this program. I have been impressed with your technological savvy, and the fact that you have helped me understand the technology we are using. I wonder if your knowledge was obtained out of an interest in technology, or by necessity for survival in college. Either way, you possess a knowledge that I hope to glean throughout this program. That being said, the fact that your students are comfortable working with Excel makes me realize how the educational system has drastically changed since I fumbled through it. Students are being introduced, at an early age, to technology that didn't exist when I was a student. By the time they reach the secondary level, students have a comfort level with technology that I do not possess. This fact is a reminder of how important it is for me to get with the program and have a working knowledge of technology. Google Docs spreadsheets has given me the spreadsheet experience with training wheels. I can only hope to graduate to the "big boy" Excel before I start collecting social security.

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  4. I love the idea of calculating fuel mixture - what a great way to bring this into their world.

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