Award Winning Publisher's Software

I viewed some of the award winning math software over the weekend. I thought that they were all very thorough and looked looked as though they would be useful in the classroom. I particualrly liked the the Fast Math on the Tom Snyder Productions website. It utilized a method of analyzing each student's skill level that allows not only the teacher to keep track of their progress but the student as well. I think that knowing that they are making progress is important to motivate the student to keep trying. Often, especially in math, students tend to get discouraged when the feel that they don't think that they are making progress. This software attempts to solve this problem and I think it does a fairly good job. It is extremely personalized to each student and even offers printouts to use in class as well as the computer software. I think that it is good to incorporate traditional teaching methods along side with the computer software in order to maximize learning

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly... of Second Life

Second Life is a virtual reality software that allows you to have a second life. Second Life is along the lines of The Sims but is a little more sophisticated. Second Life allows the user to be creative. You can create a version of yourself and change their appearance to anything you like. Also, you can build things and create new inventions. Another feature of Second Life is that there are real business and universities on Second Life. IBM and Dell have virtual business environments that can train employees long distance or can introduce a three-dimensional rendering of a new product. There are also some universities, such as Notre Dame, that use Second Life. These universities can use Second Life as a way to have virtual classroom and as a cost effective solution to distance learning. In Second Life, as in the real world, the user can get a job or open any kind of store they want.

The Good:
Second Life fosters creativity and challenges the user to take their imagination to the next level. Second Life also provides an outlet for communication between peers. Also, the universities classrooms allow for students to learn from practically anywhere in the world. The business aspect of Second life can also teach the user proper money management.

The Bad:
One bad aspect of Second Life is that it takes away the personal feeling of a classroom. Also, Second Life users can have a non-educational motive to play Second Life, which is fine but encounters with such players must be approached appropriately. Also, in regards to the corporations on Second Life, there can be a feeling of a lack in legitimacy.

The Ugly:
Although the fact that Second Life is available to can be useful there is still the chance that some people that use Second Life might have other motives. When encountering people the user must take things with a grain of salt and try to make sure the people they are interacting with are the people they are interacting with. There is no really way to monitor students appropriate use.

So, although Second Life can be used as an educational tool with a business application educators must closely monitor their students to be sure that they are using this software appropriately.

Google Earth

Google has come up with fantastic tools that have reinvented the way we do things. Google Earth is a yet another one of these tools. Google Earth is a program that uses virtual reality and applies is to the world, and in fact, the Moon and Mars. Google Earth allows you to go anywhere in the world with a click of a button. For instance, you could be looking at the layout of New York City and then move the screen to show you the layout of Beijing. Not only does Google Earth show you real overhead shots but also includes some 3-D buildings. So if you wanted to see how the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids looked you could find them and rotate your views to see every angle. Another feature that Google Earth has is that you can find restaurants and lodging if you are planning out a trip. Other than recreational uses Google Earth also has educational uses. Online there are “trips” that can be viewed in Google Earth that follow the treks of famous people or literary works. For example, you could follow the path of Lewis and Clark or follow the path of Huck Finn. The great feature with these trails is that along the way you can click on the points and get more information about the area and the place. Along with the trips that can be found online, you can also create them yourself.

Google Earth can also be used in a math classroom. Students can use Google Earth map out flight patterns for trips and use properties of triangles to calculate how far it is do fly directly as opposed to stopping in different cities. For instance, say you were traveling from Pittsburgh, PA to El Paso, TX but on the way you changed planes in Indianapolis, IN. The student could use Google Earth to find the distance from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis and from Indianapolis to El Paso. The students could then find the angle the two different flight paths make and use trigonometric functions to find the distance if it was a straight shot and compare that to the actual distance between Pittsburgh and El Paso.