I served as a panelist for a recent T3 professional development webinar entitled Innovative Class Projects with TI-Nspire™ Technology, where I discussed using sensor-based data collection outdoors to promote biological and environmental awareness among students.
In the past I have felt like a voice in the wilderness, but several comments during my portion of the webinar inspired me to get more information out about activities that use TI-Nspire handhelds and Vernier sensors in the field.
During the webinar, my co-panelist Steve Phelps shared examples of how he has used TI-Nspire and 3D printing to enhance students’ spatial reasoning skills.
I learned so much seeing what math is doing with 3D printing, that I can see a potential future workshop on using 3D printing to teach science skills and 3D graphing skills.
This would be an amazing sharing of ideas between the two areas.
The webinar showed me that I need to learn more about 3D graphing and parametric calculus. That one webinar inspired me so much that I now feel like I need to learn a whole lot more math!
There is also a need for science teachers to teach the math teachers how to use TI-Nspire handhelds and Vernier sensors to collect water quality data, species biodiversity data related to salinity and depth, and how to take the technology tools outside in the rain, wind, water, and get better data and graphs.
An added benefit is that TI-Nspire handhelds and Vernier probes reduce the use of chemicals, speed up data collection, allow for GPS data to be included, and make real science easier to analyze.
I currently have a partnership with the Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences and the Smithsonian Museum where we are creating 3D replicas and fossils. With the help of a new Motorola Grant, I have hired two 3D printing teachers to help teach us to get the most accurate reproductions of skulls, bones, and fossils. The possibilities are exciting!
I am amazed at the innovative uses of TI technology and probes in the classrooms around the country and I can’t wait for the next T3 International Conference to meet some of these people and pick their brains. In the meantime Tuesday webinars are a great source of ideas and information about what some amazing people are doing!
Information about the T3 International Conference can be found here.
The schedule of upcoming webinars and archive of past recordings can be found here.
Note for those interested, registration for the 2018 International Conference is now live!
Submissions for sessions is open until mid-August