Lesson Design Project Update

My lesson design project will be a mathematics lesson, more specifically geometry, which will incorporate elements of inquiry or exploration and collaboration. The goal of the lesson will be having what the students use what they already know about proportions to determine the relationships between corresponding sides of similar triangles and use those relationships to solve a real world problem.

The inquiry or exploration element will be conducted using Geogebra, a visualization software. Although I was not able to use Geogebra to illustrate the relationship between the unit circle and trigonometric functions – due to my own inexperience with the software – it will more than serve the purpose of this lesson. I had originally intended to conduct the inquiry/exploration element using Cabri Jr., a visualization app that can be loaded onto Texas Instruments (TI) calculators. However, Geogebra offers much better graphics and a faster user-interface. The inquiry/exploration element will need to be completed during classroom time to ensure that all of my students have access to the technology.

For the collaboration element, I had hoped to use Knowledge Forum 4.8 which is a knowledge-building computer environment or community. However, after exploring Knowledge Forum I discovered that there is a cost associated with the technology. Unfortunately, neither I nor the department I work in has the funds to purchase a license. This puts the availability out of the reach of my students. Therefore, I will use an alternate technology for the collaboration element, such as wikispaces or Google docs.