Database Application

Next year, STM will be reintroducing a statistics course. Databases should play a huge role in a course like that. As far as the courses that I am currently teaching (Calc, Precalc, Engineering), I have not thought of anything yet.

Databases = good

Databases could be a good study tool for a lesson that requires many facts--especially numerical facts. I am not yet sure how I can incorporate this into class effectively. I'm working on it.

Bad Info on the Net

Here are some thoughts I ask my students to consider when researching a website:

1. Study the address. Is it legit?
2. Determine the last time the site was updated or edited. If it was more than one year ago, the info might be dated or the site might not be serious.
3. If the info seems suspect, determine who the webmaster is and decide if that person or org is legit.
4. If the site asks the user for information, it might not be a purely informational website.
5. If you are suspicious of a site, then there might be good reason to be.

In-class Spreadsheet Work

I enjoyed the Magic Square. Even on the high school level I could use it as an Excel warm-up or intro.

Spreadsheets for Math

http://mathforum.org/workshops/sum98/participants/sinclair/problem/intro.html

When am I ever going to use a spreadsheet in math? I jest. In math, we could use a spreadsheet to analyze the manipulation of functions. For example, we could create a table and observe how the value of the function changes as the input changes. We could then refelect on why or how those changes occur.

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are great way for the students to analyze large quantities of data while not getting caught up in arithmetic mistakes. It is also a great way to show kids the power that computers have to make our lives a little easier. The keys are time, patience, and practice. I would say however, it is important that students have a strong background in the formulas that they are using in the spreadsheet. In engineering we have a project in which the kids create a ballistic device that fires a ping-pong ball up to 20 feet. The students are instructed to launch the ball at different angles and record the distance. From this data, we use spreadsheets to calculate the initial velocity that the ball is being fired at and the average firing distance at each angle. It is imperative that the students fire the ball "the same way" each time in order to maintain the integrity of the data. Cool stuff!

Googled Out

I was both pleased and embarassed to take a look at the different search engines. Pleased, because I was not aware of the more academically inclined engines, such as Scirus, but also embarrassed because I was not aware of the more academically inclined engines, such as Scirus. Using these engines for engineering research is going to be a huge help. Students will be able to stay more focused and be more efficient with their work. I am embarrassed at the same time because I feel like I've been snoozing when it comes to this stuff. It makes me wonder what else I'm missing out on.