Math 2.0 Session @ AMTNJ Conference

Hello,

Thanks for coming to my session last Tuesday at the AMTNJ conference. As promised I've updated my website to include links and other related references.

Here's some follow up notes:

• I never really answered the question:  "What are some great websites for math learning with technology?" You'll find links to them here. I can't vouch for them being "great," but they are some of my favorite activities that I have used with kids.

• I'm sorry that I got you thinking about who the average traveler was in our group at our session but wasn't able to complete it with you. So here's what I did yesterday. Since I don't have your home addresses, I used your school address to determine which school was the closest to the average distance from all the schools that  each of you is associated with as was indicated on the contact sheet you filled out.  I used the distances that came up on Google Map. See results. (See chart below for sorted distances.)

• Based on the intial data, Bernadette Fash from North Arlington HS was our "winner" with her school distance closest to the average of the group. Please check the data and let me know If I'm really off on your entry and I'll change it! Also see the google earth map of your locations. It's an interesting way to present our data. Can you tell from the map that North Arlington was our "average school?" Why or why not? I welcome you to comment below!

•  I misstated that I was furthest away. It turns out that our "outliers" are our two colleagues from Atlantic City.

Please let me know if have any questions or comments about the session by email or comment below . Also I'll keep you posted on this theme with occasional updates.

In addition to Dan Meyer's blog (http://blog.mrmeyer.com) I also recommend Kate Nowak's blog (http://function-of-time.blogspot.com) She is a high school math teacher.

Best wishes,

Ihor

Ihor Charischak

CLIME 

Council for Technology in Math Education

White Plains, NY

ihor@clime.org

The Road Sign Problem

Student page
Teacher page

Average Traveler Activity

At the AMTNJ Conference last Thursday I did the average traveler activity with the 26 math educators who attended my session "Back to the Future: Teaching & Learning Math with Technology (3.0)"
Based on the distances that each attendee traveled to get to this conference, I asked who in this room would represent the average distance traveled? Guesses ranged from 20 to 50 miles. Since we didn’t have access to computers to do this in real time, I used the distance from each attendee’s school (or administrative office) to the Holiday Inn in Somerset, NJ (where this session took place) to figure this out. I added placemarks at each school's location using Google Maps and used the distances provided by the software. Which school’s placemark do you think is closest to the average distance that the participants traveled to this conference? The yellow marker is the site of the conference.

I used Geometer’s Sketchpad to draw a circle with the location of the session at the center and the radius of the circle gives an estimate of the distance to the various schools represented. By changing the radius of the circle I could approximate what the average was. The radius of the circle in the image is 49 miles. Note there are several schools that are candidates for being closest to the average distance. Take a look at Google Maps and identify your location. The sites are open for you to make corrections and updates.
Here is a Google spreadsheet of the relevant data.

Check out the links provided and see if all this makes sense to you. Let me know by sending me a comment below.

Oh, I almost forgot. The Average travelers were from Wayne Valley High School. The average distance was 46.42 miles and Google Maps reported that Wayne was 46.6 miles away. It was almost a bull's eye. I owe you a prize!

original posting: 11/30/08

Please send your comment or question about this activity (2/13/12)