Learning algebra just got a little more interesting and fun,
especially at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School.
Cindy Murphy’s Algebra I class is now using TI-Navigator, an
interactive system designed to promote entire class participation
while allowing students to see results of their work on screen and
compare it to others in the class.
Murphy picked up the system in December after she attended a
training on using the equipment.
“You can do so much more with these – they are interactive,”
said Murphy. “I can print out lessons and notes for those who are
not here.”
She said she can also print information at the end of the class
that shows her how each student performed on the questions they
answered using those remote controls. She said this helps her to
know who she may need to work a little more closely with.
While students answer questions, she is also able to pull up the
percentage of who answered correctly. On Monday, of three
questions, two of them were answered correctly by 100 percent of
the class.
Murphy and Carol Gingerich, an elementary school teacher, were
nominated by school officials to attend a state technology
conference last year.
Out of 722 nominated, 100 teachers were actually chosen to
attend the conference and become state level Keystone technology
integrators. Both Gingerich and Murphy were able to attend.
As soon as the students pile into the room, Murphy suggests they
plug in their “hubs” and log-in so they can work on the first
problem Murphy poses to them.
Once they are logged in, the students are given an equation to
work up first on a piece of graph paper, then to input their
findings on calculators each student has.
A screen at the front of the room called a “SMARTboard” shows
students’ findings from the point specifications they enter into
the calculator.
Some students were incorrect in their calculations while others
were correct.
Murphy talks about the correct answer and then asks students to
change the equation somewhat so they can see how the graph lines
appear differently on the screen.
Students help each other during this process. Each step along
the way, Murphy poses questions to them so that she is sure they
understand how they arrived at their calculations.
The “SMARTboard” is also a touch screen Murphy uses to show
students more information about their calculations. She is also
able to pull up the names of students to find out which were
accurate and which were incorrect.
In another exercise, students use a remote control to answer
multiple questions Murphy can pull up from various Web sites. She
said she is able to make up her own questions in some cases, use
textbook questions, or can even pull up Pennsylvania System of
School Assessment (PSSA) test questions to allow students to
practice answering them.
“Anything you can do to get them excited in class,” said Murphy
discussing the use of the systems. “They want to use the remotes
and this way everybody has to answer.”
In using the remotes, each student is required to answer the
question instead of the usual four or five students that answer
every time. The whole class is now able to take a shot at getting
the correct answer.
Murphy is also able to send quiz questions to students for them
to work on. When a student completes a test, he or she is able to
pull up activities and games that challenge their skills while
others finish their tests.
One challenge she gave students was to find the correct angle at
which a bridge was pointing in a photograph. After she worked a
sample equation, students tried to find the correct angle
themselves using different equations. As each student input their
equations on the calculator, lines would appear on the screen
depicting how far or close they came to finding the exact
angle.
The class was able to discuss their responses with each other
until one student was able to get the closest to the correct angle.
They seemed to enjoy the challenge, working together to get to the
correct response.
Later in the class period, students were able to go to the front
of the class and use the touch screen to answer questions posed to
them while their classmates helped them get to the right response,
cheering them on.
The TI-Navigator Murphy is using comes at no cost to the
district as long as she is able to fulfill requirements such as
presenting the system to 200 other educators including those at the
Middle School State Conference which will be held in March and the
Pennsylvania Expo for Technology to be held in February.
She is also required to write four activities for their Web site
and to write one article for a Navnet newsletter.
