Activity 3C
C&I 335
Summer, 1998
Karen Bennett
Glenwood High School
Chatham, IL
__________________________________________________________________________
Reviewing Trigonometry "Mission: Impossible"
Preparation: The teacher will create an Informal Geometry web site with a review page template. This page will be linked to the school's homepage. The teacher will use RealPublisher to add a recording of the Mission Impossible Theme song and a tape-recorded message with their lesson's "mission". (read: instructions)
Materials: Each student will need a computer with internet access and a web browser. The computers will need to have RealPlayer installed. Students will use printers to download the day's review fact sheet.
Procedure: Students will be given instructions for how to locate review page. (Students may work with neighbors to find this location.)
Once located, students will be using RealPlayer to listen to both the theme song, and the instructions for completing the assignment. The recorded message will be something like this:
"Good morning, Agent Phelps! A top ambassador from the nation of BOOLA-BOOLA has a 15 year old son who is struggling with Trigonometry.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to print out this study guide, complete it and submit it to undercover agent Bennett.
Good luck, Jim. This tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds....."
(noise... and fade to Mission Impossible Theme Song again)
Students will download Review Template to printer. Assignment may be completed at home for turn-in the next day.
Goals: Students will be using internet access skills to find lesson.
Students will be utilizing new technology, in playing the messages, with the RealPlayer.
Students will be motivated to complete the review sheet through the "fun" addition of the theme to the lesson.
Evaluation: Students completed forms will be graded. Teacher will compare completion of assignment percentage to the usual" assignment to determine if the addition of technology was helpful.
POSSIBLE EXTENSION?? :
I got kind of excited about the idea of doing a review day like this for EVERY unit of the course. It would mean creating student pages, similar to those used in this course. Each unit would have a review page that could be linked to the student's page when completed. Students would edit the templates with FrontPage Editor and save the changed pages. An added bonus to this setup would be the ability of students to reach this information from home, or the library since the review templates are on the web.
Each unit could have a new "theme" song, thus intriguing kids to get on and see what's new, and then getting on to the business of the math topic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
My students in Informal Geometry don't typically care much for math, but the computer lab is fun for most of them. The scope of this lesson will appeal to them and not be too challenging for most students. While some may need longer time or extra help, this should only take one class session. Hopefully, the "fun stuff" will get their attention, and encourage some interest in my Programming class as well.
This lesson will give them practice in communicating with each other (in the "help" situations), as well as over the Internet. While students are improving their skills in using technology, they are also doing what is helpful to prepare for the math test.