Godly Dominion

Blabbering Pine Marten

2012-01-21T21:11:00.006-05:00

I just got back from iMATHination math/science/technology conference where I shared the exciting features of the TI-Nspire CX CAS and the TI-Nspire Navigator. It was quite an adventure getting to the conference at the Q Center in St. Charles, West of Chicago. While driving up there, 6-9 inches of snow came down. The last hour of the drive turned into 4 hours. I grateful to have made it there safely and in time to give my Friday nigh Math Bash presentation called "Hands-on Learning of Slope: Math and Science Connections with the TI-Nspire CX CAS, Navigator and the Vernier DataQuest Application."

From one of the sessions I attended I learned about a website called Blabberize.com. My second oldest daughter used it to do her science project. When making the mouth, the large green dot indicates how low the mouth will drop. It was hilarious fun to make. Enjoy the production.

Update: If we would have watched this video tutorial, it would have been even easier to make our first 'Blabber.' Exploring is nice, but trial and error can be time consuming. I also discovered an example of how this Web2.0 tool can be using in the mathematics classroom.

I wonder if this blabberizing animals can be considered an application of Genesis 1:28 - having dominion of living things that move on the earth.

Pressure Sensor - Work

2011-11-04T13:41:00.006-04:00

The students are doing a lab to better understand the relationship of pressure and volume, also known as Boyle's Law. They will also find work by using the Vernier DataQuest application on the TI-Nspire.

The following video shows the set up and the experiment. A screen shot showing the analysis done to find work follows.

To find the work, the area under the P-V diagram, use menu Analyze, Integral. It is important that the work is negative. Why is it negative?

STEM Project ... wind

2011-10-21T18:18:00.000-04:00

Today was another windy day in Indiana.
God is in control of the wind. In Mark 4 (and parallel passages in Matthew 8 and Luke 8) the disciples were in a boat with Jesus when a great windstorm arose. They thought they were going to drown. Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Jesus also spoke of our limited knowledge of the wind when he was talking to Nicodemus (in John 3). He said, "You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

For the TI-Nspire STEM Project Challenge, students are to select a topic of interest that they want to investigate and explore, based on an issue or problem in the community (local, state or national) that they wish to change.

An interesting topic to investigate and explore is getting energy from WIND.

Within the past several years, Indiana has become the home of many wind farms. Is wind power an answer to our nation's problem of dependence on foreign oil? The rising cost of energy makes us wonder what can be done to reduce our reliance on 'disposable' energy. Is wind energy a viable solution for home and business energy in our area? Let's study wind turbines, rotational motion, wind power and energy.

In the next weeks and months, my students will share laboratory experiments they have done with the TI-Nspire Lab Cradle and Vernier sensors and summarize their findings from the following links.

- Small Wind Electric System: An Indiana Consumer's Guide http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/pdfs/small_wind/small_wind_in.pdf
- Purdue University's Windy Energy website
- Geographic Information System for Renewable Energy http://www.esri.com/library/bestpractices/renewable-energy.pdf
- Instructions to construct and Windbelt generator
- Kid Wind Project - Humdinger Windbelt kit
- Wind for Schools & Skystream
- Popular Mechanics - Windbelt
- Wind Power in Indiana

Recently an update about the potential for wind energy was published. This shows that Indiana could generate 443 TWh annually. For comparison, Indiana consumed less than 107 TWh of electricity in 2005. However, in 2010, the state only produced 1.24 TWh of electricity (which is better than many of our neighbors, but not in the top 5. Two of our wind farms did make the top 10 list.)

STEM Project Challenge ... ideas

2011-10-13T23:47:00.006-04:00

This summer our school was accepted to participate in the TI-Nspire STEM Project Challenge. I am so excited about how well this fits in with what we are doing and my goals for my students, and not just the AP Physics & Calculus students, but also the Physics First freshmen.

Like with the NASA Student Launch Initiative we participated in years ago where Covenant Christian High School received a several thousand dollar contract with NASA, we wanted to come up with an idea that was truly worthwhile. See point#3 on this Covenant NASA-SLI website.

We began brain storming ideas. Some of these are recorded on this website. (There are also some fun pictures of how we are using the TI-Nspire in class, which sometimes means outside.)
I wonder which of the ideas listed, sound most interesting to you?

An idea the students got excited about that didn't make the list was to make a jet pack. In researching that, they came upon an impressive (and hilarious) water jet pack.

Why I Nspire? Part 5 - The List

2011-05-19T21:05:00.010-04:00

Features that I find worthwhile about the TI-Nspire CAS include:

CAS stands for Computer Algebra System. This is great for exploration & discovery of mathematical concepts. It can serve as a ladder to help student reach new mathematical heights.
Resolution – it has more pixels than any other TI graphing calculator.
The grayscale was nice (color on the software), but now the TI-Nspire CX CAS includes color! This really is extremely helpful for engagement and enhances understanding. With color graphs I've seen freshmen exploring some advanced transformation, and seniors creating amazing 3-D shapes and animations.
Images can be inserted.
Geometry is integrated. No more going to the computer lab for those geometry classrooms. Now dynamic geometry can be in the hands of of every student! This also means lots of great simulations can be and have been made.
Animation and sliders!
Notes - makes it so much more of a teaching and learning tool.
History preserved. Where did a student go wrong? Copy the history.
Computer short cuts, like CTRL C, V, X, S, Z. (There are more shortcuts listed for "Dummies" here.)
Content, content, content! There are many inquiry activities that have been written. See TImath.com or MathNspired.com. Also there are textbooks that integrate the use of the TI-Nspire, or as in the case of the Pearson/Prentice Hall textbooks for Algebra 1, Alg 2, and Geometry that now also address the Common Core Standards, the book is on the TI-Nspire.
Incredibly easy to use data collection. There are so many Vernier probes that automatically work. There is no better way to learn slope or develop an understanding of derivatives and integrals than with real-world applications, like actually walking and seeing data in real-time with a CBR2 motion detector.
Demonstrations – powerful visuals & multiple representations
Graph function, polar, parametric, implicit, DE slopefields and more on the SAME screen at the same time!
Exam acceptance. The TI-Nspire CX CAS is permitted on the AP, PSAT, SAT exam. The TI-Nspire is also allowed on the ACT, IB, and many state end-of-course assessment exams (including Indiana where I'm from). See part 3 blog entry.

Don't forget all the research (part 1),
MathPrint (part 4), and the
software (part 2) that is included.

Learn more about these, like how to make and use sliders, in the Getting Started or Intermediate Users High School Math workshops this summer. Currently I know I'm hosting one in Indianapolis, and I may be called upon to be the instructor for a workshop near Orlando, Florida in the middle of June.

Trip To KSC for NASA Student Symposium

2011-05-14T21:48:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday I was heading back home after an amazing trip with two students who participated in the NASA Explorer School's Student Symposium. One of the students suggested I take pictures of the new TI-Nspire CX CAS as it 'visits' various sites on the trip. The image to the left is the Nspire with the Space Shuttle Endeavor just before its last launch. It is scheduled to take off Monday morning. Especially now that the AP Calculus exam is past, teachers may enjoy incorporating shuttle launch data with the technology they have in their classroom (TI-84 or Nspire) by doing a NASA Math & Science @ Work activity. There is also an algebra 1 activity about for the Space Shuttle Ascent.

Part of the inspiration for doing the research that these two freshmen pursued was the NASA Exploring Space through Math Weightless Wonder activity. They used the TI-Nspire and CBR2 motion detector to consider the parabola formed by a ball rolling on a ramp. I posted their PowerPoint presentation on our school's website.

Besides seeing the Endeavor, some highlights from the trip were hearing from the director of the Kennedy Space Center and former astronaut Robert Cabana, talking to astronaut and physicist Samuel Durrance, and hearing from a panel of NASA scientists and employees to encourage the students to pursue the challenging courses. The students got some great advice.

Update: I just got word about a Google Earth plug-in that lets you watch the space shuttle trajectory in real-time. It is similar to the what can be done with the calculus activity that was mentioned above, except this is LIVE. I think this will be particularly interesting when it takes off and lands. Endeavor is scheduled to land at 2:30 a.m. (Eastern time zone) June 1st, and the last shuttle should launch in July.
It requires the desktop version of Google Earth (free download here): http://earth.google.com/

Once you have Google Earth on your machine, just download the .kmz plugin below to your desktop and click it to start. It’s still in beta-mode so those involved in the development of it at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston would love to have feedback from teachers and students on what they think. Let me know and I'll pass on the feedback.
http://etouch.cust.footprint.net/LiveSpaceShuttle.kmz

Inserting Images on the TI-Nspire

2011-04-06T12:28:00.011-04:00

[Update: Videos about images on the handheld and what can be done with the TI-Nspire Navigator are now available on youtube. To transfer a file that you inserted an image on from the computer to your handheld, try this video tutorial. The basic insert image tutorial is here.]

Diagrams and pictures can help student engagement and exploration. The TI-Nspire Navigator 3.0 makes it easy to evaluate students in engaging ways. It encourages a new means for students to communicate their explanation of the relationship between their mathematical model and an image. This extends their learning beyond the normal rote problem set into an interactive investigation. Today in class I used the last image in this blog entry, the NASA Space Shuttle launch, to see how well students could write an equation of a line. They said they wish their previous math teacher could have used this. It would have helped them learn and understand slope and y-intercept so much better.

Images appear crisp and bright in vivid colors on the TI-Nspire CX. It comes with some images already loaded in the TI-Nspire, Images folder. But it is easy to import more jpeg, bmp, png, or clipboard (YES, copy/paste works) images. Any of these work just as well as the other from my experience. For more info about the file types you can read a recent google group conversation. I really enjoy copy/paste. It has been recommended to not use a several megabyte picture, but to keep the file size small. I've used images on a QuickPolls with the Navigator and it took it a second or two for the students to get the question to pop up on their screen rather than the normal nearly instantaneous delivery. But it was worth it.

So how do you insert a picture or image into a TI-Nspire document? It is essentially and easy and clicking 'Insert.'
From the software, images can be put into Questions, Notes, Graphs, Geometry, and Data & Statistics applications by clicking the 'Insert' button and choose 'Image...'.

Images convert from color into grayscale well on the Touchpad or Clickpad handheld devices.

The screen shots you see can be found in the 3.0 OS TI-Nspire document here.

All text and lines are mapped to black.

Here is an example from Data & Statistics page. Images can be modified by moving them, change the size but keeping the aspect ratio, squish or stretch vertically or horizontally. Again, on a D&S page select the image by pressing menu, Action, Select Image.

So there is currently not a way to rotate an image or adjust the transparency. However, there is a way to make an image more transparent on a Graph and Geometry page with the following trick.

Note page 1.3 looks like the image is more transparent. Actually what happened is the image was inserted on a Geometry page, THEN the view (press menu>View) was changed to Graphing. This puts a somewhat translucent graph on top of the Geometry View. Similarly you could Show an Analytic Window on top of a Geometry page. This is what it looks like on a TI-Nspire Touchpad.

For this OS we do have color, but we are limited to 9 vibrant choices.

If you want to have images as part of a question, especially for doing Activity Center-like questions where equations are put on top of images, instead of doing a split screen, use the question type “Equation.” You can choose y= or f(x)= and change it later under ‘Response Type.’ Check the box for ‘Include a Graph Preview’ in order to make a question that will have some extra ease-of-use features. As the example below demonstrates, the student only needs to start typing in the equation and the graph appears and automatically updates. Again, this works when it is a Quick Poll or if it is part of a document.

Notice the ‘Data View’ options on the bottom right of the Quick Poll. If Graph is chosen, the image appears and students’ contributions are shown when they press enter.
Gray is the default color for students and green is the correct answer. Under the Review Toolbox is a wrench and hammer. By clicking this Tool and choosing Graph Tools, Individualize Student Responses can be activated.

Another tip in regards to colorful images: Sometimes changing the color of the axes and the line will be beneficial for the students to see their graph. Type something into the y= box and change the attributes and color.

I know the summer workshops will give more hands on experience with images and tips for the use of color. The Connecting Math & Science workshop in Indianapolis (among other places) will also share some updated colorful files to help encourage students toward STEM careers. They will also have colorful 3.0 Nspire files for some NASA activities.

TI-Nspire Lab Cradle: Part 2

2011-04-04T17:26:00.007-04:00

Update: There is a Motion Lab/activity that can serve as a nice introduction to the CBR2 available at this link.
This is an exciting time. I would say that with the use of the TI-Nspire Lab Cradle the number of probes/sensors that can be used nearly doubles. According to a Vernier website the number of available sensors if you are using the Easy Link or Go Link are 50 and with the Lab Cradle it is 58. However, let's say you have some old sensors in the stock room that you thought you would never get to use again. With the right adapter, I have now tested an old accelerometer, pressure sensor, a microphone that was designed for the CBL, and just today I received the Motion Detector Cable MDC-BTD and got the original CBR to collect data as shown in the picture. (Thanks Grant, a top AP calc & physics student, for having your camera and taking the pic.) So the $145 TI-Nspire Lab Cradle can be a really good deal if you have some older equipment. Potentially hundreds of dollars of resources can now be used again and you won't need the approximately $60 Easy Link.

[Update: I've used the Easy Link with the older equipment with great success. Note that there are several data collection sensors like the microphone, photogates, and motion that will not work with the EasyLink's one 'BTA' port, but need the Lab Cradle's 'BTD' ports. The Lab Cradle also has 3 places to plug in 'BTA' plugs so you can, for example, measure temperature of 3 things at the same time like we've done with this evaporation lab.]

Now to the question about 'what data collection equipment should you get?'
If I was consulting your school and helping you develop a plan that fit your teachers, I would begin by asking several questions. But since we aren't having that dialogue, I'll give a general response.

If you don't have any sensors, and you have less than $150, the two data collection probes that all schools ought to have for science and mathematics would be the temperature probe and motion detector - Easy Temp and CBR2.
Neither of these require an additional interface. You can plug them directly into the mini USB on the top of the TI-Nspire. Similarly, if you have have a $5 mini to standard USB adapter, then you can plug a Easy Temp ($38) or CBR2 ($93) into your computer and the Nspire software will auto-detect and begin collecting data.

The gas pressure sensor is another one that (along with Easy Temp) is especially useful in bio, chem & physics.

I was recently asked what sensors I would recommend for an environmental class. Take a look at the recommended probes with the lab book "Investigating Environmental Science through Inquiry." Instruction are provided for pH, conductivity, soil moisture, O2, UV sensor (this appeals to many classes), light sensor (I bet you have that one from your CBL days), etc.
Most of these work with the Easy Link. But you cannot use the microphone with the Easy Link.

That is why I'm so excited about the Lab Cradle: multiple probes, extended battery life and help to power probes with the built in rechargeable battery, AND more sensors that I have been wanting to use.

I think math and physics teachers will be especially excited by the microphone. With a tuning fork you get real-world sinusoidal data that gives audible significance to the general equation y=A*sin(B*x)+C, where B=2pi*frequency or 2pi/T, the period. In mathematics they tend to call the coefficient in front of the x-variable B, but especially when dealing with rotational motion, like a Ferris wheel, I prefer to call it omega, the angular velocity. We used a 512 Hz tuning fork to get the data shown in the screen capture. The curve fit gave a value of 511.7 Hz. I love it!

[Update: Microphone lab with the TI-Nspire and many more are now available from Vernier.]

In addition to the microphone, with the Lab Cradle the 3-axis accelerometer, photogate, nuclear radiation monitor, and rotary motion sensors are new comers to the Nspire family that will be useful for mathematics and science classes.

TI-Nspire Lab Cradle: Part 1

2011-03-29T11:35:00.003-04:00

I just got back from a great T^3 STEM Conference in the Atlanta area. It was a blast* sharing "Colorful ConneXions" between math and science with the TI-Nspire CX CAS. (*Yes, I did show video of the blast off of a recent Space Shuttle launch and gave links to NASA TI-Nspire activities, like this Alg 1 activity.) These CX sessions had a excellent mix of teachers and technology coordinators, including physics, physical science, calculus, and algebra instructors. One participant from Florida, who I hope to see at a Summer Workshop, wanted the session to keep on going because he enjoyed it so much.

Some of the participants were excited to learn about the new Vernier DataQuest application and wanted to know more about the TI-Nspire Lab Cradle, like how much it costs. For the participants who were familiar with Vernier's Logger Pro, they felt right at home with the DataQuest. They were pleased with the options available, like the built-in Motion Match, along with the versatility of the functionality.

Regarding connecting sensors, to use one CBR2 or an Easy Temp you do not need any interface device. Plug it in and you are ready to go and have students make discoveries and connections about slope, sinusoidal cures, parabolas and more. Two of my students won a trip for themselves and me to the Kennedy Space Center for their research and presentation regarding parabolas with the motion detector. (Here is the press release from last year.) Teachers will appreciate that you can just plug in the motion detector and click the green start collection button to get the position-time and corresponding velocity-time graph simultaneously. With the new menu > Analyze > Tangent (derivative) or Integral, calculus classes will find themselves easily making real-world connections.

The Easy Link, which enables you to plug into a good number of sensors, costs $59. However, you are still limited to one sensor unless you plug into a computer.

Data collection is extremely fast and easy when you do two sensors at the same time. Currently this can be done with the TI-Nspire Navigator Cradle or with the software. I've had students use two sensors last year and even this past week. Let me know if anyone would be interested in sharing more detail about this.
Recently we have done
- Magnetic Field Sensor, current probe, and a slinky - great linear data
- magnetic field sensor and motion sensor for distance
- light intensity and distance - an inverse square law relationship
- voltage and current - the slope of this linear data is resistance, based on Ohm's Law.

With the Lab Cradle you will even be able to plug in two CBRs if you have a mdc-btd cable. Students can then investigate motion parametrically. One motion detector can be oriented in the x-direction and the other in the y.

YES, you read that correctly. With the Lab Cradle you can use the old Vernier probes and sensors you've had in a science storage room or mathematics teacher's closet. This includes the CBR! I'll try to share more on this and include pictures this next week.

Also, the TI-Nspire Lab Cradle is like getting 3 Easy Links plus a lot of things you couldn't get or do with the Easy Link. So in that regards the $145 doesn't seem so bad. Especially if you got the 5-pack bundle that comes with a 5-unit charging bay, that would be enough for just about any class size. With the experiment set up, every student could collect the data on their own Nspire.

In a similar price range is Vernier's LabQuest Mini. It is $149. With that you will need a computer with Logger Pro or Logger Pro Lite. Of course with the Lab Cradle you need a TI-Nspire OR a computer with Nspire software (http://www.vernier.com/calc/ti-nspire/interfaces-and-sensors.html).
Vernier's stand alone device is LabQuest. This impressive colorful touchscreen device is $329, but it comes with the emulator software.

So if your school, or even if it just you using the TI-Nspire Software, or if you just have some students with the TI-Nspire, what should you get?

I'll try to answer this in more detail next time...

What does CX stand for?

2011-03-15T21:07:00.010-04:00

In the effort to achieve success in the classroom through the appropriate use of technology the CX brings some exciting improvements. Just yesterday I had a student ask what does the CX stand for in TI-Nspire CX. So here is my response to this question.

C is for color or colour for those outside the U.S. And what might the X stand for? Well,
eXtra color obviously. Or perhaps it suggests that it is
eXciting and new. As you can see from picture, it is
eXtra thin. It is flatter than many cell phones. I put it on the table next to a blackberry and they were about the same thickness. It is
eXtra bright. With the backlit screen it makes it so much easier to read then its predecessor. The screen is so crisp and clear, students have commented that it is a better screen than their cell phone. Many teachers will especially enjoy that it has
eXtra battery life. No longer will teachers or students need to replace the AAA batteries. It doesn't use any. It can run for weeks without needing recharged. When it does need recharged, this can be done with the wall charger that comes with the purchase, or the mini USB can be connected via a wire to the USB of a computer, OR it can be docked into a CX docking station, OR it will be charged from the Navigator cradles. Another extra is
eXtra memory. When I turn on my TI-Nspire CAS Touchpad and look at the status it says it has 27.8MB; the TI-Nspire CX CAS has 115.2MB. Maybe the X stands for
eXpandable. There is a special CX TI-Navigator Wireless Network Adapter that is yellow and sits atop the CX. This plugs into the new port on the top and has little metal 'grips' that are secured in the groves on the side. Our school has purchased through a couple of distributors over the past years, including Bach Company and School Mart. The latter says the CX Navigator hardware will be ready to ship in May. Another way to expand the TI-Nspire CX is with the Vernier Lab Cradle. This tool which will be available in April will enable data collection in ways that were not previously possible. Finally, I suggest that the TI-Nspire CX is
eXtra nice, because it plays well with others. The Lab Cradles work on any TI-Nspire. If you already have the TI-Nspire Navigator, those cradles fit really well on the CX and you can have a mixed class of Clickpads, Touchpads and CX. However, I would recommend only having a class of Touchpads or CX because all the buttons are in essentially the same location. I've heard many teachers and students who first get their hands on the CX exclaim how much they like the button on the new CX. They also quickly notice the responsiveness of CX's touchpad. That's right, it still uses the touchpad and is not a touchscreen. This means that it is still allowed on all the major tests. The TI-Nspire CX CAS is permitted on the PSAT, SAT, AP exams like AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, etc. In addition to the above, the numeric TI-Nspire CX is permitted on the ACT and IB exams.

For those wondering, 'What is this information about a graphing calculator doing on a Godly Dominion blog?' I would answer both you and myself that technology, especially educational technology that seeks to "inspire all students to achieve to their potential and become innovators of tomorrow," is an integral part of the cultural mandate, or the dominion mandate, in Genesis 1:28.

And in the words of one of history's greatest mathematical physicists,

“Almighty God, who hast created man in Thine own image, and made him a living soul that he might seek after Thee and have dominion over Thy creatures, teach us to study the works of Thy hands that we may subdue the earth to our use, and strengthen our reason for Thy service; and so to receive Thy blessed Word, that we may believe on Him whom Thou has sent to give us the knowledge of salvation and the remission of sins. All which we ask in the name of the same Jesus Christ our Lord.” - James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)

TI-Nspire CX at T-cubed in San Antonio

2011-03-12T09:33:00.001-05:00

At the recent Teachers Teaching with Technology International Conference in San Antonio, I had a great time seeing friends and new technology that will be a blessing to the math and science classroom. There have been questions about how clear is the CX color and backlit screen. To the right you can see a picture I took with my camera. The picture of the flowers were taken by my daughter Lydia in our backyard. This gives new meaning to graphing and rotating a polar 'rose.'

Inserting images makes mathematical modeling a lot more fun. I was showing the picture of the Alamo with the equations on it to a TI-Nspire Online User Group (The next meeting is April 14.), when someone asked about how the circle was draw. When you are on a Graphs or Geometry page you can press menu > Shapes > Circle.
After the circle is draw, you press menu > Actions > Coordinates and Equation and click the circle to show the equation of the circle. I like to move my cursor over the circle and press ctrl menu for right-click and choose Coordinates and Equation. Showing the coordinate or equation is a feature that can be turned off by teachers who do not want students to have access to this. To do this they would use Press-to-Test.

Not that too many high school teachers use 3D by graphing z(x,y), but there is definitely a lot of excitement about this functionality on the TI-Nspire. It is so much more powerful than what was available with the TI-89. When z1(x,y)=x^2+y^2 is entered in the 3D graph view, a paraboloid is almost immediately rendered. This used to take a lot more computing time on the 89. Then something the 89 couldn't do, graph another 3D graph on top of that and z-trace. Auto-rotate by pressing A or just use the arrows.
Here is a video of a 3D graph that is rotated. I guess I need a better video camera if I want to do any future videos like this. To the right is a much better picture of what the heart looked like on the TI-Nspire CX handheld. (Here is a link for more graphs of hearts.) I was showing this to some middle school students last night. My oldest daughter was begging me to show her friends the CX. Some of her basketball teammates were spending the night on Friday before they went on a service project on Saturday morning. This group of girls said they had never heard of a z-axis. By easily changing the orientation of the axis by pressing x, y, and z or rotating using the arrows, it was fun to watch the 'light bulbs' turn in in their minds. They were so excited about math and learning some things their teachers hadn't taught them. They were exploring and explaining to each other what the z-axis was. With color, images, and fun 3D shapes, math becomes a lot more cool, even for 8th grade girls at a sleep over.

Yes, 3D and the new differential equations graph type, now enabling the drawing of slope fields from anywhere - even the Scratchpad, will be features that are available for the CAS or numeric TI-Nspire or TI-Nspire CX when they upgrade to 3.0.

Handheld Graphing Calculator in Color

2011-02-26T08:34:00.001-05:00

As I was driving home the other day I heard a song on the radio that begins with, "Looking for a color in a shade of gray."

God created a very good and colorful world. Heaven will be a world of colors. However, many inventions in the past century or so started out in black and white.

The first permanent black and white photograph was taken in the 1820s. And although my favorite mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell made the first permanent color photo in 1861, black and white prospered well into the 20th century. I was interested to learn how many famous mathematicians and scientists were involved with the discovery of photography: Aristotle and Euclid described the pinhole camera in the 5th & 4th Century B.C., the name camera obscura is attributed to Kepler; Boyle and Hooke developed a portable camera in the 1660s.
Kodak came out with the modern color film in 1935, but due to expense color snapshots didn't become common until the 1960s and it became the norm in the 1970s.

Black and white television shows were first regularly broadcast in 1928.
RCA sold color TVs in 1954 for $1000. When Disney aired episodes of the Wonderful World of Color from 1961-1969, my Mom and her sisters enjoyed watching it even though they still only had a little black and white tube in the house. In 1972 the sale of color televisions exceeding that of black and white. I grew up watching the color test bars before the cartoons started.

Graphing calculators first came into my world in the late 80s. A little over twenty years later and it is now 2011. This is a historic year. Texas Instruments started selling a handheld graphing calculator that brings color to a world that was once only black and white (with some shades of gray these past few years).

WOW!

There were some things my students could enjoy with color only if they had installed the software that comes with the purchase of a handheld. Now, if they buy the TI-Nspire CX they will be able to enjoy the wonderful world of color in math and science wherever they are. A great thing is how much content is ready to use with color and more will be coming out throughout the summer. It will be a good year to participate in a summer workshop. In addition to being equipped with a lot of classroom-ready content, teachers will get a TI-Nspire CX or TI-Nspire CX CAS handheld and Teacher Software. If teachers choose a 'Connecting Math & Science' professional development workshop, then they will learn about all kinds of applications that will add relevance to what they are teaching. One of these workshop will be in Indianapolis. Click here for more details about this and others.

I've had opportunity to play with the CX recently. Look forward to more details about what I've discovered.

Why I Nspire? Part 4 - MathPrint

2011-02-05T14:49:00.008-05:00

To recap the reasons already given why I use the TI-Nspire for teaching math and science:
#1 is because of the research,
#2 the value gained because the handheld comes with similar software,
#3 the TI-Nspire and TI-Nspire CAS are accepted on major exams.

Some of the first things I noticed and reasons for adopting the Nspire back in 2007, are the following:
#4) MathPrint. This has been a native feature of the TI-Nspire since it first came out that enables you to enter mathematical expressions they way they look in your textbook or homework paper. Students (and teachers) make fewer mistakes. You don't get lost in parentheses and carats. The TI-89 had what they called Pretty Print on the output so you could look to see if you typed it in correctly after you press enter. But the TI-Nspire has it on the input as well as the output. Instead of entering 'abs(((x^2-3x+2)/(x-5))^3)|x=-3' or 'int(sqrt(sin(x)),x,pi/2,pi)',

the Math Template palette can be used to select the desired template. The button to activate this looks like the absolute value and system of equation template. For helpful tips/reminders of what each template is used for you can use the Catalog. This button is just to the right of the Math Template button and looks like a book. Then press the number that corresponds to what you want to explore. For example, the image picture to the right is a screen capture taken from a TI-Nspire CAS software, so 1 is the alphabetical catalog, 2 the catalog by subject, 3 units (special built-in CAS feature), 4 symbols, 5 Math Templates, 6 Library.
For many of these there are short cuts: For the fraction template I would press ctrl obelus (the division symbol ÷). For exponents all you need to do is press the carat (^). Square root is the inverse operation of squared so it is activated by pressing ctrl squared. Seriously, I was so excited about this! The square root goes over everything it is supposed to. It had bothered me that the TI-84 even allowed sloppiness with parentheses. You did not need to close parenthesis. With the Nspire, if you ever open parentheses, there will automatically appear a close parenthesis.
Note that you typically enter characters as you would write them, instead of reverse Polish notation or RPN. So if you want to square x, first press x and then the x² button. For nth root, I would press ctrl ^. Euler's number raised to a power has its own button. Logarithm template is initiated by pressing ctrl 10^x. Some of the other templates can be found under menu. In fact, there are wizards that can help with fill in some of the syntax and pick the template. Press menu > Algebra > Solve a System of Equation, if you choose to solve a system of two linear equations with x and y as the variable, then you just press enter and everything except your equation will be populated.
To move from one equation to the next I like to use the tab button. With the TI-Nspire CAS, computer algebra system, you can solve all sorts of equations. As the third line shows this can also be done on a numeric Nspire with the numeric solve or nSolve. If I had wanted the decimal approximation, I could have also pressed ctrl enter as you can see in the keypad below.

Another fun tip I share with my calculus students is that you can quickly access the derivative and integral by pressing shift + or shift minus. Which one do you think does which? Why does that make sense, at least for polynomials? If you really didn't want a definite integral, do not fret, just leave it blank. How about if you wanted to do a second derivative? Once you have the first derivative template, you could change your mind and decide to make it I higher degree by pressing the carat ^ and then the number you want.
I've got a couple of tips for working with matrices too. Let say you picked a 2x2 matrix and you decided that you really wanted a 3x2 matrix, just press the carriage return button on the bottom right, ↵. To add more columns, first press shift and then ↵. To delete a row or column, I would select it by pressing shift and the arrowing left, right, up or down and then delete.

To get to know the Calculator page more and enjoy MathPrint there is a modified Scavenger Hunt on my school's website that I've used to help Calculus teachers and that could be used as an exploration for students.

This past year, the TI-84 came out with an operating system that adopted some of these popular capabilities. In addition to Math Print, one of the features is about how the history is preserved. Previously the 84 could remember the last 10 entries. These entries were retrieved by pressing 2nd ENTER. You can now up arrow to a previous line and press enter to copy and paste that text into the the entry line. On the TI-Nspire it remembers a history of 99 input and output lines for each Calculator page, up to a maximum of 50 pages in each of the 30 problems allowed in a single document.
In the image to the left, you can see that I have arrowed up three out of the eleven entries (see bottom right) that are stored in the history on page 3 of problem 1 (see top tab) of this 'Unsaved' document.

Perhaps part 5 of the series will be about the better resolution and the dynamic geometry capabilities.

Colorful Nspire Art

2011-01-13T16:14:00.004-05:00

This year's J-term added a bit of color (or colour for my international friends) to their Graphing Art project. The picture to the left was done by Sarah who is quite interested in NASA. The stars are 'polar roses' translated vertically and horizontally using parametric and the truth that x=r*cos(angle) and y=r*sin(angle). The comet was animated. This may have partially been inspired by the brief NASA Now program we watched.

Since we became a NASA Explorer School we have also done a number of NASA activities including Exploring Space through Math's Weightless Wonder activity. The NASA Weightless Wonder Nspire file made it so they could do the activity paperlessly and with additional exploratory capabilities.

Another student whose brother attends Kettering did her picture of their mascot. Kettering is known for their co-ops which have even included co-ops with NASA. Besides the impressive quartic Kristen used for the head, I was also impressed with the oblique absolute value she used for the teeth - see the 22nd function f22(x). This activity definitely improves students' understand of transformations.

Kettering University mascot is the bulldogs.
As in previous years we did do a little data collection outside and may go out in the snow again tomorrow.

Why I Nspire? Part 3 -Exam Acceptance

2010-11-01T07:11:00.003-04:00

There is a website that can visually display the frequency of word usage. I used Wordle.net to create the following word cloud for the TI website 'Top 10 Questions Parents Ask about Graphing Calculators".
The word cloud on the right was made by inputting this blog's website. This one appeals to me because it is like the fingerprint for this blog.

Now, for Part 3 in this series ...
One big reason that I made the switch from the TI-83/84 and TI-89 to the TI-Nspire CAS was because it is permitted on the AP Calculus exam. If it wasn't permitted, the decision would have been tougher. This question came up this past week on the AP Calc electronic discussion group.
I wrote that the TI-Nspire CAS's improved speed, math print or 'pretty print' on the input (and not just the output like with the 89), better pixels, and dynamic representations which make it easier to integrate graphical, numerical/tabular, algebraic, and verbal concept development are a few of the reasons we initially made the switch to the Nspire.

The TI-Nspire CAS can be used on all the College Board exams, like PSAT, SAT, AP (including AP Calc, Stats, Physics, Chem, etc.). The TI-Nspire is permitted on the ACT and IB tests, but CAS devices are not.

Today I learned of an exciting resource for IB teachers. "Written by Andy Kemp, a Head of Maths at an IB school in Somerset, the guide is specifically designed to help students understand how the TI-Nspire can be used as an aid to answering exam questions. The exemplar questions in this booklet are the author’s own work, and are written in the style of IB questions. Throughout there is as much emphasis on the mathematics as on the technology, as it is the author’s belief that without the focus on the mathematics, this guide would become little more than a button-pushing exercise."

I know from this website that the TI-Nspire is permitted on many state tests including TAKS. You could contact your local representative to get more info - for example for Texas see this link. Many state exams do not permit CAS.

Another summary of exam acceptance can be found at http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/nonProductSingle/assessments.html

There are a number of Test Prep resources and questions that can be used with the Navigator system to help students prepare for these high stakes tests.

If you want to learn more about this educational technology, this year the T^3 International Conference is in Texas. There is even a Calculus Conference-in-a-Conference track.

Technology tools

2010-11-01T06:30:00.000-04:00

"Be still, and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10
Two months ago an article appeared in our local paper. It was actually a devotion that was submitted by my pastor, Dr. Michael LeFebvre. I read a quote from this at a recent conference session that was focused on technology innovations in the classroom.

"A century ago, people thought that technology was going to make life less stressful. I have an old volume on my shelf called Achievements of Americans, published in 1859, that illustrates that optimism. Marvelling at the pace of innovation even then underway, the 19th century writers of that book exclaimed, “invention after invention crowd so thick upon us, that astonishment ... is only equaled by our wonder ... [at] the eventual result of all these ... upon our condition.” The hope was that improved technologies would bring greater harmony and peace to the human condition."

I know that peace and joy is not found in the latest piece of technology, but in the Lord. Teaching is hard work, especially striving to teach with excellence. I taught the topic of energy recently and I was reminded again of some encouraging words that Paul wrote in a letter to the Colossians, "...teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me." Yes, that is where I want to get my energy. I pray that even though frustration may accompany the learning of anything new, that this article may bring some peace and encouragement to some.

So what is my philosophy/theology of technology? It is part of the dominion mandate in Genesis 1:28. I recently read Foundational Concepts of Christian Education that is on the Geneva College website. It discusses the implication of this for the school, student, curriculum, and discipline. But what is the implication for educational technology? The pros and cons of adopting an innovation ought to be weighed as part of considering the cost. Recognizing the sinfulness of humans, safeguards should be set up to protect and limit wrong use. The key thing to recognize is that technology is not the answer or goal, but is a tool to be rightly used.

The right tool for the right job. My grandfather used to say, "A place for everything and everything in its place."
If you need a tool for a certain job, it is a lot easier to find it if it is where it belongs. We did try to do some organizing of the garage this summer, which is probably why it wasn't too difficult to find these tools pictured on the left. The old pipe wrench actually belonged to my Grandpa Bird. It is large, adjustable to various sizes and provides the mechanical advantage you need to turn a pipe that is really stuck. Now, I don't really know that from personal experience, because I've never needed to loosen or tighten a pipe. But I love it and think it is really cool.

I actually have a slide rule somewhere too. But I've never used that to solve logarithms or get a decimal approximation of a trigonometric value.
Similarly, since I started working at Covenant Christian High School in Indianapolis, I can't remember using a chalk board until the last week when I was helping out an older public school as a math coach. They had recently acquired some great technology and wanted to be encouraged to better utilize it.

Within the past couple of years, my dad got me this handy little socket set. I have had occasion to use some of the ratchets.
It has some nice features. For example, the tool in the middle can act like a typical screw driver when the appropriate tip is put on the end, but it has a ratchet mechanism that can be easily adjusted to tighten or loosen.

Like a four function calculator, this tool cannot do everything. The adjustable monkey wrench on the left wouldn't open to the size of a large pipe. Similarly, you can't easily graph a function on a scientific calculator.

With any interactive white board you should be able to write on in it and save your work, but not all of these tools are designed to particularly enhance the math and science classroom like SMART Notebook Math Tools can. I have enjoyed showing this off at conferences and using this tool in my classroom from the time it was only available as a free download in its beta form. A couple of weeks ago I had a wonderful time showcasing SMART's Math Tools to an outstanding group of middle and high school teachers at a Christian school in Cincinnati.
One thing I especially appreciate about Notebook Math is that it recognizes its limitations and encourages teachers to be aware of the value of graphing calculators and TI emulators. The SMART Notebook on the computers I've used these past several years can be used to launch my TI-Nspire CAS Teacher Software with its built-in TI-SmartView emulator capabilities.

With some tools there is so much power and functionality that you may never use every piece. Even if I took a class to learn about the drill I have on the left, although I would learn more of what the different bits were for, I may not use them again. I really appreciate when a tool is intuitive and many things about it can be figured out without reading many manuals.

The sentiment that the TI-Nspire is intuitive to use has been the general impression I've seen in many students who have been introduced to it. A video that a friend from Scotland is in shows the engagement of the students, the formative assessment capabilities, and many of the other features that are gained by using the Nspire Navigator. I also appreciate that the operating system of the Nspire and Navigator have been improved over the years based on teacher feedback. These updates have come at no additional cost. This tip sheet says that it can take over 30 minutes to update the OS for every device in the classroom, but I've been able to do it many times in less than 10 minutes. The tip sheet is a bit dated, as there are now more ways to improve classroom connectivity.

Sometimes people do not use the best tool for the job. There are many reasons why this is true. If you want to see a variety of tools used for math and science education, the Teachers Teaching with Technology International Conference will be a good place to learn more. This has been one of my favorite conference of the year.

More on the TI-Nspire Software

2010-08-30T22:33:00.012-04:00

Recently on the AP Calculus electronic discussion group the question came up, "What software do you use for generating graphs. For example, for a limits test. How can I generate a graph with removable discontinuities, jumps, etc. Is there a good software program out there for generating graphs?"
There were several replies of programs that use esoteric nomenclature or fancy tricks.
One person replied "I don't have one that works well with piecewise functions (most will handle continuous pw functions with some cajoling and using logical operators (<, <=, >, >=, and, or etc) with Boolean (ie 1 or 0) output, but typically go bonkers when you have discontinuities)... I was just creating a diagram for f(g(x)) where f and g are PW functions for a precal class, and everything I have has come up woefully short (the TI's won't even evaluate Y1(Y2(x)) if you've used the logical operator kluge to get pw functions).
So I'm also all ears if someone has a graphing program that will handle PW functions in a reasonable way."

The most reasonable way I have found to do piecewise functions is with the TI-Nspire. Here was my response with some additional pictures and explanation included:
The TI-Nspire Software may be what you are looking for.
It will do piecewise functions in a very natural way - just like they look in a textbook. There is a math template for piecewise functions. Just press the button (highlighted in red in the first picture on the left) or you can find it in the catalog. The nice thing about the catalog is that it gives a verbal identifier as you can see in the picture on the left.

The Nspire will also do composite functions. You can even change the name of a graph from f1(x) to f(x) and g(x) and let h(x)=f(g(x)). I tested it with a composition of piecewise functions and it worked great too. This was really easy to do. Here is what I did: Open a graph page, arrowed over and deleted the 1 in f1(x) so it would say "f(x)=". Then I press the math template button and filled in the blanks. Next I arrowed down and made it g(x). Finally, I arrowed down one more time and entered h(x)=f(g(x)).

Also with the TI-Nspire CAS you can do many implicit/conics by entering, for example, f1(x)=zeros(x^(2)+y^(2)-25,y)

The graphs look really clean (not large pixels) if you use View > Computer. CTRL J is the shortcut for getting screen shots.

You can download the software that comes free with new purchases of the TI-Nspire Touchpad at http://education.ti.com/educationportal/downloadcenter/SoftwareList.do?website=US&tabId=1&paneId=6002#10
You could also get the TI-Nspire or TI-Nspire CAS Teacher Software for free from a Learn & Earn program http://education.ti.com/html/nspire/learn-earn.html

Yesterday in Physics First and in my AP Calculus class we studied the relationship between position, velocity and acceleration with graphs. We collected data with CBR2 motion detectors. Students plugged these into their handhelds and I could also plug it into my computer and begin collecting data automatically with the TI-Nspire Software.
Notice that the labels on the axes were automatically changed from x and y to Dist(m) and Time(s). These labels can be manually changed of deleted entirely.

On a Data & Statistics page the labels are the variable names.

The students then analyzed the graphs with menu > Trace > Graph Trace. It was fun to have the students predict what the corresponding velocity-time graph would look like and use a dynamic Data & Statistics page to easily who what the calculated solution would be. This is easily done by clicking the left side of the screen. I . I also enjoy just pressing tab to quickly change the variable. The default of the motion detector is to measure the distance every 0.05 seconds. At the same time it populates two other columns of data: dc01.vel1 for velocity and dc01.acc1 is the acceleration for data collection trial 1.

This was a graph of a ball rolling up an incline. At first it increased its distance away from the motion detector and then it came back down. The little imperfection near the peak was when it moves a bit horizontally near the top of the incline. Usually I use a nice racquetball but this time a used a larger less perfectly spherical ball we got from this summer's public library reading program. As you can see the acceleration was a component of -9.8m/s^2. Students who have at least had geometry may be able to even figure out what the angle of the incline was. This ball on an incline experiment is outlined at the end of an Xtreme Calculus activity. There is a link to this TImath.com activity from this site.

From the first time I taught algebra, I've always said that there is now better way for students to develop an understanding of slope than to walk it out and immediately see what kind of graph they are making because of how fast they are moving.

At the end of James Nickels explanation of projectile motion he wrote
"Such is one of the amazing revelations that mathematics gives us about the many nuances of the physics of motion, motion governed by the wisdom of God in Christ (Colossians 1:15-17; 2:1-3). These covenantal laws are treasures that man discovers by investigating the creation order (Proverbs 25:2). Classical physics, founded by men like Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, is a sequence of one fascinating revelation after another. This essay is only one example of these quantitative wonders."

Why I Nspire? Part 2 - software

2010-08-28T23:07:00.001-04:00

I wonder how many of my students' parents read Good House Keeping. It was neat to see the positive review from the experts at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute lab for the kind of technology we are using in my classroom. Also of interest, that I've been meaning to link to, is a news release about the TI-Nspire Touchpad that came out about the time I was in San Diego for the large annual math teacher conference NCTM. Finally, here are answers to the top 10 questions parents ask about graphing calculators.

So back to the topic of ...
Why do I use the TI-Nspire CAS Touchpad in my classroom? Why would a parent want to get the TI-Nspire or TI-Nspire CAS for their child?

2. the SOFTWARE - When you buy a typical graphing calculator, that is all you get - a handheld device that is nice and durable (I wouldn't recommend subjecting it to extreme frigid temperatures). The batteries last a lot longer than a laptop. But if you get the new TI-Nspire, you also get the student software included. A few months ago you would have to buy it separately, retail price close to $100, and I suppose it is still available. But NOW it comes with the software. As TI's website says, it is a 3-for-1.

There are many schools now that are using laptops. I've heard of schools were the underclassmen are getting tablet PCs. The Nspire Student Software would be a perfect fit for this situation because they can use the emulator-like software and then when it comes time to take tests like the AP, PSAT, SAT, etc, then they are familiar and comfortable with the handheld Nspire that works just like the software.

More ways to distribute files
There are a lot of great activities that are ready to use that are available on sites like ti-mathnspired.com and timath.com. Teachers today also have ways to post them to secure school websites. Our school uses edline. I've also heard of schools that use RenWeb and Angel. When students check to see what the assignment is they can also click the tns (Nspire software file) that I have posted. If they are using one of the computers they installed the software on then it will open right up. In addition to the password protected website, our school also has a website where I have posted activities.

Collecting files
These files that students do can be collected or turned in for a grade via email or by sending the files to their handheld. No longer does a student need another piece of software (like TI-Connect for the TI-83/84 or TI-Computer Link for the Nspire). The TI-Nspire Student Software or Teacher Software makes the process of transferring files to a handheld connected to their computer as easy and drag and drop. Files sent to their handheld can be collected from students with TI-Connect-to-Class or with the TI-Nspire Navigator.

Pedagogical benefits
It has been my experience that students with the software explore mathematics more. This is huge! It is the dream of teachers that students would engage with the subject on their own. This additional opportunity to use mathematical technology empowers students to wonder 'what if' and then actually investigate it. I think this is particularly true for the TI-Nspire CAS (computer algebra system - for a comparison to the numeric Nspire check out this link).

It is easier for students to navigator the menu options and 'mouse around' with their computer. With the latest TI-Nspire 2.1 operating system larger files like those found on Math Nspired open so much faster and response with the Touchpad has improved as well, but when you use a computer to explore math and science topics with TI-Nspire technology then everything is extremely fluid and quick to respond.

I also think there are a number of pedagogical benefits of color. Students who use the software enjoy mathematics in color.

Sure there are reasons to use the handheld:
(i) It is useful on high stakes tests where a computer isn't allowed - you wouldn't want students looking things up on the internet or 'phone(text)-a-friend' to find an answer.
(ii) The handheld is useful for easily grading and keeping track of formative assessment when the teacher uses Navigator.
(iii) The handhelds are great for portable data collection with Vernier probes. You can go outside in the snow and use temperature probes or walk around in the hallway to learn about slope with the CBR2. It is nice not to be constrained to a computer.

Another feature of the software that students are likely to use include screen shots for lab reports. Stat
students will enjoy copy pasting data and easily porting it to their handheld. The software enables students to maximize the benefits of multiple representations of split screens. Currently I will not likely often use the computer view on the software for presentations in class or at conferences, but you get a lot more real estate with the smaller font of the software's computer view.

I am excited about so many improved features of the software that came about with the 2.0 OS.
The release notes do a nice job at explaining what new.

Why I Nspire? Part 1

2010-08-02T21:30:00.008-04:00

TI-Nspire technology is the most intelligently designed and mathematically enjoyable technology ever developed for the classroom. It has been an important part of my math and science classes for the past 3 years. This will be the first in a series of blog entries that will help to explain why I made the switch to this 21st century technology. So, by request, here is the first installment. Enjoy (even if classroom technology isn't your thing, it may be interesting to see what is out there today ... and why). [Part 2: The software, Part 3: Exam acceptance, Part 4: Math Print, Part 5: The complete summary list]

Why do I use the TI-Nspire CAS Touchpad in my classroom? Why would a parent want to get the TI-Nspire or TI-Nspire CAS for their child? Or even more generally, why should middle school through college teachers and students use graphing calculator technology frequently?

1. RESEARCH shows it to be beneficial (and is not harmful to basic arithmetic skills) to all aspects of mathematical learning.
Independent research firms and major universities have done studies to learn about the effectiveness of graphing calculators on math achievement. Their findings?
-- When teachers incorporate graphing calculators into curriculum more often, and when students have more access to graphing calculators, math achievement increases (1,2).
-- Students who receive instruction using graphing calculators perform as well or significantly better on key math skills(3). Students using graphing calculators during class instruction did as well or better on conceptual, problem solving and operational math skills than those who did not use graphing calculators.
-- Students using graphing calculators during instruction -- but not during assessment -- performed as well or better in all five math skills areas(3), indicating that student math skills did not suffer without calculator use specifically during assessment.
-- Students who use graphing calculators have significantly better attitudes toward math than those who do not use graphing calculators(3).

(1) "Impact of Handheld Graphing Calculator Use on Student Achievement in Beginning Algebra," Heller Research Associates, January 2006
(2) "Effectiveness of Graphing Calculators in K-12 Mathematics Achievement," Empirical Education Incorporated (EEI), November 2005
(3) "A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Calculators on Students' Achievement and Attitude Levels in Precollege Mathematics Classes," Aimee Ellington, November 2003

The following is a quote from another website [with some comments embedded]: "In fact, a substantial body of educational research now indicates that graphing calculators can have significant benefits for mathematics learning. Research shows that students using graphing calculators develop flexible strategies for problem solving and a deeper appreciation of mathematical meaning than students who do not use graphing calculators (Ellington, 2003; Khoju, Jaciw, and Miller, 2005). In addition, students who use graphing calculators are better able to understand variables and functions
[function notation is promoted by the TI-Nspire better than any other device I know. With the TI-81/82/83/84 you would graph y1, y2, but with the Nspire you graph or define f1(x), or even g(x), etc.],
solve algebra problems in applied contexts [There are a large number of these types of problems available on TI-math.com and coming soon there are some great NASA questions and activities with the TI-Nspire],
interpret graphs, and move among varied representations [multiple representation is the hallmark of the TI-Nspire] —that is from graphs to tables to equations—than students who do not have access to the technology....
Research from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has consistently shown that at the eighth grade level frequent use of calculators is associated with greater mathematics achievement. Moreover, research shows that teachers and students who used graphing calculators most frequently learned the most. On the NAEP assessment, 8th graders whose teachers reported that calculators were used almost every day scored the highest (NCES, 2001). Similarly, in examining an implementation that aligned graphing technology with a comprehensive math curriculum, Heller found that daily use of graphing calculators is more effective than infrequent use (Heller, 2005).
[My 8th grade daughter has been enjoying her TI-Nspire CAS for some time now. It is true that our state end-of-course assessment for algebra doesn't permit the use of CAS, but the TI-Nspire is permitted. The TI-Nspire CAS is allowed on the PSAT, SAT, and AP exams. With the wealth of Math Nspired activities available (and more coming soon) that tackle the tough-to-teach and tough-to-learn topics, I'm certain this research will be even more true today. These activities are easy to use by teachers who do not have just about any experience with the Nspire.]
Research shows that the association between frequent graphing calculator use and high achievement holds true for a wide variety of grade levels, socio-economic backgrounds, geographic locations, and mathematical topics (National Center for Education Statistics, 2001; Ellington, 2003)."

Added to all of these general things about graphing calculators, consider also what the TI-Nspire Navigator brings to education. Many schools are considering 'clickers for the classroom' or student response systems. I'm sure there is a lot of research that has been done to show the benefits of the enhanced engagement of students gained with clickers. These clicker systems are typically expensive and limited in their use. However, I've found that for a comparable price, the TI-Nspire Navigator and TI-Nspire handheld are more robust than any clicker system. This Navigator system is versatile at improving documented formative assessment through quick polls were students can enter mathematics in the way that it naturally looks, automatic screen captures, and sending and receiving files. It has enabled me to get feedback from a quiet class and get 100% involvement in the class where one student would often blurt an answer before others had time to think.

References:

Dick, Thomas P. (1996). Much More than a Toy. Graphing Calculators in Secondary school Calculus. In P. Gómez and B. Waits (Eds.), Roles of Calculators in the Classroom pp 31-46). Una Empresa Docente.

Ellington, A. J. (2003). A meta-analysis of the effects of calculators on students' achievement and attitude levels in precollege mathematics classes. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 34(5), 433-463.

Heller, J. L., Curtis, D. A., Jaffe, R., & Verboncoeur, C. J. (2005). Impact of handheld graphing calculator use on student achievement in algebra 1: Heller Research Associates.

Khoju, M., Jaciw, A., & Miller, G. I. (2005). Effectiveness of graphing calculators in K-12 mathematics achievement: A systematic review. Palo Alto, CA: Empirical Education, Inc.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2001). The nation’s report card: Mathematics 2000. (No. NCES 2001-571). Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education.

UPDATE April 14, 2011: Thanks to a recent discussion on the Nspire Google Group, I've been made aware of additional research with findings available online. These sites include a detailed mixed method long term study in Scotland and is available at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/education/documents/UofA_Report_Mar10.pdf. Another pdf files summarizing the finding of teachers in a manner that is approachable to other teachers.

The lead researcher "observed that teachers changed their teaching methods dramatically when using TI-Nspire, both the way they taught each topic and the way they teach in general. They found that the use of the Npires together with a move towards an investigative approach with more opportunity for questioning and discussion led to a deepening in students' understanding, an increased pace of learning and an increase in motivation and engagement across all ability
levels." A brief summary is available here.

Physics First - STEM

2010-07-30T05:22:00.002-04:00

This next school year we will be officially starting Physics First. Freshmen will take physics, the foundational science, before they take chemistry and biology. I pray that God will use me to challenge these young students to think Biblically about all their studies. I appreciate the writings of John Byl in my efforts to do this.
Working with freshmen will be different than teaching upperclassman who perhaps have a higher maturity level. I will have high behavior expectation of these students just like they do at the Johnson Space Center (see the poster to the left).

Also I'm excited to see if this can positively impact PSAT scores. Freshmen who are taking geometry may be able to keep some of their algebra skills fresh because of various activities in my class. We will be using the TI-Nspire in class most every day for data collection, explorations, and formative assessment. We have a classroom set of TI-Nspire CAS so that even if students don't have an Nspire yet, they will be ready to participate. I think we'll even use our TI-Nspire Navigator to ask 'class opener' questions from PSAT practice and Indiana's Algebra End-of-Course Assessment (ECA) sampler.

Those students who are concurrently enrolled in algebra should find their education in one class complimented by the other. I know in my undergrad studies I frequently enjoyed learning and applying similar topics in both my mathematics and physics classes. Students who took algebra in 8th grade should find their study in physics to help them keep the algebra skills stronger than if they were doing a science that was more focused on memorization and less on data collection and solving relationships for the unknown. There are also some great NASA activities that I've been working with this summer that I will use in class this next year, including Exploring Space through Math and NASA's Math and Science @ Work for the AP level.

There is a real need for young people to take science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. For example, a 2009 press release reports that “the current graduation rate from U.S. university electric power engineering programs is not sufficient to meet our nation’s current and future needs.” It goes on to say, "The bad news is that enrollment in electric power and engineering programs are not rising fast enough, and interest in science, math and technology is low in K-12 students. Enrollments are declining in electrical engineering in general. Among students, teachers, guidance counselors and parents, engineering is ranked low on the list of interesting and attainable professions. Furthermore, women are especially underrepresented in the industry and as students."

The following facts were listed at the start of a STEM video found here.
Additionally, recently I came across an article about the top 6 degrees ranked in terms of employment, by Chris Kyle. "Corporate consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas polled 100 human resource professionals to find out what graduating students this year can expect from the job market in 2010, and, specifically, which degrees have the best odds of helping students get jobs....
#5 - Engineering Degree

It might surprise you to learn that engineering degrees are ranked fifth in terms of employment - and not first - but don't start feeling sorry for engineers just yet. According to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, eight of the top 10 best-paid majors are in engineering.

Desirable Degrees:
Biomedical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Network Engineering and Administration
Programming and Software Engineering

Average Starting Salaries:
Petroleum Engineering: $86,220
Computer Engineering: $60,879
Mechanical Engineering: $58,392"

Of course, the real reason you pursue something isn't for the pay (note: I am a teacher), but because you have a passion for it, because you enjoy it, yea, because you recognize God has given you a talent with it. I recently heard a NASA engineer say, "Most jobs in engineering have higher pay but none are as cool as my job."

Even if you have a gift or talent with something, that doesn't mean it will be the easy for you to do that job all the time. Gifted musicians must practice hard and long. This is true of mathematicians, scientists, teachers, etc. For more about ability and 'talents' read this.

"Under God the People Rule"

2010-07-13T16:00:00.000-04:00

This is the official state motto of South Dakota. I came across this as I was looking at the map as we crossed the state on our travels back from an amazing vacation in Wyoming. I was reminded of the Godly dominion spoken of in Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 8:6. Also the motto "Under God the people rule" testifies to His sovereign rule (see Proverbs 21:1, Psalm 96:⁹Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! ¹⁰Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"). There are other states with motto's that reflect our dependence and trust in God. Florida's official motto is the same as the United States motto, "In God We Trust." It was on their state seal since 1868, but it wasn't until July 1, 2006 that it became their official motto. I really like the license plate option we have in Indiana, it is also nice to know that it is constitutional. Ohio's motto "With God All Things are Possible" was, of course, challenged by the ACLU in 1997, but Ohio's motto was shown not to violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The reason we journeyed up to South Dakota was to see the National Parks. I had never been to Mount Rushmore. Aw we were driving there we saw a dark rock. I wondered how they got the name Black Hills. We learned it had nothing to do with the color of this rock, but because of how dark the hills can look with the rich ponderosa pines. Especially when a cloud would come, I clearly understood why they were the Black Hills. We got there just in time for the last park ranger walk of the day. The sun was getting low as the kids worked on the Junior Ranger workbook.

It was a beautiful site, a monument to democracy (that was one of the answers we had a hard time finding in the workbook). Around 9 o'clock they started a lighting ceremony. We soon discovered that they wouldn't turn the lights on until the end of the hour long ceremony. We hadn't reserved a hotel room for the night and we had already been driving all day, so we hit the road before illumination.

Before we left we learned about some great mathematics involved in the construction of Mount Rushmore. They made a model with the scale ratio of 1:12. One foot on the scale model corresponded to 12 feet on the mountain, or as the picture below indicates, 1 inch = 1 foot. This reminds me of an activity I have my students do when they are learning about vectors and, depending on the spring scale they use, 1 newton is set to equal 1 centimeter. Scale comes up in many math classes as well. Similar triangles is taught in geometry and the last year I worked on a cool activity to help students explore a topic in the Prentice Hall Algebra 1 text.
The monument was made using protractors, plumb bob, distance measuring devices (and some explosives). To read more about the mathematical details of Rushmore, check out this site.
Do you get the irony/humor in the picture on the right? ... "Math Rocks!" ... Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln are rocks. I read that 90% of Americans can't name the faces on Rushmore. After my kids had the interview with a ranger at the end of searching all the exhibits to find answers for the Junior Ranger workbook, I'm certain they will remember which president is which for quite some time.

We have learned so much by doing the Junior Ranger Programs all over the country, including FL, KY, MO, IN, DC, and now SD. Here is a picture of adventures in the past.

Press-to-Test

2010-06-10T01:40:00.013-04:00

[Update: I have posted a new video to youtube, click here]
Writing a good test is a challenging task. Helping students obey Leviticus 19:11 - "Do not steal, do not lie, do not deceive one another" - can be an even more challenging objective. As teachers, we want to assess what students know so we can help them learn, provide accountability, and see what it is that we need to teach better next time. Therefore it is of no values if a student steals a neighbor's answers and plays it off to be their own work and knowledge.

The TI-Nspire CAS now has an LED. So what is so interesting about that?
Teachers can use the Nspire's built-in Press-to-Test feature to clear out any 'cheat sheets' and make it so that they don't carry all their calculations with them out of the classroom when they leave. For teachers who have a class set of these learning tools, they would probably prefer for all the answers to NOT be on the screen when the next student comes in and gets their graphing calculator.
This becomes an even more important issue with the new Scratchpad Calculator and Graph. The only easy way to clear Scratchpads and current document is to use Press-to-Test.

Here are pictures of the LED blinking. These videos will be linked to in a powerpoint (4MB) that explains how to use Press-to-Test.

With the TI-Nspire Navigator or TI-Nspire Teacher Software, use Transfer Tool (end class if needed) to send "Exit Test Mode.tns" (this can be a blank tns that is called Exit Test Mode) to the Press-to-Test folder.
1. Click ‘Add to Transfer List’ and find Exit Test Mode.tns
2. Click that file, then click the ‘Edit destination Folder’ field
3. Click the ‘Change’ button and then ‘Start Transfer’.

For more details, check out the Press-to-Test Guidebook. Similarly you can use the TI-Nspire Computer Link software to transfer any file called "Exit Test Mode" to the "Press-to-Test" folder.

Update regarding the TI-84: To enter Press-to-Test hold down both left and right arrows while you press ON. With OS2.55MP and 2.56 (when the 84 keypad is on the Nspire), there is now the ability to disable logbase() and summation.
See this link for 84 screen shots and explanation.

A Job Well Done

2010-05-30T22:26:00.009-04:00

Ecclesiastes 7:8 "The end of a matter is better than its beginning."
Covenant Christian High School just held their graduation ceremony. Another wonderful group of seniors have completed their K-12 education. Congratulations to a job well done!
With the end of one task often comes the beginning of another. But it is pleasant to pause and rejoice. I am excited for what these students will accomplish as they go on to schools like Rose Hulman, University of Chicago, Purdue, IU, Kettering and many more.

Similarly, as I am looking forward to and preparing for an amazing summer of workshops, conferences, and travel, it is good to reflect on the tasks completed. I praise God for seeing me through, sustaining my family, and giving me added means to provide for them.

The biggest project that started for me last summer with a trip to Boston was the
Pearson Prentice Hall - Texas Instrument project.
I worked with an all-star group to make every lesson from three textbooks come alive. The link has a few of the tns files and video to see what the Pearson and TI authors created through this unique partnership. We worked hand in hand (virtually speaking) through web conferencing and video chat. Thanks to the innovation of our project manager, Google documents was used as great resource to keep track of the schedule and the most recent files. Through the extensive hours of working on this project I felt encouraged by our leader, editor, fellow TI authors and especially by Bill, the Pearson/Prentice Hall author I worked most closely with. We would often look at the textbook together, discuss what could be done so the students would be more engaged, I would create something, we'd chat about any improvements that could be made, and in the end Bill would exclaim how delighted he was that his vision of a truly interactive textbook that the students could carry with them anywhere was coming to fruition.

When we finished the last section of the last chapter of these textbooks back in March, it was a day of great rejoicing. But then it was time to get back to grading papers and preparing students to do the best they could on AP Calculus and Physics exams. Well, now the last papers are graded, recorded and exported. Students are on break for the summer. And I'm going to have a great Memorial Day with two of my favorite veterans: my dad who served as a corpsman in Vietnam and my grandfather who has some great jungle and Alaska stories from WWII.
I just read an explanation for corpsman -- "coreman" -- A U.S. Navy enlisted "hospitalman" assigned to provide medical care in Marine Corps units, Navy hospitals and hospital ships. Virtually all corpsmen were nicknamed "Doc." These guys were the Marine equivalent of Army "medics" and a good corpsman was worth his weight in gold in the bush. Not only did they provide routine medical care far from the nearest doctor, but if you were wounded they kept you alive until a medevac chopper could get you to a hospital. During MEDCAPs, they also provided the only medical care most of our Vietnamese villagers ever experienced.

On this Memorial Day, congratulations and thank you goes out especially to our veterans.

TI-Nspire Touchpad and OS2.0 update

2010-03-08T06:10:00.003-05:00

So what is different with the new OS2.0 that works on TI-Nspire CAS, TI-Nspire, and on the new TI-Nspire Touchpad and TI-Nspire CAS Touchpad handheld shown on the left? I just got back from a great conference in Atlanta, the Teachers Teaching with Technology International Conference where I traded in the classic Clickpad model for the improved Touchpad. The rest of this review applies to whatever Nspire handheld you have, but first why might you be interested in getting the new handheld:
1. It looks good. Yea, it is downright beautiful.
2. The Touchpad makes it easier to move the cursor. You can mouse around quickly with a large swipe or make small movements with a short swipe or make small discrete movements using click left, right, up and down.
3. The alpha key layout is easier to use and has a great feel when you press down on a key. This will be especially appreciated by those who use TI-Nspire Navigator (updated to v1.1) to answer open-response questions. People with larger fingers will also be thankful for this. The raised green buttons on the clickpad were cute, but for some they were annoying.
4. It now has the LED for visual acknowledgment of Press-to-Test. (I need to update this PTT ppt to include that info.)
5. You can use rechargeable batteries that should last 3 years. You can recharge them in several ways: plug it into a USB of your computer (in fact with this OS any handheld will run off the USB instead of the AAA batteries - Wow, I just used an Nspire that didn't have any batteries in it using 1st the USB and then the Navigator cradle. It worked great.), slide on the Navigator cradle, and ... I need to wait until education.ti.com/recharge goes live to confirm the other method. We got this link on a handout at the T^3 conference about the rechargeable batteries.
6. Notice also the improved key layout and labels. People will call a certain button with an up arrow "shift" instead of "CAPS". My daughter commented that she likes the toggle for + - and multiply & divide. It definitely looks like there are fewer buttons; less to be afraid of. A "trig" button replaced three trigonometric buttons and will save a number of early algebra students from wondering was 'sin' they will commit if they press the button for sine. Those who use trig functions will more easily access secant, inverse cotangent and the like.

Now, on to what is new and true with OS2.0 regardless of your model ...
Let me start with Tools:
ctrl home is no longer Tools. It is now called "doc" or "Documents". Looking in there you can find several new things. (Note: You cannot access ctrl home from the new home screen. Navigator and Connect-to-Class users will be glad to know that you can log in from Settings. I told my students who asked today, "Press 5, 5 from the home screen.)

By popular demand you can now close a document. This can be done in three ways that are all quite similar to a computer.
i) Under doc, File, Close
ii) For those who know and love their short cuts, ctrl W works :)
iii) Notice the X in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Yep, that will work to close it. Move the cursor (with the new touch pad) up there and press click. (Now you can tap the touch pad in order click if you set it for that. From the home screen press 5 for settings, look in handheld settings. I like the tap. The left click under the touch pad on my computer hasn't worked faithfully for some time, so I've become a tapper.)

The emulator is a much more complete emulator. Settings can be changed. Now ctrl click works for grabbing points, lines and other objects. Moving around the screen is so much faster using the same type of method students use.

On to G&G. No longer is it Graphs & Geometry; now it is Graphs and Geometry. They are divided for ease of opening. If you want the Geometry View, you do not need to first open up G&G, press menu, View, Geometry View. Now it is just there are ready for use.

After graphing a function, you may have used ctrl T as a shortcut to see the table of values for that graph. You could find the reminder for that shortcut when you are on a G&G by pressing menu, View (look toward the bottom as shown in the image). Now you can hide the table. Make sure you have the graph screen selected and not the table part of the split screen. The press ctrl T or menu, View, Hide Table.

Actually, I've found that removing a page or reducing a split screen from 3 to 2 or 2 to 1, etc, is a lot faster. Select the application to removed using ctrl K and press delete/backspace.

Let's talk about the new menu option on G&G - Analyze. I think this will help TI-83/84 users feel more at home when they wonder how do I graphically find the zeros, maximum, minimum, intersection, derivative, or integral. Note: Using this method you will only find one at a time. (There were, of course, great methods to find these things before. Integral is no longer under menu > Measurement, but slope is. You can still use menu > Points & Lines > Tangent, to put a tangent line on a graph and then find the slope of that to get the derivative at a point. Max, min, and zeros can still be found by menu > Trace > Graph Trace. As long as "Automatically find points of interest" is checked off on home > Settings > Graphs & Geometry. Press enter on that point of interest and the point will 'drop' with the coordinates left behind.)
Tracing is also improved. Try graphing f1(x)=(x^3+4*x^2+x-6)/(x+3), then press menu > Trace > Graph Trace, and type in -3.

Notes are now INTERACTIVE too! We may refer to it as Interactive Notes. I posted a few examples of who this has made life better on the Nspire google group - see link below.

In my next blog entry I'll add some more info and let you know about the next events where teachers and students majoring in education can attend to trade-in one of their old TI-Nspire or TI-Nspire CAS handhelds. What else would you like to hear about?

Read more for yourself in the Release Notes (2.2MB). If you are a teacher, join the discussion on http://groups.google.com/group/tinspire

MathPrint on the TI-84

2010-02-15T07:12:00.028-05:00

UPDATE 1/11/11: The release notes for the new TI-84 OS 2.55MP are now posted on a TI website. Also OS2.53MP info is posted there too. In case you didn't update in the past year, you can now enjoy 'wizards' for many of the statistics capabilities AND MathPrint. After trying out MathPrint, if you decide you really missed all the parentheses you got with square roots and the carat for exponents, or if you don't like the scrolling left/right lines as much as you enjoyed wrapping, you can always change modes to Classic. This way you will still enjoy the benefit of fraction math and scrolling history that the new operating systems give you.

It has been awhile since I've written a post here. It has been a busy year with teaching, family, and a big project. My wife has kept up recording the interesting family events.

For the first time in all my years of teaching, this semester I have a TA. Billy is a great teaching assistant. For the benefit of teachers and students who still use the TI-84 Plus (he and I enjoy the TI-Nspire CAS handheld and software) he has grabbed a bunch of screen shots for the new operating system using TI-Connect . Several wildly popular features that have been native to the TI-Nspire for the past 3 years, have now made their way on to the 84. On the TI-89 that I used to teach calculus with, there was what was referred to as "Pretty Print" on the output. You would enter an expression with weird syntax and many parentheses, but you could check that you entered what you wanted once you were finished.

The new operating system OS 2.53 MP [update: On January 10, 2011 OS2.55MP came out] brings the feature of MathPrint (TM) to the 84. Students will make fewer mistakes on homework and those important end-of-the-year exams, because what they enter looks like what is in the textbook or their homework paper. Students tend to enter calculations one step at a time and then they don't know where they went wrong. If they want to do a complicated calculation they would do well to enter it on their handheld technology - whether it be a TI-84 or Nspire - the way that it looks on their paper. Another new feature is, instead of pressing 2nd ENTER to review the last 10 entries, they can now arrow up around 30 entries. If they press enter on the selected number or calculation, this will be copied down so it can be edited or reused.The above screen shows some calculations that my students have done in the past. The first is to find the acceleration of a penny that is 18 cm from the center of a record that is spinning at 33 1/3 rpm. Notice that this is highlighted. If I press enter, then I could easily change it to be 45 rpm, or I could change it to a penny that is closer in (since vinyl albums actually have a radius a bit smaller than 18cm) . I love that the square root radically (pun intended) goes over everything that it is supposed to. The second calculation shows the amount of time it takes if I take that penny and drop it off the roof of our school 5.2 m above the ground. It is easy enough to change it and see how long it would take, ignoring air resistance, if this was dropped from the top of the Burj Dubai (828m), or we could change the 9.8m/s^2 to the acceleration of gravity on another planet.

Calculus teachers will particularly enjoy MathPrint because they won't need to spend the time teaching an unusual syntax like d(e^3x,x,5). Derivative at a point uses Leibniz's notation and the 'such that' vertical bar followed by the point for the derivative to be numerically evaluated. The definite integral is another example of MathPrint making the entering of a calculation more intuitive. Here are a series of screen shots that demonstrate an effective way to find the intersection, area between curves, and volume by rotation. Notice that MathPrint is supported in Y=.

Besides using the shortcut, of which there is a reminder every time the 84 is turned on, many of the features can be accessed through the MATH button, or MATH then NUM. If for some reason users preferred the classic view, there is now a second screen under MODE were MathPrint can be unselected. Also note that if mixed fractions are preferred they can be chosen. (Hey, fractions are now supported in the tables, lists, matrices, and window zoom.) I like that there is a central location for Stat Diagnostics to be turned on and another way to get to the Graph Screen Formatting.

All of the current apps (that I know of) are unaffected and still work except for Catalog Help. Be sure to download and install this using TI-Connect. The new OS 2.53MP is available under downloads at education.ti.com.

Teachers will want to put these on their TI-84 SmartView emulator so that what they do in front of the class matches what the students see. This is done by pressing File>Load File ... (as show on the left) then just find the OS (pay attention to where you save what you download). You don't want to throw away those silver cables. These come in handy for using the CBR with the 84 SmartView. However you won't need it to update the OS when using the TI-84 faceplate on the TI-Nspire. Updating the Nspire will automatically update the 84 mode.

These pleasant new features are not available on the TI-83. Again, to update the TI-Nspire that is in 84 mode, all you need to do is update the TI-Nspire (which leads us to believe that a new Nspire OS will be coming soon).

Stay tuned for all the impressive new features for the TI-Nspire & TI-Nspire CAS that make that device even more intuitive for new users. Current users will enjoy how their requests have been listened to in many ways. These educational tools really have continued to improve to meet the needs to teachers and students.

Lord, may how we teach and the tools we use
be filled with a beauty of design
that reflects the Creator of the universe
and the image of Him in whom we've been made (Gen 5:1).
May we use technology more effectively for the improved education of students.

TI-Nspire Peripherals

2009-05-26T16:55:00.012-04:00

What peripheral would you most like to use with your TI-Nspire?

There are many data collection devices that can be used with the TI-Nspire. I've enjoyed teaching with the CBR2 motion detector, Go! Temp with the USB to mini-USB converter, and many probes that can be plugged into the Easy Link. Many of these are pictured below, including Vernier's dual force range sensor, infrared thermometer, charge sensor, hand dynamometer, sound intensity meter, light intensity sensor, voltage probe, and force plate.

You plug in any sensor and it automatically detects and quickly sets up the graph with appropriate scale and labeled graph. These data collection peripherals are so much more intuitive to use with the TI-Nspire than the TI-83/84. You can learn more about using these probes with the lastest operating system (OS 1.7) at a Physics Nspire Summer Workshop. Physical science teachers would also be interested in these 1.5-day and 3-day workshops. See this link for details about the Indy site.

In the past I've used the TI-Keyboard with the TI-89 or 83/84 to take notes. It was easy to use the Notefolio and convert those files to Word documents. Others have used keyboards with TI-Navigators for the 84 to illicit more robust open responses from students. It is interesting how much some students can write when they have a keyboard.

I've also heard of a speaker being able to plug into a TI-83/84 or 85/86 and you can play songs or use the 83 as a piano, but I haven't tried it myself. I did try to plug a USB keyboard into the TI-Nspire using a USB to mini-USB converter. Let me save you the time, don't do it. You'll need to reset the handheld (remove a battery) because next time you plug something that was designed to work with the Nspire, it won't recognize it. Resetting solves this issue.

There are many variations of what would be nice to have and why they would be useful, either now or in the future. There was a great conversation about this going on at the Nspire Google Group. One person said they would like a keyboard, another a mouse, and another idea was a touchpad. While it could be possible to have a keyboard with a touchpad and a mouse that attaches to the side of the keyboard, can you pick your favorite?

I thought I would try running a poll for a week or so to see if anyone would like to participate in a non-scientific data collection effort. I figured maybe more people would voice their choice if there was anonymity and speed in voting.

Quick Poll: Which TI-Nspire handheld peripheral would you most like to have? (A) mouse, (B) keyboard, (C) touchpad

You can easily submit your vote in the right sidebar that is at the top of this page. [NOTE: This is not sponsored by TI and these add-ons do NOT currently exist, despite how well the picture at the top may have deceived you.]

UPDATE: At the close of the poll, it was a tie with a touchpad mouse getting among the top votes. Nspire users will be pleased to know that they can now (March 2010) get a TI-Nspire Touchpad to replace their old Clickpad. Here is one vendor teachers may be interested in.

Coordinates

2009-03-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

The other day when I was at work my son was 'standing' on my bed, slipped and sprained his neck. He visited the doctor with his head at quite an angle, or relative to his right shoulder, his head made an acute angle. See Monica's blog for more details. (My wife is a great storyteller.)

His neck is getting better. Notice how it is nearly orthogonal in the picture to the left. He is wearing his helmet that he just accessorized with a 'laser' and Wall-E pictures. (No, he had not been bicycling, but he is all about safety.)

An enjoyable coordinate system that I encountered again the other day was the chess board. It was Saturday morning and I took all the kids to Chick-fil-a. The little ones ran around the play area (even the cricked neck boy) and my 11 year old daughter and I played chess. Actually, her older sister and her were teaming up against me. It was a relief when my wife showed up and and took our 12 year old with her to the store. We were able to finish a nice long game in peace. I ended up not loosing any pieces, but she played a well protected game which is why it lasted so long.

That evening, after putting the younger ones down to bed, I fulfilled my promise to play with just my oldest daughter.

There are other interesting coordinate systems. I recently made a "Polar Graphing Friend" for the TI-Nspire. It even includes graph 'paper' that teachers can instruct students to move r to a particular (theta, r) and show them to be sure they got it.

Also there is a page were you trace out the graph in 15 degree increments. This PolarFriend is available as a download on the TI-Nspire Google Group.

Graphing Hearts

2009-02-13T16:44:00.008-05:00

A conversation of the TI-Nspire Google Group occurred today about graphing implicit functions. The expression entered for the graph to the left demonstrates another reason to "go CAS." With the TI-Nspire CAS you can easily graph implicit relations, especially conics. CAS has its advantages. (When using this 'zeros method', remember the ",y)" at the end.)

I was impressed with using the zeros feature to graph this. On my TI-Nspire Calculus website I have a file where hearts are graphed from functions with radicals and inverse trig functions. There are also 2 kinds of polar hearts, a parametric, and an implicit heart graph plotted using a different method than the lovely 'zeros method' shown on the left. I made a pdf of the heart graphs for the enjoyment of all.
(Update: See what graphing a heart in 3D looks like on the 3.0 operating system of the TI-Nspire CX. This works on the numeric or CAS Nspire.)

Romans 13:8 "Let no debt remain outstanding,
except the continuing debt to love one another,
for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law."

Snow Days

2009-01-30T22:06:00.007-05:00

God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'
So that all men he has made may know his work,
he stops every man from his labor. - Job 37:5-7 NIV

So we had one of the biggest snow falls since the blizzard of 1978. This provided for two days off school. It worked out great for my daughter's birthday. She loves basketball. The water for our washing machine tends to not work when it gets too cold out, so we went to school and did a few loads while we played basketball in the gym. There is a nice sledding hill near the parking lot, so we had a great time with that as well.

Tip for playing in the snow:
- If you don't have great snow boots, tie plastic grocery sacks around your feet after you put your socks on. Hey, "reduce, reuse, and recycle" right. It also makes it easy to get the little kiddies feet into the shoe.
- Similarly, the reason kids can't stay out and play in the snow for as long as they would like is because of their extremities freezing. So use the plastic sacks as a layer for the gloves. When we can't find gloves that fit (or even when we can), I have the little ones use socks. First one sock, then the dry guarantee of the sack, then another sock. This avoids the other problem of the glove being too short. Snow on the wrist is not enjoyable.
- Dress in layers. Most of the kids have snow pants. But I just use a couple of layers. I also were layers of shirts instead of a big coat. If I get too warm, I can take off a layer. If that outer layer gets too wet, I can take it off before putting on my coat and driving home.
- Get a toboggan. At our school's annual auction a couple of years ago we invested in a nice lightweight wooden toboggan. This thing cannot be beat for distance and speed down a hill. It is always so satisfying to slide into undisturbed snow - boldly going where no one has gone before. (This heavier toboggan looks like it could really take some abuse and is built to last. Maybe we could get that to take the grandkids sledding.)

"By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.
He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.
They turn around and around by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.
Whether for correction or for his land
or for love, he causes it to happen.
Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge" Job 37:10-16 ESV

My friend Heidi from Ohio sent me this tns file for the TI-Nspire. She has used something like this in the past with her geometry students when talking about rotational symmetry and the beauty of mathematics in the world. She also sent me this video where you can see the entire blue TI-Nspire. If you want the "snowflake" tns file, I posted it on the TI-Nspire Google Group with other tns program files and on my TI-Nspire site. You can get a 30-day free trial of TI-Nspire CAS and play too. What do you think? Cool, eh?

Storage and traveling with TI-Nspire

2009-01-29T23:10:00.008-05:00

The question has arisen, "How do you easily store the TI-Nspire in your classroom?"

I remember my grandfather and my dad saying, "A place for everything, and everything in its place." While I don't always live up to this standard, I think it is a wonderful idea. In fact, 1 Corinthians 14:40 similarly says, "Let all things be done properly and in order."

So earlier this semester I described to my wife what I was looking for. Using some of her superpowers, for under $10, she picked up a shoe organizer at Target for me. It is made of a nice canvas-type material with mesh pockets.

It holds 24 TI-Nspire's and I can look over and easily see if one is missing at the end of the period. Each student is assigned a number that corresponds to their book number. Some classes it is their book number minus 20 or some other number.

If you click on the above picture you may notice that I did not start with the number 1. Our school has a cart with 25 laptops in it. Students' TI-Nspire number corresponds with their computer number. The numbers of the laptops began with 11. I can see some value in having all the numbers be double digits. For example, no one will write a number in front of a 4 to make it seem like you have two number 24s. By the way, for reasons I can't go into right now, if I had to choose between laptop computers for my math and science students or TI-Nspire handheld technology, I would opt that each student have a TI-Nspire CAS.

As you can see, each student has a protractor and a ruler in their pocket too.

For traveling to give training with the TI-Nspire, a friend gave me a Top Rhino suitcase on wheels as pictured above. If you click that picture it will link you to a store that sells them. The model I have has special compartments for the blue TI-Nspire's 84 faceplate. It is like getting two different devices for the price of one. However, I prefer the computer algebra system capabilites of the TI-Nspire CAS for its scaffolding and exploring possibilities. (Check out the links at the bottom of this website for more info on CAS.)

There are other alternatives for storing and traveling with the TI-Nspire. It would be great to hear more about what you have tried. Okay, I'll share one more that I have enjoyed... The TI-Nspire Carry Case has captured the attention of several of my students. This canvas material is well constructed with a place for a business card (or other identifier) and a pocket that can be used for the TI-84 faceplate. I jokingly told some students the only thing I can think of that would make it any better would be if we were to sew a loop so it could sported around on a belt. Batman would definitely want this.

Box and Whisker on the TI-Nspire

2009-01-21T16:40:00.012-05:00

I had some friends wonder about doing multiple box and whisker plots on the same screen.
So I put together the following to help explain the process. I figured others would be interested in how to do 'bnw' on the same screen with the same scale, so here is a description of what I did and what you see happening in the image to the left.

Last semester, my first 4 periods took a test. Like most of my multiple choice tests, students can score 110 out of 100. Our school has a pretty tough grading scale and some multiple choice questions can be tricky. Fourth period is an AP class that already receives a weighted grade, so they didn't get the blessing of 10 possible bonus points on their AP-like test.

I don't teach box and whisker graphs in any of my math classes, but I do use them for myself and for students to get a picture of how they are doing compared to their classmates. It enables you to quickly see things like what were the top 25% scores, or 3rd quartile, and what the median or middle score is. By moving the mouse around on this TI-Nspire Data & Statistics page, the top score, Q3, median, Q1, and lowest score appear. Q3 and Q1 stand for 3rd and 1st quartile.

If you click one of the sections, you see the data points appear. You can see that I added a movable line to show where the 100 point mark was. This can be done on the handheld by pressing MENU>Analyze>Add Movable Line.

The key to graphing anything on a Data & Statistics page is that the information in the list and spreadsheet needs to have a title. In other words, a variable needs to be assigned to the data. For multiple box and whisker plots with the same scale, use categorical data. I put the period in the first column and listed the grades in the class in the second column.

There is a nice shortcut to entering the same thing in multiple cells in this spreadsheet that behaves extremely similar to and Excel spreadsheet. On the handheld press CTRL+(Click), that is CTRL and the circle in the middle of the Navpad. There are more details about this shortcut in the "Tips & Tricks" section of the Spring 2008 Nspiring Times (page 14). Past issues can be found on the bottom of this page of the tinspire.com website.

These box plots can be graphed vertically or horizontally as seen on the last picture in this article. It is fun to watch the data move when the variable is changed by clicking on it. This is shown in a short video here.

Graphing a Picture

2009-01-20T20:52:00.013-05:00

Beauty, creativity, mathematics.

I would say that beauty is part of what we were created to display.
"Your people shall all be righteous ... the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might display my beauty." (Isaiah 60:21 ESV)

Several years ago I attended a T-cubed Regional Conference in St. Louis where a teacher, Pam Burke, gave a presentation called "Picture This!" (ppt) about a 'Graphing Art' project. She talked about how she would only give an assignment or project that had maximum educational value for the time spent. Her handout contained impressive examples of pictures students created with their TI-83 or TI-84. I modified this 'Math Art with TI' activity to serve as our final activity in my Exploring Math & Science with TI-Nspire CAS J-term.
The freshmen in the class probably hadn't done much beyond graphing linear functions, but I introduced, briefly explained and required at least 5 of the following different types of graphs:

linear (even inequalities)
quadratic
absolute value
square root
cubic
cube root
reciprocal
greatest integer
exponential
logarithmic
sine
cosine
tangent
semicircle
polar

Using transformations of the functions and equations, many of them created something that reflected their personality. The above picture was done by our school's top golf star. (Speaking of golf and the TI-Nspire, there is a mini golf course algebra activity at this link.)

Students learned how to limit the domain. They asked great questions and had an exciting time exploring. I had the students write out all the functions they had on their screen and I quickly collected their Nspire file using connectivity software.

The TI-Nspire was such a superior learning tool for this activity compared to the TI-84 for several reasons

The TI-Nspire has better resolution - more pixels
The TI-Nspire is much faster. You don't have to wait anywhere near as long for the device to generate the picture. Along with this, I remember students doing this project with the 84 and by the time a modification was graphed they forget what change they made. With the TI_Nspire, the graph and function entry is on the same screen. When you scroll through the function, the corresponding graph is highlighted. (See the above video.)
Teachers who don't have their students use a program on the TI-84 are limited to around 10 functions. There really isn't a limit on the TI-Nspire. It goes from f1(x) to f99(x). You can also use g(x), h(x), etc. You can backspace over the = and replace it with a greater than or less than symbol to do an inequality.
With the TI-Nspire you can even graph polar on the same screen as functions.
Again, unless doing this project as a program on the 83/84, you are locking up your resources. Students can't use their graphing calculator for anything else while working on the project. With the TI-Nspire you save the file and open up a new document if, for example, the science teacher wants students to do something with their handheld.
Limiting the domain is much more intuitive with the TI-Nspire. Using a piecewise function template looks like the mathematics in textbooks. Whereas, multiplying or dividing the expression by a quantity including Boolean operators, may be mathematically educational, but fairly novel.
Collecting their 'program' or screen shots is so much easier with the TI-Nspire. Any of the connectivity options work faster and better than what was used with the TI-84. If you want to get it from their handheld to yours, you don't need to go through 2nd Link-Receive-Waiting-Send. (I made up a handout called Managing your TI-83/84 to help students remember this process.) On the TI-Nspire, just connect the two handhelds and the one who wants to send something clicks Tools and Send and you have it. The Computer Link Software is quick and intuitive. The TI Connect-to-Class Teacher Software steps this up to enable mass distributing and retrieving files from students' handheld. Additionally, at this link it is announced that coming soon is a means of sending, collecting, and automatically grading wirelessly. It is called the TI-Nspire Navigator. This TI-Nspire TI-Navigator will be available Spring/Summer of 2009 in the UK according to this site.
Since the purpose is investigating transformation, the TI-Nspire is impressively designed to dynamically facilitate this. E.g. graph f1(x)=x^2. Press ESC to escape off the function entry line so you can move the mouse to the graph. You can grab the graph in two ways: one will change the spread and the other will adjust the vertex, all while showing the effects of the equation.
TI-Nspire CAS came in handy to at least one student. He wanted to use a hyperbola for the golf tee. He used CAS to confirm his algebraic manipulation in solving for y.
Animation. (See the above video or another experiment in transformations - the US Flag.)

FYI, information about the TI-Nspire Summer Workshop that will be held out our school has been posted. I'm looking forward to that fun-filled week.

J-term TI-Nspire in the Snow

2009-01-08T19:23:00.010-05:00

Actually, the class that I'm teaching is called Exploring Math & Science with TI technology (especially the TI-Nspire CAS). J-term is a nice way to get back into the swing of school after the break. There are 3 hour morning and afternoon classes that students can take. Most of the upperclassman intern for the two weeks. I limited the class size since I knew I would have a diverse group. I have about 3 freshman, 5 sophomores, and a junior who are taking algebra 1, geometry, alg 2, trig & pre-calc. TImath.com has been a great resource to give some exceptional differentiated instruction.

We have used some of the resources I put together back when I did the Physics of Toys J-term. (Check out our science of toys booklet. I need to edit it and fix the typos.)
So far we have investigated the terminal velocity of various sized bubbles, the distance a toy car goes when pulled back a certain distances, logistic curves from temperature data. We have also discussed diffraction, thin film interference, impulse-momentum, air resistance and other physics concepts.

More pictures of the good times with bubbles, snow, and data collection and analysis with TI-Nspire can be seen on this album.

After starting with the TI-Nspire CAS Primer, the students have done geometry investigations and SAT practice reviews. Next we'll do more with CBR motion detectors. I was particularly impressed with one student's unique depiction of his Fahrenheit and Celsius data today (see below). For other interesting graphs I've seen, check out this.

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
Proverbs 25:2 (NIV)

Live as children of the King - explore and search out matters.

New Year & Leap Second Costume Party

2009-01-01T14:16:00.006-05:00

We had a number our children's friends come for an evening of good times with games, geography, missiology, sociology, physics, food, and fun. See pictures from the party.

They arrived by 6p.m. EST to celebrate the New Year in Madrid, Rome, Paris, Budapest, Geneva. They were dress up in costumes that represented people groups from anywhere in the world including China, Romanian Gypsies, England, non-specific island nations, France, Spain, Mexico, and Russia.

A highlight of the party occurred at 6:59:59 EST or 11:59:59 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time. We watched the atomic clock blink 59 seconds twice.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20081226/sc_space/2009toarrivenotasecondtoosoon

Food.................................... Game/Activity
cheese fondu ....................... Paper Tower competition (15 min, 8 1/2 x 11" paper, 20cm tape)
w/ apples, bread, etc. ........ Playdough sculpture

Fish & chips ......................... Jump rope
...............................(to leap into the new year with the leap second)
................................................ Pendulum competition
....................(washers & string to make pendulum with 2 sec period)
Laffy Taffy ........................... Jokes in British or some other accent
............................................... Watched Standard Deviants
. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . ."Russian Around Europe"

Smoothies ............................. Limbo
(planned but didn't get made)
Popcorn ................................ Make popcorn lei
................................................ Popcorn catching competition with a partner

Chips & Salsa ....................... Bubble Bowling (see page 335 of The Original Girls Handy Book)
'Fried' ice cream .................. Earth Toss with inflatable globes

We also had Mission Moments using Operation World were we read and prayed for various nations.

On the hour, the kids enjoyed counting down and blowing horns that I got from Kipp Brothers Toys. Everyone had left by 10:30, the time for Newfoundland's New Year. If you think having a half hour time zone is interesting, I found on a countdown clock site that there are a few places on a 15 min time zone - Chatham Island (part of New Zealand) and Kathmandu, Nepal.

Psalm 90: 12 Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom

Tracing with the TI-Nspire

2008-12-20T11:36:00.009-05:00

Option A: Point On
Option B: Trace

If you are a TI-Nspire user, which method do you use/prefer for tracing? What advantages do you find for each?

The video also gives a glimpse of the new Trace Setting > Enable CALC Menu feature that is available with OS 1.6. Use the up and down arrows to make the region of investigation larger and smaller.

Updated 12/22/08:
When I first began using the TI-Nspire with the 1.1 operating system, I liked and recommended the Point On method. Yes it does show maximum, minimum, and zero when you grab and move the point. The coordinates are displayed and can be changed by double clicking on the x- or y-value. Selecting the y-value is a feature that is easier and more intuitive to do on the Nspire than on any previous handheld. Generally, when I create a document to be sent to students, if I want them to be ready to move a point around to explore the values and see the max, min, & zero, it will appear that it was created with Point On.

Updated 1/1/09
Reasons I would recommend the more versatile Trace method:
- Arrow up to trace multiple functions at the same time
- Type in an x-value and it will automatically go there
- Press enter and it will drop that point (essentially performing a 'Point On')
- Default Trace automatically finds points of interest as you move it along. But you can turn this feature off. (You can't do that for Point On.) When you save that file, it saves the trace setting too.
- You can move the point at discrete increments if you set it to that using Trace Settings.
- With OS 1.6 you now have even more features that can be enabled with trace, including finding the point of infection, max, min, zero, and intersection. This enabled 'CALC menu' will look in the domain you provide for the point of interest.

Physicist's perspective of Santa

2008-12-18T10:35:00.005-05:00

I'm currently giving final exams.

I shared a scientific perspective of Santa with my students this week.
There are some funny lines in there. Enjoy.

It is an understatement to say that my five year old son is NOT a fan of Santa.
His latest response about what he wants to be when he grows up is an astronaut, an inventor, and he is going to try to be a Math Hero. I love that guy.

Superhero of Math

2008-11-26T14:16:00.008-05:00

I've always wanted to be a superhero. Now my dream has come true.
I just received word that I won the Math Hero Award. da-ta-da-daa

My family surprised me when I got home from work. There are some funny video clips of this on my wife's blog.

The purpose of the award, with its $2500 and $2500 matching grant for the school, is to "reward and celebrate teachers and tutors for promoting math achievement to students in a fun and challenging learning environment. "
(The picture to the right is me presenting the check to Principal Brian Hudson.)

This Thanksgiving my family and school have even more to be thankful about. I'm grateful for Raytheon and the work they are doing to promote STEM initiatives. I found a video that explains some of their motivation for having this award.

Raytheon has a great website for encouraging mathematics for the middle grades, MathMovesU.com

If you know another Math Hero, nominate them next year.

Now if I can just get a cape like my kiddies were wearing when we visited the Children's Museum. I searched the internet to no avail.

Pie Chart - Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T10:10:00.005-05:00

My 11 year old daughter is making a Thanksgiving Newspaper. To fill an empty spot on the paper she came up with the idea of polling the family on what their favorite pie is. Since we have 9 people in the family I gave her a tip on dividing a circle 9 ways to make a pie chart. She came back a little later and reported the results. I was interested that the first 4 digits of pi were represented 3.14159..
My 12 year old recently received a TI-Nspire CAS for her birthday. She was delighted to see how easy it was to make a pie chart on the Nspire. She loved the dynamic nature of the Data & Statistics application, i.e. the moving dots are really cool.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, our family's annual Thanksgiving letter is available on my wife's blog.

If you are interested, several years ago I did a study of every time the word "thanks", "gratitude" and its variations were used in the Bible. I called this study Biblical Thanksgiving, and it can be found here.

So what is your favorite pie to have for Thanksgiving?
If you looked at the Biblical Thanksgiving study, which verse or observation did you particularly like?

Scripture is integral to our math and science class

2008-10-06T04:59:00.002-04:00

The Bible and mathematics & science compliment each other well. At the ACSI convention I had the pleasure of speaking to a little over 30 people who were interested in the topic of Biblical integration in the classroom or a Christian worldview of math and science. I had presented the paper at the ACMS (Association of Christian in the Mathematical Sciences) last summer. So I presented a similar powerpoint to this group. These are available on my Mr. Bird website under 'Student Presentations.'

If I had another opportunity to give a similar talk I know of several things I'd do to improve, including providing a handout and taking more time to prepare for the particular time constraint. Hopefully by that time I would make more progress on a little book I've been working on called "Christ-centered Mathematics: Daily Math Devotionals." In a book format I would be able to better cite sources and give a fuller explanation than the tri-fold Topical Mathematical Memory Verses permits.

Books that I would recommend:

John Byl "The Divine Challenge on Matter, Mind, Math, and Meaning"
John Byl "God and Cosmos: A Christian View of Time, Space, and the Universe"
James Nickel "Mathematics: Is God Silent"
"Foundations of Christian Scholarship: Essays in the Van Til Perspective" especially chapter 9 "A Biblical View of Mathematics" by Vern S. Poythress... *** I just discovered that this and other articles by Vern Poythress are available online. I have some reading to do, like "Creation & Mathematics; or what does God have to do with Numbers?"
"Truth and the Transcendent" by Dr. Zimmerman

Also consider

Mathematics in a Postmodern Age - Here is a review about it on MAA website.
Also while finding links for this list I came across another interesting article about the goal of mathematics education.

To answer the question asked in the comment below, I'd recommend looking at especially the first lesson of the Kuyers Maths project. It gives the quotes and allows the students to think through the implication.

ACSI trip

2008-10-06T04:26:00.002-04:00

Thursday & Friday was fall break. I didn't know how all the details of this weekend (that began on Thursday) would work out, but I'd say God worked it out wonderfully.

Thursday morning: I played golf for the first time in about 15 year at the Covenant Classic. (I had actually played varsity golf in high school, but when you need to pay to play, I found other things to do. Disc golf anyone?) It was a beautiful morning in the 40s. I played with Tim Walters and his son. He runs Team Sports, a great place to get shirts and such for your sports team, and he used to teach math with me at Covenant Christian High School. I had a wonderful time playing at an impressive course, Heartland Crossing Golf Links.

I got back home a little before the family got back from their time at home school group. My wife is teaching a science course inspired by Rough Science. We headed up to South Bend around 1:30 were I was to speak at the ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) Teacher Conference.

Thursday afternoon: On the way up we saw a sign for Grissom Air Museum in Peru, IN. Since we got there 15 minutes before it was to close we just visited the gift shop and looked at the airplanes through the fence. I was reminded of another Indiana air museum we had visited in the past which inspired the name for this blog. We would have loved more time, but we headed back up the road. The kiddies were starting to get hungry and we saw a sign for Amish Acres in Nappanee, IN.

After eating one of the best meals in my life, and looking around for a while, I understood better what I had read about Amish Acres being one of the top 100 places to visit in your life. Before departing we played a ring game that was outside near the parking lot. It was a great physics game, in that you use the conservation of energy to pull back a metal ring on a long string, release it so that it has a near zero translational velocity near the hook affixed to the wood post. It took several tries, but some of us got the hang of it.

Friday morning: I left around 6:30 with one of our school administrators to the convention. I'll write more about the "Six ways, yea seven, that Scripture is integral to our math and science classes" paper that I presented later. I praise God that the speaker before me allowed me to use his projector. When we were about 3 hours from home I realized that this conference probably wouldn't supply such things. We also realized that we had left one of our pieces of luggage at home. So everyone got to get a new toothbrush and only some of the kids had their swim suits. The little ones enjoyed swimming with Mrs. Kurtz, Covenant's freshman English, since Mom and Dad didn't have their suits. Yes, several teachers from my school stayed at the Country Inn and Suites with lovely Read & Return program that we got to enjoy on our trip to Florida.

While I was gone, my wife took the children to the some Kids Health Works Museum, which was actually a block from the Century convention center. They said that it was similar to the one they had gone to in Nashville last summer (If you want a laugh, you've got to read that story on my wife's blog), but only one level instead of six.

After seeing everything there was to see there, they went to the South Bend Chocolate Factory (Again, my wife has some nice stories about that adventure.).

Friday afternoon: My session was from 11:45-12:35. The conference was over about that time, so I went out to wait on the corner for my family to find me. A little after 1p.m. the big white van pulls up with a load of happy faces who had chocolate and other confectionery samples for lunch.
On our way out of town we stopped by Potato Creek State Park. We were disappointed that the Nature Center was closed, but the Meadow Maze was a delight. Notice the seven year-old still wearing the hair net from the chocolate tour. A nearby playground made the 5 & 7 year-old think they were in Brown County State Park. Last weekend we had gone on our first ever family camping-in-tents adventure. This church camp out ended with two of our children throwing up. But overall it was such a great time, that if my wife didn't have to work all day Saturday and our oldest daughter wasn't taking a Safe Sitter class (she is looking for jobs if anyone needs an experienced and trained sitter), I had hoped to camp out at Potato Creek State Park so that we could spend part of the day there on Saturday to work on earning a patch/pin with the new Connect, Discover, Explore program that our Department of Natural Resources has started.

On Saturday we went to the Hendrick County Fairgrounds to enjoy a BBQ dinner and listen to Governor Daniels. The kids had a great time and my wife didn't have to worry about dinner. As I was driving the family to church I heard my 5 year-old boy and 7 year-old daughter talking about the coming election in the back of the van. One said, "John McCain." The other replied, "I like old people. I like John McCain." Then at lunch they were talking, and the boy said, "What's that other guy's name?" The girl replied, "Barack." "Oh yeah, I hope Barack Obama only gets 5 votes, and John McCain gets one hundred thousand million." I'm not sure were they learned even who is running for president. On the drive home from church this evening my wife asked him where he had learned about John McCain and the kindergartener said, "I heard about it on the TV and radio." I think one of his older sisters had been trying to explain what's going on. He went on to give the kindergarten commentary of "I'm scared if Barack Obama becomes president. He kills babies. John McCain likes babies. I hope John McCain wins."

Kinematic Calculus with the TI-Nspire

2008-09-26T11:42:00.006-04:00

In calculus the other day we collected some data with a CBR2 (motion detector) and a racquet ball rolling up an incline. This was a great activity to discuss the relationship between a position vs. time graph and velocity-time. I'm going to work on writing up a procedure for this to be student led activity rather than just a demonstration. I love the dynamic nature of Data & Statistics application on the TI-Nspire.
Tonight I'm going camping with the family. Check out the calculus that came up the last time I went camping.

Update 12/18/2008: Today on timath.com/calculus an activity I wrote was posted. It gives more documentation about using the CBR2 motion detector with the TI-Nspire CAS. "Gettin' the Swing" is the name of the activity. It is in the archive & it is #11689 on the Activity Exchange.

Black and White Biking

2008-08-25T06:11:00.003-04:00

On the first day of kindergarten my son learned how to bicycle without training wheels. My wife took our seven year old to get glasses. While she was gone I took the rest of the kiddies for a walk/bicycle ride. When we got back I gave some focused attention to the new kindergartener.

Part of the issue for not learning at a younger age like his sisters was that he didn't have a bike that had training wheels. He has a cool blue bike. I held on to the seat, handlebars or onto him as we went around the block. About half way around the block I would give him a push into the grass and he would peddle a bit and then come to a gentle stop and safely put his foot down. By the time we got 3/4 around the block I would give a push on the sidewalk ... VICTORY. He was totally praising the Lord. The excitement that he was able actually bicycle was a delight to witness. When we got back home his siblings rejoiced with him. Sometimes he still needs a little help getting started. But most of the time he can get going and is off on his own.

So why black and white?

The next day or so after he learned to bicycle there were several pedestrians (a.k.a. siblings) that he was trying to avoid and he had a minor incident with the mailbox. There theory goes that around this time he got a flat tire in his back wheel.

Last week, when I would bicycle home from work, just about everyday he would ask me if I could help him fix his bike. He already had it all disassembled. I would ask him if he got a new tube for it when he went to the store that day, and sadly they hadn't. So what we do is he rides one of his sisters' little bikes. A problem, of course, is that they are not blue. The reason I changed the setting on the camera to black and white was because the poor little lad had to use a bike that was a bit too pink for my taste. He is thankful for what he has or what is available for him.
Here is a picture from that first day - the day of victory. He is holding in his hand a Superman sticker that our next door neighbor gave him when the new bicyclist announced to him that he could now ride his bike. Yep, I think he proclaimed the good news to several people on the street. We put the sticker on the front of his bike. Now we just need to get a tube so he can ride it again.

Weekend fun after school has begun

2008-08-18T07:13:00.001-04:00

After my first week back to teaching, I was quite exhausted. With back to school activities in the evening, along with writing, grading, and preparing lessons, I obviously didn't spend as much time with the family as I had over most of the summer. It was nice having a weekend together.

We had a church picnic at a park on the North side of town. The park embraced their Indiana roots, it's theme was a farm. Note the tractor kiddie slide and silo for ages 5-12. The 'creek' with spouting water forming lovely parabolas was a surprise treat. (We didn't exactly bring clothes for playing in the water. But they went ahead and got wet and had fun.)

We had beautiful weather this weekend.

Yesterday was so lovely that I took the family for a Lord's Day walk in the park after church. It is so helpful to have a day of rest. In explaining the motivation for students to study math and science I pointed out the example of Eric Liddill. He enjoyed God's presence in everything that he pursued. With the Olympics happening right now, his example is quite timely.

We enjoy reading together. New glasses make the Child's Story Bible even more clear.

It looks like this guy really loves cuddling up for a time of rest.

Children's Museum

2008-08-11T06:02:00.004-04:00

School is about to start. Today we are going to the Indiana State Fair. This is usually our last family activity of the summer. It has been a full summer. When we got back from Florida, mom had to get in some hours at work. In between some trips I took to Dallas, while mom was at work I took the kiddies to what I hear is the best Children's Museum in the country (maybe even the world?). I renewed our membership.

There are so many great things to do there. We often stop by to visit the Info Zone, an Indianapolis Marion County Public Library branch that is inside the Museum. We even brought books to return and get credit for the Indy Adventures summer reading program. Indianapolis has the best librarians.

There are a couple of special exhibits going on right now.

I was curious about the Curious George exhibit so we went there first. We found out they even had a Curious George play down in the Lilly Theater on the first floor. George, monkeys should have tails. I'm curious what happened to his?

When we walked in for our second visit within a week, low and behold, there was Super Children's Museum Man. He informed us that his true identity was "Captain Extraordinary."

I don't know if a characteristic of all males is to be interested in superheroes, but I know I am.

We had a
great time at the huge room that was dedicated to the past and present of Comic Book Heroes. The kids had a fun time of dress up. While some citizens were driving in downtown Metropolis, the Dark Knight swooped in to rescue them and make everyone Super Children.

As you walk the ramp up to the next level there is a crazy Fireworks of Glass work of art that reminds some of our children of each other's hair. The powerfully moving Power of Children exhibit, which replaced the old history of Indiana exhibit, tells of the lives of Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges and Ryan White.

We, of course, had to go to the top floor and ride the carousel, and the bottom floor provided some hilarious good times with dinosaurs. We even made a stop by the Dinosphere before leaving.

Summer projects

2008-08-09T23:18:00.005-04:00

My goal last summer (or maybe it was the summer before that, but it didn't get done until the beginning of last summer) was to construct a fence for our house. A fence can add beauty to a house. It can give a mom increased comfort that her little ones won't inadvertently find themselves in the traffic passing by the front of the house. My back door neighbor at our previous house helped a friend tear down his tall privacy fence. He asked if I wanted to use that material. After cutting it down so it would go further installing the fence I power-washed it and it looked great. This time I even stained it. So I've built two fences in my life. For both I used my good ol' TI-89 to graph the equation and then I use 'Trace" to get the height value I needed. (Interestingly, building the fence was the last time I had used that TI-89 Titanium. Last summer I moved on to using and teaching with the TI-Nspire CAS.)
Both fences have been modeled after my favorite shapes, the hyperbolic cosine. Some may know it better as a catenary. Inverted, this amazing shape is great for providing a smooth ride to a vehicle with square wheels: link 1, link 2. You may also enjoy the poem my favorite mathematical physicist, James Clerk Maxwell, wrote about 'an inextensible heavy chain' in "A Problem in Dynamics" (see page 317-18 of his biography and try to read it with a Scottish accent.) I quote a portion of this on page 8 of a paper I wrote a while back.

So what is a project for this summer?

You may recall a recent post where I stated the goal was to park our little mini-van in the garage this winter. Much to my surprise, when I got back from a recent trip, our smaller vehicle was IN THE GARAGE. (Thanks sweet wife!) I don't know if this has ever happened in the five years we've lived here. This may be partially attributed to our lack of a garage door opener. Perhaps we will now consider making this expenditure. Although there probably was a day not too long ago when people actually got out of their car and hoisted the door manually, got back in the car, and drove in. Come to think of it, my grandfather doesn't have an automatic garage door opener, but his is on hinges and opens out.

Generations - Bird reunion

2008-08-03T22:51:00.003-04:00

Genesis 17:17 "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you."

This covenant with Abraham applies to all who are in the household of faith, those who believe in Jesus, who trust in Christ alone for their salvation. Galatians 3:7-8 "Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you.'"

Most every Memorial Day my mom's side of the family gets together at my Grandpa Ahart's house in Danville. I have 10 cousins from my mom's family; she is one of 4 daughters. I realized yesterday that my dad has over twice that many cousins.

My grandfather, John Bird, had 3 sisters: Mildred, Angie, and Marty. My great aunt Angie and Marty are pictured to the left. When my Grandpa Bird retired, they moved to Florida. That was part of what drew me down there for college. He passed away back in 2003.

It was a delight to sit down and talk with these wonderful godly ladies. They encouraged me in the work I'm doing a Covenant Christian High School and with my own 7 children. Marty had 14 children. She has 28 living grandchildren, 38 great grandkids, and 2 great-great-grandbabies. This Bird family reunion is held near New Castle in August each year.

Five years ago after the reunion I was inspired to dig back and see what I could learn about my genealogy. Where did the Bird family come from? We had the 'blue book' which traced it back a little, but we still didn't even know who was the first Bird to migrate to Indiana. Here is a brief summary of my findings:
In 1622, 2 years after the Mayflower, Thomas Bird brought his family over to Puritan New England, to the same general area as the Mayflower. The first Bird born in America was Hannah. The family coat of arms was a cross between four red birds. Motto: "Cruce spes mea" = my hope is in the cross.

1.Thomas (b.1589 in London – d. 1662 Newtown, Long Island NY).
2. John (b.1631),
3. Andrew (b.1651),
4. Elisha (b.1682),
5. James (1717-1796),
6. Burtis “Nathan” (~1750-1823),
7. Joseph (27 Aug 1803 in New Jersey – 1 Jan 1868 Henry Co, IN),
8. Daniel (1831-1909),
9. Aurther Warren (1861-1935),
10. Charley Ned (1884-1944),
11. John Leslie (1915-2003)

Psalm 102:12, 18
"But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations...
Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD"

Garden Dominion

2008-08-02T14:10:00.004-04:00

When I think of 'taking dominion', often the first thing that comes to mind is tending the garden, since God originally placed man in the garden to "work it and keep it" (Gen 2:15). It is important to note that work is not a ramification of sin (but death is - Romans 6:23). After the Fall this labor became toilsome and arduous.

Genesis 3:17-19 "cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve didn't need leather gloves to protect their hands as they pruned, pulled, or plucked. My little ones didn't have gloves, but they helped me search for these cursed prickly, thistle weeds. We are to be discerning and train our children to judge between good fruit and bad fruit (Matthew 7:16-20).

Also, in the past when I have worked in the garden, I was reminded of Jesus' many parables that related spiritual truths to the understanding of the common folk. For example, I praise God for His patience, grace, and justice demonstrated in Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 , and the hope I have in the day when all the causes of sin and those who do evil will be removed and burned. First this happens, "then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (v.43)

The Crib's Last Day

2008-08-01T14:24:00.012-04:00

"Be fruitful and multiply" Genesis 1:28 and Gen 9:1 ff
This was first commanded in the passage called the Dominion Mandate and then repeated again with the covenant God made with the earth at the time of Noah.

My wife and I have a Biblical (Protestant) perspective about having a 'large' family. When we had our sixth child by an emergency C-section, the doctor said to my wife, while she was still recovering from the general anesthesia, that we should plan to schedule a C-section a few weeks before the due date of our next baby. During the delivery of the 7th the doctor, for medical reasons, informed us this was our last.

As our little guy gets bigger there have been some milestones that are particularly emotional for Mom. Yesterday he turned two.

(I creatively used a 5 for the 2. But when Mom slid the cake toward the birthday boy it almost didn't burn anyone. She will post a cute blowing-out-the-candle video on her blog soon.)

At the end of what would be his last nap in THE crib that has been used for all seven of them, I had everyone get in.

I was impressed that the crib could handle it.

When I pretended to get in with them, it was hilarious to hear the cries of protest. Then I had them all get out in the order that they graduated out of the crib. Some of them were actually 'kicked' out by the newest member. Well, come to think of it we did use a bassinet temporarily for some of the babies while the big sister finished their term.

Today when the neighbor across the street was having a garage sale I offered to put it out in our yard, but Mom doesn't have a clear conscience with that - something about it not working properly. I doubt if it was new when we got it. Perhaps they have developed new regulations on construction and size of slats or something these days. Anyway, contact my wife if you are interested in a 'new' crib.

Calculus on the Campsite

2008-07-16T22:12:00.004-04:00

Math teachers see applications all over the place.
So I was talking to the guys a little about work and what I was going to be doing the rest of the week. I told them how I would be going to Dallas for a Teachers Teaching with Technology Leadership Conference.

Anyway I was looking at the tent of one of my brother-in-laws, when I saw a beautiful example of a calculus question that I had used the TI-Nspire to help students get a visual idea of what the question was asking. So I excitedly asked my camping buddies if they would let me take some pictures before they completely took down their tent. To promote education, they were all for it. They even ended up waiting until I got back from a morning hike with my oldest son.

What is the volume of this structure?
This is the shape that reminded me of a question I typed up that is similar to questions calculus students would see on their AP exam.
Question: Let the base of a solid be the first quadrant region enclosed by the x-axis and one arch of the graph y=sin(x). If all cross sections perpendicular to the x-axis are squares, then the volume of the solid is approximately
(A) 0.52 (B) 0.79 (C) 1.05 (D) 1.57 (E) 2.00

It took me less time to make the following Graph & Geometry page on the TI-Nspire CAS then it did to set up my tent.

You may enjoy another animation I put together around the Forth of July.

Update: I recently posted an example of an animation from a student graphing project on this blog. Another link with great video clips that will be of interest to math teachers is TI math.com.

guys go camping

2008-07-15T20:44:00.005-04:00

Every year we have a family vacation with my wife's family. We had been to Brown County State Park in Southern Indiana several times. Two years ago God provided that we were able to spend a week at Clearwater Beach in Florida. Last year we were thankful for a time at Holiday World halfway between Louisville and Evansville. This amusement park is special in that they have free soft drinks throughout the park and free sun screen in the water park area.

This year the 12 female members of the extended family, plus the babies age 1 and under, had girl time. They saw the American Girl movie, shopped and had a sleep over.

The 13 guys (minus the 3 baby boys) went camping at Turkey Run, an Indiana State Park.

It was gorgeous weather for hiking, swimming, roasting marshmallows, and sleeping under the stars with a bright moon (protected from the bugs in our tent). My oldest son and I had been on adventures before, like seeing a Space Shuttle launch, kayaking with dolphins, etc, but we had never been camping.

We had some great times. It was just nice to hang out with family that we hadn't seen in some time, what with being gone for the month of June. Since my son is in a family of mostly ladies, he really loves times with his boy cousins. He was the youngest of all the little guys who went, but he did well keeping up and playing their games. I realized he actually hiked more miles than anyone else there (except myself, since I went with him).

He slept well that night.

He didn't even wake when my little nephew sleeping in the adjacent tent woke up in the middle of the night and started screaming (I didn't hear it either, but everyone else was telling the stories in the morning). He didn't wake up for the raccoon noises or what sounded like a gun shot that was possibly directed toward the raccoons (I heard that).

After hiking across bridges, through caves and crevices, over rocks and around mud, up ladders and down steps (up them too), do you know what he wanted to do the next morning before we left? Yep, go for another hike. That time we took a different trail, say a beautiful cliff, and he found another toad. This was a tiny little toad. You have to look pretty close to see it in his hand.

We had such a great time hiking that when we got back to Indianapolis on Tuesday, we took the young girls in the family hiking in some nearby woods. To hear more about the rest of the week that I wasn't there for check out Shine Again.

When the mom works

2008-07-12T21:11:00.005-04:00

A saying of King Lemuel: "A wife of noble character who can find?" By the grace of God, I have.
My wife is a wonderful and amazing woman. Besides being an outstanding writer/blogger, she does a great job in taking care of me and the kiddies. I re-met her after I had graduated from college. We actually went on a senior trip to Florida back with the high school church youth group I was new to. (Fun story my wife is great at telling.) Anyway, she had two more years to get her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and become an R.N.

During the school year she may work once a week - some Saturdays, but usually 4 or 6 hours one weekday evening. Most summers she works a lot more. I tell people she works as a nurse to support my teaching habit. I'm glad for her to keep up her skills. That nursing knowledge comes in handy around the house when you have 7 active little ones. I particularly value her assessment between "she'll be fine" and "he needs to go to the emergency room [at 2 a.m.]."

So what happens when mom goes to work? I am repeatedly reminded that I am not a good mom (which is reasonable, since I'm the dad). I notoriously forget a diaper bag that contains important items. I know, irregardless of how hard we try, there will still be some kind of housework that Monica will feel like she has to do when she gets home. Hum, I guess, often when I get home, I think of all the school work I still need to do. I wonder if this is similarly why Monica evaluates the housework status even after spending 12 hours at the hospital. I can totally understand those calculations that show that it is more expensive for mom to work outside of the house then to stay at home.

Alright, here is what we did today: kids played with back door neighbors, my parents came over, some of us went for a walk, we went to visit my 84 year old Grandpa Ahart who is in the same hospital where my wife works, stopped by to let everyone say hi to mom, went to the hardware store, got back home and fixed a facet, everyone did their chores, made pancakes for dinner. We even made enough for mom when she got home.

Grandpa is doing well. Monica got to visit him before his diabetes related surgery. The doctors took him from taking seven pills, down to two. They got his potassium levels fixed up. He said that he didn't know he wasn't feeling well, but that now he is 100% better. He looked great.

This little girl with a piglet pancake and a 'stuffed up' piglet is hilarious. For example see cow, fish and pig.

SMART Board & TI-Nspire CAS in the classroom

2008-07-11T22:18:00.003-04:00

This week I've been teaching a group of impressive calculus teachers about using SMART Board and TI-Nspire CAS technology in the classroom. I have filled my room with digital projectors, SMART Boards, Airliners, Senteos, and a Sympodium.

We had the participants over for dinner at our house on Monday. We played math games like Set, Blokus, and Trigon Blokus. Equate, with the Advanced Tiles, was another math game option.

We also took a lunch time lap around the Indy 500 and enjoyed the final evening meal together downtown. By the end of the week they had prepared lessons or learning objects with TI-Nspire CAS and SMART Notebook 10. Perhaps when the Nspire's next update to their operating system comes out in a few weeks I'll tell you about the new features to improve teaching and learning mathematics and science.

July 4th Holiday Weekend

2008-07-08T21:38:00.003-04:00

On the morning of July 4th, three Bird children and my parents did a 2.5 mile race.

It was a small race, and it was raining for the last half mile, but we had a great time. My dad & I actually tied for 1st. My two daughters who racewalked the event got 2nd and 3rd place. They will have a great time all the winning medals doing track and field events in the back yard.

We had my wife's family over that afternoon. The cookout and Indiana sweet corn was such a great time. I look forward to spending more time with my wife's family the week after the calculus and technology workshop I'm having at Covenant this next week. We'll be doing an extended family vacation on that Monday to Wednesday.

We also enjoyed apple pie - there is nothing more American than apple pie. Well, we also had Dutch apple pie.

Before feasting on our American food, we reflected on what the day was about. I asked our little ones and their cousins what we were celebrating: "What happened on July 4th?", "What year was that?", "Who were we seeking our independence from?"
My wife and I had been watching the dvd about John Adams. I greatly appreciate the Christian conviction of many of the founding fathers. John Adams said, “We recognize no sovereign but God, and no king but Jesus!”

We praised God for the freedom we have in Christ. John 8:32-36, Galatians 5:1

Our second oldest daughter who ran the race that morning couldn't stay awake long enough for the fireworks no matter how hard her sister tried to wake her. Wow, was she disappointed when she woke up. I comforted her with the knowledge that many people in the surrounding neighborhoods would shot more fireworks Saturday.

While my wife worked on Saturday, we had an extended reading time and I took my 7 little ones along with their two back-door neighbor friends to the library. Many 'Indy Adventures' summer reading program prizes were earned.

TI-Nspire USA Flag

2008-07-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

The TI-Nspire has some amazing capabilities for teaching and learning mathematics and science. I made the above by vertically translating a sinusoidal function. In other words, f1(x) is a sine curve and f2(x) and following are f1(x)+c, where c is an even positive or negative number until the 13 stripes were made. The animation was done by adding a slider. The x-value of the point on the slider was stored as d and assigned to the phase shift of the sine curve in f1(x), i.e. it became f1(x+d). This point was set in motion by right clicking to animate the point.

Happy Independence Day.

'Adventure Indy' Summer Reading Program

2008-07-02T23:30:00.003-04:00

One of our family's favorite activities is reading. The Indianapolis Marion County Public Library encourages this with their Summer Reading Program. It was fun coming to the Wayne Branch after our month away. The friendly librarians said that they had missed us. One of the two ladies at the desk took special note of our one year old. We may have missed the month of June at the IMCPL, but this summer's Adventuras de Indy (as in Indiana Jones, but without the copyright infringement) will be enjoyed and fully taken advantage of by all seven Bird children.

Interestingly, yesterday we received Joseph's birthday gift that keeps coming. For joining Brickmaster LEGO Club we get 6 exclusive LEGO models. This month's toy was an Indiana Jones mini and a set that Joseph put together to become a Jeep-like car.
The Indiana Jones Mini Movie is humorous.

The Garage

2008-07-01T11:10:00.002-04:00

Back home again in Indiana...

This past school year I had a student who was quite the advocate of Coke Rewards. He had everyone giving him their bottle tops and he was getting some impressive merchandise. The item that caught my eye was a subscription to Popular Mechanics. A part of the reason Matt won Covenant's Senior Science Award was because of his keen interest, knowledge and communication of what was going on in the world of science and technology. His participation in Team America Rocketry Challenge, 4H rocketry, earning the rank of Eagle in Boy Scouts, and earning 5 on AP exams also helped in making the decision.

So I used some of the codes found in 12 pack, 24 packs, and bottle tops of Coke products to get a year's subscription of Popular Mechanics. When my oldest son, the inventor and dreamer, was looking through the most recent issue, he saw a picture of a garage that was cleaned out. He wanted to get our garage looking like that, so he got the help of others and had a go at it for a while. We made some improvement, but with around 9 bicycle type vehicles, the back row of a 15 passenger van, and other large items, it will still be a while before we will be able to park in there. But I'm happy to encourage progress. Goal: park more then just my bicycle in there this winter. Perhaps the garage can be another place for the kids to rollerblade besides the kitchen when it gets cold out.

US Calculus Summit

2008-06-27T18:17:00.007-04:00

I was privileged to be a part of a "meeting of the minds" in Dallas, Texas these past couple of days. A dozen leading calculus educators from around the country were invited to gather to discuss the future of technology and how it can be best used as a learning and teaching tool. The combined number of years of experience in calculus education represented by those present in the room, I estimated to be nearing 500 years. This is a longer period of time than the subject itself has been a discipline of study. The two men recognized to be the co-discovers of calculus (although independent of each other), Newton and Leibniz, were born in the 1640s. (See my website for more history of calculus. UPDATE: My school is doing some server maintenance, so that site will be down from 5/30 to about 6/3)

Despite our combined experience, it was a diverse group. There were a few of us who primarily consider ourselves high school teachers, and there were community college, university and ivy league professors. Several had authored textbooks or are facing a publishing deadline. One introduced himself as being unsuccessfully retired. Many in the group consult for College Board's AP Calculus, head important committees, and contribute regularly to electronic discussion groups.

As the summit was hosted by Texas Instruments Education Technology division, they explained some of what they were working on to continue to improve the TI-Nspire family of products. There will be substantial operating system updates twice a year for the foreseeable future. I know I'll be watching for new releases and the impressive new features to keep my TI-Nspire updated (version 1.4 is coming soon).

We gave feedback about the TI-Nspire's pedagogical usefulness, explored the methods and benefits of teaching with CAS, and discussed professional development best practices. TI also gave us demonstrations about data collection and formative assessment capabilities for the not too distance future releases of TI-Nspire.

I think everyone involved found that our time was well spent.

Now, I'm up in Chicagoland speaking at a couple of conferences to better equip, train and inspire math and science teachers.

Last chance Florida activities

2008-06-25T17:21:00.005-04:00

We had a great last full day in the Cape Canaveral area. 1st stop was Kennedy Space Center to hear from the astronaut of the week at Astronaut Encounter. After some final shopping in the Space Shop we went up to Titusville and had lunch at the World Famous Dixie Crossroads. (Check out their recipes.) I had some delicious Indian River mullet, like I had seen jumping out of the river on my kayak trip, and Rock shrimp. We felt like we were having desert before (and after) the meal when they brought out their 'bread.' It was really the delicious Dixie Crossroads Corn Fritters. When we left they gave us each a small container of fish food. We stood out on the bridge and were amazed at the number of fish and turtles in their pond who loved going after the food.

Then we did our last visit to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to watch the 20 minute introductory video, walk the little trail again and get some things at the gift shop. The kids got to pet a live snake, wash their hands, and the park ranger also gave them some activity books.

Our last stop was the Astronaut Hall of Fame to check out the exhibits and ride the simulators and play the games one last time.

We beat the storm home, but didn't have too much time on the beach before the clouds become too threatening. Over 4000 lightning strikes in less then an hour is pretty impressive to me.

On the way out of Florida we stopped by Lego Imagination Center. This Lego store has more pieces and sets then any other. The kids enjoyed the play/build area. Elizabeth used pieces to tell the 3 Little Pigs story. A great feature about this Lego store is that you can build your own mini Lego person: three for $10. It included head, torso, legs (with springs - something I had never seen), hair/hat and an accessory. Our accessories include things like a veterinarian bag, small green frog, flaming thing, etc. While driving home after leaving Lego World there was an unusual request from the youngsters in the back to turn off the music. They were using their Lego people to play and tell stories.

Here is a link to an interesting connection between building with Legos and and the Kennedy Space Center.

Day at Disney

2008-06-23T23:34:00.007-04:00

Well, we made it there. We did not plan on being able to afford the $75 for each of the 4 of us who are over 9 years old, and the $65 per child over two years old for 4 of our children. In addition to that, if we planned to eat or buy anything at the Disney park, that could potentially cost as much as our monthly food budget. But thanks to a new calculus friend, we were able to get the oldest three of our family in for free to what we like to call the ‘Character Kingdom’ (since we aren’t fans of magic - Rev 21:8; Rev 22:15; Lev 19:30-31; Acts 19:18-20 - although, I have seen a good Christian illusionist). Here during our last week in Florida, the theme has been ‘no regrets.’ If there was something that you are going to wish you did while here, you better get it done.

My friend works at Disney on the weekends, but she had a meeting on Saturday morning until 11. What we did was drive the hour to Orlando for an all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Golden Corral. Disney was a surprise for most of them, we told them we were going out for breakfast. With this brunch, water bottles, and some trail mix, somehow everyone lasted until after 9 p.m. with great attitudes. We had a fabulous meal at the Starlight Cafe. The 'live' audio-animatronic singer had some great jokes and we particularly enjoyed the Planetary Boogie. About quarter till 10, Joseph wanted to lay down in a booth. He got a second wind when the 10 p.m. fireworks started and he got to drive the Indy cars with Mom, do the Buzz Lightyear ride two more times, see an illuminated parade, take a Jungle Cruise, and ride a carpet three times until the park closed. Our oldest daughter did buy a cool 2008 Disney postcard as we were leaving down Main Street. After the fairy boat ride across Seven Seas Lagoon, since our youngest two had been sleeping for over two hours in the blessed double stroller that we borrowed from a family from the Orlando church, I decided not to wake them up for the tram ride. I was surprised to discover that the parking lots are within walking distance. I got to Minnie 42 with the two sleepy heads before the rest of the family who rode the tram. There weren’t too many cars left in the parking lot around 1 a.m. The rest of the children were asleep before we got out of the parking lot.

It was a great day. The entire family got to do almost everything together. We did do the ‘baby swap’ for Splash Mountain, which the baby and I went and got the Fast Pass for while everyone else was doing their first ride of the day, Aladdin’s Carpet ride. The middle of the day rain didn’t slow us down or dampen our spirits. We were glad it wasn’t too hot. We enjoyed the dry and cool wait and show for a 3D philharmonic show presented by Mickey. Well, actually Donald got in trouble because he was messing with things who shouldn’t.

We loved Fast Passes. We got them for Peter Pan, while we rode Small World, went to Belle’s Storytime and watched a live show in front of the castle staring Princesses, and many other characters. We also got Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh, Buzz, and Space Mountain. While we waited to redeem those, we visited Mickey & Minnie’s home, road the Walt Disney Train around the park, flew the elephant Dumbo, rode/watched/sang along to the Carousel of Progress, and toured Tomorrowland in their Transit Authority. Actually only myself, my 8 and 11 year old, were interested and brave enough to ride Space Mountain. Since we got 5 passes for that, those two kids were delighted to by-pass the 50 minute line for the second time at 10:30 at night.

All in all, we had an excellent day at a theme park that exemplifies excellence. (Philippians 4:8)

Canaveral National Seashore

2008-06-20T23:30:00.005-04:00

For the past 3 evenings we have seen a rainbow. James Nickel is working on a new book. He does an excellent job explaining the mathematics and Christian Worldview regarding rainbows. Check it out and you may learn something you never knew. I love his book "Mathematics: Is God Silent?"

On Wednesday we went up to Canaveral National Seashore, part of NASA's property. NASA has about 140,000 acres along the Space Coast, 95% of which is undeveloped. This provides a safety zone and allows for any future expansion according to page 25-26 of Environmental Assessment of KSC for the Constellation Project.

As we drove we saw a flock of roseate spoonbills on the Kennedy Space Center property. We enjoyed the Visitor Center with its gift shop, exhibits, and shows. We walked some trails and collected trash and treasures as part of requirements to earn Junior Ranger patches. All of the National Parks that we have been to have some sort of Junior Ranger patch or badge program. We've done this at the St. Louis Arch, Mammoth Cave, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Lincoln's Boyhood home in Southern Indiana, and the National Mall.

We saw lots of wildlife, including spiders, armadillos and dolphins.

The dolphins particularly a treat as they were enjoyed while relaxing and having lunch on the porch of a historic house.

The fun with wildlife doesn't end . The next morning, my second oldest daughter saved a tree frog that was stuck in the swimming pool. She did enjoy playing with it before freeing it.

I almost forgot to mention that this protected area around NASA is also home to about 23 species of mosquitoes. If one type doesn't like how you taste then another might. My wife took the oldest girls on to a turtle watch. She told me the story of a lady who put organic bug 'repellent' on here face. It could have been a scene in a horror show ... within seconds the lady's face was attacked by bugs.

My children have discovered how painful After Bite. My wife actually went back to the store to get some more anti-itch medicine and try the kids non-stinging version of After Bite.

"Cape Canaveral: Then & Now" tour from KSC

2008-06-19T17:33:00.010-04:00

I was pretty much in the dark about Cape Canaveral before this trip. And until Tuesday, the picture to the left shows about as close as I was able to get. (This is a picture of the Delta II, America's workhorse rocket, the night before it was launched last week.)

What is today called Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is where the US has launched just about everything into space except for the manned launches beginning with Apollo 8. The Shuttle and Saturn V were launched from Kennedy Space Station launch complex 39 A and B. B is now being converted over to support the Constellation Program. (I just found a virtual tour of CCAFS. You actually get to see some things closer up, then what I got to see on my 2+ hour tour.) The first stop was the United States Air Force Space & Missile Museum. Here I am pretending that I am pressing the launch button for the still active launch pad 17 that sent up the Delta II rocket and GLAST satellite last Wednesday.

It was really cool driving by and walking on the launch sites where history was made!

I've been reading "Go for Launch: An illustrated history of Cape Canaveral".
So, this week I took that tour starting at the Kennedy Space Center called "Cape Canaveral: Then and Now" where I actually got to see the old block houses, launch pads, and the current gantries and facilities where we send objects into space. When I went back to reading the book today, it all meant so much more and it made more sense. I had more context.

The reason I bring this up, is because it is similarly true regarding reading mathematics textbooks. If students are lead on a tour of the actual math, allowed to explore hand-on, or lead in exploring the patterns (perhaps even using CAS technology like TI-Nspire CAS), then when they are instructed to read, it will be more satisfying, fulfilling, and less frustrating.

Yes, we need to keep encouraging young people to read challenging material, but I know my students have a lot of homework in their other classes. If I expected them to understand the material thoroughly by reading before coming to class in addition to the problems I want them to do, I would have some overwhelmed students.

An idea for when we do want them to read ahead is to give them a goal, a focus. For example, say something like, "after doing the assigned reading tonight you should come to class with an understand of how to .... (or you should be able to)". With this direction, they might not get lost thinking they had to memorize and understand everything. They may actually allow themselves to enjoy some of the icing that comes with the cake that was assigned.

Food for thought, especially for fellow math teachers.

On another note: It sure is a privilege to have a copy of the Bible and to be able to read and study it. Deuteronomy 17:18-20 reminds me that for most of history, precious few had the opportunity to have a copy of Scripture for daily reading. Ezra set his heart to study the Bible, to do what it says and to teach others. An excellent illustration of the value of hearing, reading, studying, memorizing and meditation of the Word of God is the hand illustration.