Longtime readers of this blog will know I’m a big fan of the Hour of Code, an initiative with the goal of getting every student to program a computer for at least one hour during the school year. In my last day as a teacher in the public schools, my math department colleagues and I completed it with our students and were impressed how much our high school students could pick up in one class period.
Continuing their popular “STEM Behind…” series of classroom activities that feature interesting applications of mathematics and science with Texas Instruments technologies, TI has launched a new curriculum module, STEM Behind Sports. Previous modules in the series like STEM behind Hollywood feature the TI-Nspire CX, but STEM Behind Sports features the TI-84 Plus CE (review). Like other STEM Behind… activites, you can STEM Behind Sports can be downloaded from the Texas Instruments website.
Guest post by Florida Polytechnic University Director of Admissions Lauren Willison Quality of life has significantly improved thanks to tools developed by leaders in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. These high-performing minds combine technical skill with innovative ideas to find improvements and alternative solutions to some of the world’s largest problems. Engineering, in particular, is one STEM field that can take credit for many of our greatest inventions.
Today, Texas Instruments announced a new partnership with NASA for STEM education that they are calling mISSion imaginaTIon. The new initiative launched with an online quiz about manned space missions, and there will soon be TI-Nspire activities with mISSion imaginaTIon. A year long STEM design challenge encourages students to work on four space-related challenges, and the winner will receive a video chat with a NASA expert and a TI-Nspire CX graphing calculator.
We are just a couple of weeks away from the 2015 Hour of Code. Last year, I did the Hour of Code with all of my students on my last day as a teacher after 13 years in the classroom, and they loved it. If you are a math, science, or computer teacher, or are a parent looking to give your child a start on a new set of skills, you owe it to yourself to check out the Hour of Code website.
My wife was good enough to pick up extra bed time duty with our kids tonight so I could take in the latest Texas Instruments T3 webinar, Behind Health with TI Technology. As is always the case with these webinars, the content was excellent, incorporating interdisciplinary content from science and statistics. This particular webinar focused on TI’s Stem Behind Health, which I talked about more in a previous post. The content in their latest module focuses on breast cancer.
Just a quick anecdote I wanted to share. A few weeks back, I was at possibly the last graduation party I’ll ever be invited to as a teacher of a former student. It was a great experience speaking with the recent grad and her friends, many of them also former students of mine, as the conversation was more relaxed and open than it typically is between teachers and students. As the conversation shifted to future plans, some of the students who are recent plans started sharing what universities they are headed off to and what they plan to major in.
My last day teaching in a high school classroom is this Friday. I’m not the kind to just mail it in on the last day, and yet, I don’t really want to go onto a new mathematical concept since a sub will be showing up Monday to deal with the aftermath from any absences or confusion from a Friday lesson. So what to do as a standalone lesson that is more of a supplement than core to the curriculum?
Virtual Nerd is offering fantastic back to school 2011 program. The discounts go all the way up to 61% off for a 3-month package of tutoring. If you haven’t heard about them, I encourage you to read my Virtual Nerd review. They have a really slick user interface that goes beyond what other online math tutoring services offer. Here are the sale prices. Click here to visit Virtual Nerd and take advantage of these special prices while they last.
Virtual Nerd is holding what they’re calling a boot camp, to help kids start of the school year right. The idea is that kids may have lost some of their math skills over the summer and by exercising those brains, students will get back into shape. It’s a five week program that starts with an assessment quiz to determine where the student’s current strengths and weakness are. You then get a 5 week program designed to help you improve your skills, complete with their Dynamic Whiteboard, videos, and practice problems.
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