A GeoGebra-Enriched Approach to Teaching Math

I have used GeoGebra extensively to create interactive instructional materials for Algebra and Geometry. I believe in a Blended-Learning approach, and GeoGebra is a perfect tool for that. Students can start small, using pre-made applets and doing simple investigations, and quickly learn enough to be producers, not just consumers of content.

There are many things I love about GeoGebra:

It’s free! It can be run on or off the web html5 is making it easier to use on mobile devices It is very simple to get started There is support when you are learning GeoGebraTube makes lessons easy to share

Here are some classroom-ready activities that I’d like to explore with you

 

Algebra 1

Guiding Questions and Drop-down Menu Guide 

The Thirsty Crow – an old fable brought to life with data collection and sliders

Mohegan Sun Arena – a spreadsheet for an arithmetic sequence and series

Checkerboard Tile Border – an applet to help find a rule for a pattern

Setting Posts –  find a rule for adding positive and negative numbers

Multiplying Binomials –  an area model to visualize the product of binomials

Quadratic Palooza – 3 forms of a quadratic function respond to the same sliders

Simplifying Radicals – use the intersection of a rectangle’s diagonal and interior lattice points

Angry Birds – quadratic modeling with sliders

Glenn’s TMC13 Favorite – vertex form for all kinds of functions

Multiplying non-Zero Integers – a four-quadrant “Times Table,” with a fill-in worksheet

Geometry

Guiding Questions

Multiple Transformations Practice – Freely explore or hit targets

Kandinsky Puzzle – Recreate a work of art with transformations

Islamic Lattices – angle pairs formed by parallel lines cut by a transversal

Vesica Picis – customizing the toolbar for classical constructions

Going Crackers – a tutorial on embedding and annotating images

Golden Ratio – more image embedding with a construction on top

Radian Protractors – new protractors that I developed (proradian.net)

Exploring Conic Sections – sixteen applets to introduce conics in Geometry

Liu Hui Solids – exploring 3rd century Chinese mathematics

Rhombic Dodecs – cool shapes to build that fill space & create tetrahedral numbers

Animations

GeoGebra As an Animation Tool – Make images come alive with transformations in GeoGebra!

À la Kandinsky – an abstract art activity with transformations comes together with music

Park Bench – a tribute to my favorite SM/PD site

Golden Rectangles – iterations set to groovy lounge music