I had grandiose plans for the TI-Nspire in my Calculus BC class this year. Unfortunately they do not seem to have panned out. As I have previously mentioned, the design of my class is such that the textbook is really a long, long problem set. The students are assigned problems each night, then post and present their results the next day. All of the topics that I have typically covered in the BC class remain, and they are spiraled through the problems, but I do not follow the typical “present, practice, homework, test” model of teaching.
The group that I am teaching this year has demonstrated both strengths and weaknesses over last years group (the first of which I followed this model, but the 5th year in which I taught the BC class). One of the things that I am trying to help the students recognize is the proper use of technology when solving problems. Particularly at the beginning of the spiral I want them willing to use any tools they have at their disposal to help them understand the problem. By the end of the spiral, they should be practicing the skills. Last year I introduced the students to Maxima, which is an open-source CAS program. Unfortunately it is cumbersome to use for the uninitiated and requires access to a computer. So this year I had our department purchase a class set of TI-Nspire CAS calculators for the students to use. The input of the math is far more intuitive (although navigating the Menus for those intimately familiar with the TI-83 and TI-84 calculators is troublesome) and they are portable.
However, more often than not the students ignore the Nspire when they should be utilizing it and returning to their 83s and 84s. I have demonstrated some of the ways in which they can use the Nspire, and I wrote an Euler program for them to use, but they still act surprised when I suggest using it. Even when they do think to pick it up, they often give up quickly because they have trouble navigating the menus and finding what they want.
To a certain extent I think this has been my fault. While I have demonstrated some things for them, and am usually on hand to help them, I am also not as fluent on the calculator as I would like and so when they ask me something I haven’t done already or in a long while I often have to spend a few minutes working it out. Also, I am planning on making some video podcasts for next year using the TI-Nspire TE software that will walk the students through some of the more routine uses of the calculator.
We’ll see how it goes.
9 May 2009 at 5:12 am |
I have had professional development on the CAS in our school board, and I think that most of us are still confused.
BTW, what is “Calculus BC?” (I’m not from the U.S.)