SupportingCollaborativeMath

=Supporting Collaborative Mathematics Explorations using a Wiki, GeoGebra, and Jing=

Full recording: voice, text chat, slides, screen sharing
PowerPoint slides from session:

During the session participants posted in the chat space a number of links to resources for GeoGebra and online tools. I have gathered these links together along with the related text and placed them on a March 13 Links page.

Geoff Roulet and Jill Lazarus will discuss their use of wikis, GeoGebra and Jing with students, and invite participants for an extended DIY exploration. More details concerning the software required are below.

All events in the Math Future weekly series: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events Your time zone: []

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About Blended Mathematical Collaboration using a Wiki, GeoGebra and Jing
This discussion centers on the use of computer tools in a high school class. The goal was to develop a “math-talk learning community” to establish mathematics communication and collaboration as a classroom norm. In support of this we have combined the use of a wiki, GeoGebra, and Jing.

We would like to invite educators who have experience with wikis, GeoGebra and screencasts, or who would like to learn more, to discuss our project and share their ideas.

Event Hosts
Geoff is the skipper of and Jill a crew member on //Jeannie//, a J35 racing yacht. When not sailing, they are mathematics educators.

After graduate work at the University of Waterloo, **Geoff Roulet** began teaching mathematics, computer science, and chemistry at Roland Michener Secondary School in Timmins, northern Ontario. In the late 1970s, when personal computers for computer science were placed in the back of his classroom, Geoff began using these to support student learning in mathematics. Since then he has been involved in ICT use in teaching and learning at all grades and in all subjects, but with a particular focus on mathematics. Teaching was followed by a short spell of curriculum development and support work with the Ontario Ministry of Education and then in 1990 a move to the Faculty of Education, Queen's University at Kingston. Along the way Geoff completed M.Ed. and D.Ed. degrees at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at University of Toronto. Geoff's present research is focused on web-based environments for the collaborative construction of knowledge.

Through her experiences in secondary school mathematics, **Jill Lazarus** developed an appreciation for mathematics. This led her to pursue further studies at the undergraduate level. After her second year in the undergraduate program at Nipissing University, Jill was invited to participate in an Ontario Mathematics Curriculum analysis project, an opportunity that sparked her interest in mathematics education research. This led her to Queen’s University where she completed a thesis titled Translating Messages from Curriculum Statements into Classroom Practice: Communication in Grade 9 Applied Mathematics. At Queen’s, Jill worked under the supervision of Dr. Geoffrey Roulet. Since the completion of her degree in 2008, she has remained involved in mathematics education activities in Ontario and has been working as a teacher to make mathematics meaningful for her own students. Since completing her M.Ed. degree, Jill has continued to collaborate with Dr. Roulet, whose expertise has been invaluable for helping her explore the potential of information and communication technologies for engaging students in mathematics.

**An Extended Math 2.0 Session**
This will be a special extended Math 2.0 session.
 * On Tuesday, March 13, in a regular Blackboard Collaborate (Elluminate Live) Math 2.0 session, Jill Lazarus and Geoff Roulet will discuss how they have combined use of a wiki, GeoGebra, and Jing to support high school students' sharing and collaboration as they explore mathematics. More information is below.
 * Immediately after the Tuesday webinar, Jill and Geoff will host a short online workshop for those who wish to participate in a similar online collaborative mathematics investigation.
 * Just before the Tuesday session we will be posting a link to a page initiating a mathematics investigation. You are invited to join in this and collaborate with others.


 * Online Mathematics Collaboration: Wiki, GeoGebra and Jing **

Since the mid-1980s Geoff has been developing and field-testing problems, classroom structures, and tools that encourage and support collaboration in mathematics. These activities often involved the use of ICT. In 2000 with the start of the Math-Towers ( www.math-towers.ca) project Geoff moved his work to the Web and began developing an online space where Grades 6 to 10 classes could work together on mathematics challenges (See the October 6, 2010 Math 2.0 Math-Towesr session at the @Math Towers page). More recently Geoff has expanded his efforts to develop online mathematics collaboration spaces to include senior high school and university courses. For this he has experimented with various combinations of wikis, GeoGebra, and Jing videos. This work is described more fully with examples at: Collaborative Mathematics Spaces for Secondary School and University.

In 1998 Jill completed her M.Ed. thesis study in which she explored how two teachers encouraged and supported communication in their Grade 9 mathematics courses. Since then, while teaching in Petawawa, Ontario, Jill has continued to explore ways to engage her students in mathematical conversations.

This school year Jill and Geoff have combined their efforts and explored how a wiki (PBworks), GeoGebra, and Jing videos could be used together in Jill's Grade 10 class to support the sharing of mathematical ideas and collaboration in problem solving. In this session Jill and Geoff will discuss the philosophy, technology employed, teaching approach, student activities, and outcomes of their work. Below is a poster (click on the image) that outlines the project.

Supporting Collaborative Mathematics Explorations using a Wiki, GeoGebra, and Jing: Student Tasks


 * @Join an Online Collaborative Mathematics Investigation**

After the Tuesday, March 13 webinar, those who are interested are invited to join an online collaboration exploring an open-ended mathematics question. The investigation is one that Geoff and his B.Ed. students have played with over a number of years, but have not as yet made definite conclusions. A Google search does not bring up a site that appears to have a solution.

**To participate fully in the investigation you will need to install the free GeoGebra and Jing software on your computer and develop some simple skills to embed GeoGebra applets in a wiki page and create and embed Jing videos.** Instructions for downloading and installing the software and the required skills can be found at Collaborative Online Investigation. It would be helpful if those who wish to join the investigation installed the software and walked through the instructions before the March 13 session. In that way we could address any issues while in Blackboard Collaborate after the regular session.

The initial page of the investigation will be at Reflections in Vertices Investigation.