New Web-based Tools to Help Students (and Teachers!) Who Find STEM Content Challenging

1. New Web-based Tools to Help Students (and Teachers!) Who Find STEM Content Challenging

2. Smartgraphs and DynaBook Goals Proposed Goals • Develop digital resource for teachers and students • Contribute to the preparation of pre-service math teachers and professional development • Exemplify the transformative potential of new approaches to integrating technology, content, and pedagogy. Emergent Goals • Extend and deepen UDL and TPACK • Forge connections between Special Ed and General Math Ed • Frame productive roles and synergies for evaluation in this kind of design research 2

3. Foundational Principles • Interactive, Web-based Media • free, wide dissemination • Universal Design for Learning (UDL) • better supporting the needs of diverse learners by providing multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression • Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) • technology integration, teachers understand how to relate concepts with technologies, demonstrate creative pedagogical practice, and facilitate technology use in ways to teach content and skills with a student centered approach (Borko, Whitcomb, & Liston, 2009)

4. Rationale: Meeting the Needs of Today’s Mathematics and Science Classrooms • Increasingly Diverse Classrooms • General Education • Special Education • Collaboration • Engaging Learning Environments for all Students

5. Students in today’s Classrooms

6. Students in today’s Classrooms

7. Students in today’s Classrooms

8. Students in today’s Classrooms

9. PerspectiveSynergies with Special Ed • Students with disabilities: • Have diverse abilities and challenges • Achieve at unacceptably low levels • Cause many schools to miss AYP • Challenge conventional approaches to teaching and learning • Value of Special Education Perspective • From margins to the middle • Focus on individualization, intervention, and progress monitoring • General and special education teachers work side by side in schools • Teacher shortages • Special educators (and preservice special education) have both skill gaps and strengths 9

10. PerspectiveEmerging technological potential Cloud Computing Semantic Web YouTube NIMAS XML iPad DSPACE 10

11. Dynabook Development Team • Stanford Research Institute (SRI) • Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) • Inverness Research, Inc • California State Universities • San Francisco State University • San Diego State University

12. DynaBook – Year 1

13. An Inspiration: The original “Dynabook”Alan Kay, circa 1972 • Book • Interactive models • Collaboration, Inquiry 13

14. Target Audience: Preservice InstructionInnovation thrives when addressing unmet needs Preservice • Little competition • Can assume laptops,etc. • University networks • Not bound by a particular state’s standards • Institutional challenges Classroom Teaching • Publishers active • Hardware still challenging • School networks • Standards and especially tests limit innovation • Institutional challenges

15. Target Content: Proportionality • Central to middle school mathematics • Multiplicative Reasoning • Transition from Arithmetic to Algebra • See Draft Common Core, for example • Spans Strands • Number • Geometry • Algebra • Good dynamic representations available • SimCalc • Geometer’s Sketchpad • Etc. 15

16. Project Plan(Synopsis) • Year 1: Design and Prototype Development • Year 2: Field Testing and Iterative Refinement • Year 3: Additional Testing, Final Refinements, Dissemination • Advisory Meetings each year • Development, Research and Evaluation each year 16

17. Design Process - Key Features Use Cases Field testing Design Development • Iterative Process • Leverage of existing knowledge • UDL and TPACK as organizing constructs • CAST electronic book framework • Experience with SimCalc, Sketchpad • Authoring Tools • Separate content from framework • Eventually allow input from instructors • Stay grounded • Build a concrete prototype • Universities as co-design partners • Managing Creative Tension:Many Experts & Software Engineering 17

18. Our Prototype 18

19. Key Design Principles and Features • Book Metaphor + “Tours” • “Keep it real:” real textbook content, video cases • Each chapters organized for teacher learning Introduction, Compare Textbooks, Explore Cases, Do Interactive Math, Assess Your Knowledge • “Unfolding” Content: expands as you need it • Dynamic Features: “stop & thinks” & dynamic representations • Personalization Features: highlighter, notes, tags, … See list of other candidate features in “discussion guide” 19

20. Intended Content • Introductory Essays (with tours) • Standards and Connections in Middle School Math • UDL • TPACK • Content Chapters (with parallel organization) • Ratio • Proportions • Similarity • Slope & Rate • Linear Equations and their graphs 20

21. Year 1 Activities and Milestones • Developed Team • Developed Scenarios • Developed Content and Technology • Built Prototype: Dynabook 1 • Feedback from Teacher Candidates • Feedback from Advisors • Redesign 21

22. Focal Concets Area:Proportionality & Its Neighbors Starting Point is Here Compare Student Textbooks Assess Your Knowledge Introducing Ratio Explore Student Cases Do Interactive Math

24. Definitions

25. Representations

26. Compare Textbooks

27. Stop and Thinks

28. How Do I Say It?

29. Dynabook I • Creative Tension between General Education and Special Education • Advisory Board Meeting • Video and Understanding Classroom Diversity

30. Feedback from Candidates and Advisors: It’s Nice But… General positive reactions to approach, stop and thinks, and interactives but variable. Concept map confusing. Too book like. Use of textbooks as a framework not compelling. Structure too linear. Way too much text. Flexibility and dynamic learning model representation not clear. Desire for practical supports for lesson plans, homework, assessments, activities, and sharing. Too static. Student thinking not well represented.

31. Parameters for Dynabook v2 Dump the book. Dump the concept map. Less text, less text, less text. More video, more video, more video. Less content, better content. Rich, engaging content. Suggested tours and scaffolds for using Dbook.

32. What is Dynabook II? • Not a textbook • Not an eBook • Not a website • Not a “just in time” resource • DYNABOOK is a new kind of resource that can extend the duration and intensity of students’ engagement with meaningful mathematical ideas

33. Dynabook II • Friendly Intuitive Interface • Less words • Multiple Entries • Efficient Use • UDL Tutorial • Learning and reinforcing UDL principles

35. You are here: Introduction > Universal Design for Learning > Introduction to UDL Universal Design for Learning Introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) What is Universal Design for Learning? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF0nq3MiqEI d • Universal design for learning (UDL) is a set of principles for designing curriculum that provides all individuals with equal opportunities to learn. Grounded in research of learner differences and effective instructional settings, UDL principles call for varied and flexible ways to • Present or access information, concepts, and ideas (Multiple means of Representation),    • Plan and execute learning tasks (Multiple means of Action and Expression), and • Get engaged--and stay engaged--in learning (Multiple means of Engagement) Week 1: Do Math Often curriculum--which includes the goals, methods, assessments, and materials we use to teach and learn--is "fixed" and inflexible. This turns individual differences into potential learning barriers as learners try to bend their individual styles, skills, and abilities to the curriculum's needs at the expense of genuine learning. UDL turns this around: the curriculum is made flexible and customizable so that individuals can learn in ways that work best for them. A common aim of learning effectively and efficiently to high standards is achieved through many different means in the UDL curriculum. Source URL:http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/whatisudl Stop & Think What might be barriers for your students in learning Math? Page Highlights Show Me Page Notes

36. Dynabook II: Multiple Entries • Instructor’s Notes • Video Cases • Ratio Interactives • Challenging Problems

37. You are here: Ratio > Instructor’s Note Instructor’s Note Brief Introduction • Introduction text here • List of Contents • Page 2: What Ratio Means • Page 3: Application – How do I use it? • Page 4: Method – Comparison and Prediction • Page 5: Reasoning – Learning Progression • Page 6: Related Articles Week 1: Do Math Page Highlights Page Notes

38. 3 You are here: Ratio > Instructor’s Note Instructor’s Note Application – How do I use it? Ratios always involve a pair of quantities of the same type. There are different types of quantities, for example, counts and continuous quantities. Though you can use the same symbols for problem solving with either type, the different types may lead to different kinds of thinking. When teaching ratios look for a balance among the different kinds of quantities. Count Below are examples of quantities that are counts. The first counts the number of games won, and the second counts the number of female students. Continuous Measure In the examples below measurements are of a continuous quantity, such as ounces of lemon juice (volume) or grams of gold (weight). The amount of lemon juice is a fractional part of the total liquid. Geometry Week 1: Do Math Page Highlights Page Notes

39. You are in Ratio: Videos Ratio Middle school students were asked to solve three different ratio problems (see Problems A, B and C below). These video clips are organized by problem. While watching the videos pay specific attention to how the students are solving each problem. How might you characterize how the students reason through the problems in developing their solutions? Problem A In a certain school there are 3 boys to every 7 girls in each class. How many girls are there in a classroom with 9 boys? Problem B Crystal made Thousand Island dressing by mixing 6 ounces of ketchup in 20 ounces of mayonnaise. Joanne made Thousand Island dressing by mixing 3 ounces of ketchup in 10 ounces of mayonnaise. Were the dressings equally ketchupy or was one more ketchupy than the other? Problem C To make Italian dressing, you need 40 parts vinegar for 90 parts olive oil. How much olive oil do you need to make 65 ounces of Italian dressing? Page Highlights Page Notes

41. Interactives: Table Tool, Bar Mixers

42. Week 3: Assignment You are in Ratio: Challenging Problems : Measurement: 1 Ratio Proper hydration is essential for any athlete striving to maintain performance during a training session or workout. Dehydration and over-hydration are both valid concerns for athletes who exercise for an extended period of time. It is important to drink water while training, but you also need to replace electrolytes lost through sweating. S&T 1: This table is just like a ratio table that shows you how to maintain the proper ratio of powder power drink to ounces of water as you increase the quantity of power drink. A ratio table is a great way to explore how quantities change but the ration stays the same. While the ratio table provided by the manufacturer shows how to increase the quantities, they do not show you how to decrease the quantity. Start by looking at the patterns of number in the table. Problem Title and Image Here S&T 2: Jenny asked her daughter, Norma, to mix up enough power drink for the two little bottles. She only told her that she should use 2.5 scoops for 20 ounces. Her daughter took the 16 ounce measuring cup and the two little bottles to the sink. There she stopped and told her mom that 20 ounces cannot fit into the 16 ounce measuring cup and she could not mix the drink like her mom wanted. Her mom asked her to use her math skills to figure out how much powder mix she would need to mix only 16 ounces of power mix. Norma said that she knew this was a ratio problem but could not remember the algebra equation. Her mom told Norma to think about how much of the 20 ounces of water would fit into the 16 ounce container. Norma laughed and said that you can’t put 20 ounces into a 16 ounce container. Her mom agreed that not all of the 20 ounces would fit but that a portion of it would fit. When Norma knew what portion of the 20 ounces of water would fit into the 16 ounce container, then she could use that same quantity to figure out what portion of the 2.5 scoops of powder she would need to add to the 16 ounces of water. Transcript Container instructions: Bottle size: 8 ounces Questions: 1. Hands-on Question 2. Equation Question 3. Numeric Question Page Highlights Page Notes

44. Lessons Learned • Less really is more • Listen to users • Different views of the problem a strength • Reading math is different – Implied Reader • Research goals more modest • More like museum exhibit • Noticing • Awareness • Productive project evaluation

45. Plans for Year 2 • Complete Build of Dbook 2 by 2/2011 • Pilot at SDSU and SFSU 2/2011-4/2011 • Collaborative Action Research at Both Sites • Advisor Meeting in 5/2011 • Final Prototype revision 45

46. We’re interested in your reactions to… • Overall Approach • Is this a problem worth solving? • Is our approach compelling? • Is Dynabook an improvement over current practice? • Would you implement Dynabook in a methods class? • Process? • Research?

47. PerspectiveIntegrating Content, Technology and PD 47

48. Lightening and Ratio • http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/nas/streaming/faculty/jbowers/Teach/Math_413/new_version/new_version.html