How are iPads used for mathematics in your school? How much is consumption, often in the disguise of a ‘maths game’ - and how much supports critical thinking and deeper mathematical reasoning?
The power of the iPad when it comes to mathematics is the camera, the pencil and the screen recording functions. These three tools (and in some cases two tools, as the pencil is not always necessary) allow us to truly understand what our students are thinking and how they are approaching mathematical tasks.
Pair these features with digital sites that allow for multiple points of view or ways of working and you have a way to gather evidence that is much richer than before. Hearing students describe the strategy they have used and justify their reason for using it gives us a greater insight into where their thinking is at and what their next steps could be.
But where do we find rich digital sites that allow us to create open ended maths tasks from authentic manipulatives?
The keynote below showcases three sites you could begin with:
- Polypad (formerly Mathigon and now owned by Amplify)
- This site is full of amazing manipulatives, comes with a bank of suggested lessons and helpful teacher resources
- Math Learning Centre
- This site has links to individual manipulatives that all come with the same set of tools built in. They have individual apps, but you can save storage by using the web versions just as easily
- Desmos (also owned by Amplify)
- This site requires you to login, but you can create a free account. Rather than a bank of manipulatives it has a bank of free lessons you can use. Many of these also have Polypad built into them
Download the Keynote below and explore the resources (all the images are linked). Choose just one to get started with. Use one of the ready made lessons or create your own then get your students to screen record their solutions and talk it through as they are recording. The recording automatically saves to the Photos app and from there they can upload it to wherever you want them to store it.
It may take them a few attempts before they feel comfortable with the process - but give it a go and see the value it adds.
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.