I created a new lab last week titled "Introduction to the TI-89" and ran it
very successfully on Friday. We have decided to face the issue of symbolic
calculators head on this year. Our department has purchased a classroom set of
TI-89's and several of us are going to be dabbling with finding ways to use
them sensibly with students.
Of course my little 2-hour lab hardly covered a tenth of one percent of what
the TI-89 can do to to support the teaching of intermediate algebra, but I did
cover my three main objectives, which were to: a) help students see that the
TI-89 _does_ have a strong family resemblance to the TI-83's they are familiar
with, and they are _not_ starting from scratch, b) give students a basic feel
for the controls, editing techniques, and menu navigation, and c) see a couple
of clean, satisfying mathematical applications in this electronic environment
that are clearly relevant to what they have already been studying. I will know
more when I get the written lab reports handed in (this Thursday), but I am
feeling very positive about being out in front on this!
RWW Taylor
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester NY 14623
>>>> The plural of mongoose begins with p. <<<<
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