Algebra: Themes, Tools,
Concepts
is a year-long curriculum authored by Henri Picciotto and
Anita Wah. Algebra has proven to be a stern gatekeeper for many. A new and
broader approach to teaching algebra is needed. This curriculum is not based
solely on symbolic manipulation but on an understanding of functions, patterns,
and quantity using manipulatives as the bridge from concrete experience to
abstract algebraic representations. Building understanding of symbols and
variables along with a rationale for why symbolic transformations make sense is
critical for understanding algebra.
What
do I get? Three tools in quantities sufficient for classroom use are
provided: transparent geoboards, pattern blocks, and a set of Lab Gear with
excerpts from the Lab Gear workbook, and a video of the Pattern Block Train
exercise in a 6th grade classroom.
What do
I need to use it? An overhead projector.
Is there a demo or preview site? You can find out
more about the curriculum at Henri
Picciotto's website.
What content is
in a lesson? Click here to view a sample activity for Algebra with Geoboards. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
Balloon Factory offers a virtual window into a real Balloon factory at a site in the United Kingdom. Students design and run a business that makes fanciful balloons. Whimsy, beauty, and engagement are at a high level in this interaction. Students and student groups engage in a lot of critical reading and writing and thinking. What plans, floor designs, staffing and shipping and marketing policies make sense? Making decisions and supporting them at every turn of the exploration is the meat of the learning experience. The scenarios they develop can be presented off line using Microsoft products.
What do I get? The module using Balloon Factory also employs the What-If Builder . The What-If Builder is a tool to create decision-tree models, also known as 'Action Mazes,' 'tree literature,' 'plot branching,' or 'choose your own adventure.' A model consists of short sections of narrative, each ending with a choice for the reader that determines what happens next and thus which section of narrative the reader is presented with next. It is possible to merge student creations in order to create a rich view of future possibilities. ative to analysis of plot and structure and the almost all chemical power of symbols.
Is there a demo or preview site? You can learn more about Balloon Factory at this location.
What content is in a lesson? Coming soon...under development.
BioLogica
introduces a computer-based manipulative to the study of genetic
phenomena. The BioLogica hyper model permits students to explore elementary
genetics, populations, and pedigree. The organisms explored are dragons. Models
of meiosis permit students to change alleles and observe the effects on
phenotypes. More complex phenomena like lethality, epistasis, and crossover can
also be modeled. BioLogica is well suited to upper elementary to secondary life
science students. BioLogica is useful as an inquiry tool during the two- to
four-week segment of a life science curriculum dealing with inheritance.
What do I
get? BioLogica is free and can be downloaded off the web.
What do I need to use it? Access to the web and a CD ROM drive.
Is there a demo or preview
site? Visit the BioLogica
site to learn about this product, download a demo or the software itself, or
just get a tour of the program. Use the back button on your browser to return to
Module Selection.
What content is in a
lesson? Click here to view an activity for GenScope (the precursor to BioLogica). The tools of the BioLogica model
simulation are explored. How does one breed an azure dragon? It's not as easy
as it sounds. What is the range of phenotypes? Is the color range different for
males than it is for females? What parents would produce an azure dragon? To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
BioQUEST: Environmental
Decision Making offers an elegant systems simulation tool for life
science investigation. It is a subset of EXTEND, a professional modeling package
that uses an icon-based interface to build model ecosystems. Students can do
"what if" experiments with what BioQUEST calls a "strategic simulation." These
simulations capture core ideas in life science and open them for inquiry. A
fishing, logging, and prairie fire system are the first models. An investigation
of a simulation of BIOSPHERE2 rounds out the EDM module. EDM is well suited to
students in upper elementary to secondary life science. It is usable throughout
the year.
What do I get? Two
libraries are supplied: the basic BioQUEST library and the Biosphere library for
EDM. Also, you get a complete guide and permission to mount EDM on any computer
used by an INTEC teacher or his/her students at the site.
What do I need to use it? Windows or Macintosh
computers.
Is there a demo or preview
site? Visit the BioQUEST site at this link and/or go to the discussion area and look for the BioQUEST Download threads (for Windows and Macintosh) in the Module Selection topic.
What content is in a lesson?
Click here to view an activity for EDM. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
Texas Instruments CBL:
Bob Tinker, President of Concord Consortium, pioneered MBL or micro-based labs.
Probes connect to the computer and real time data sets are graphed. CBL brings
similar techniques to graphing calculators through its interface. Students design
and collect data from experiments on motion, cooling, and rotation. Data are
shared with student calculators for interpretation and data fitting. CBL is a
tool that can be used across the whole year.
What do I get? One CBL interface with temperature
and light probes, a Sonic Ranger, and a workbook containing software to run the
CBL and probes.
What do I need to use
it? TI Graphing Calculators, TI graph link software, an LCD
panel and display calculator.
Is there a
demo or preview site? Previews of the CBL are provided at the Texas
Instruments site. The CBL area is quite extensive. Start with this link.
Also, if you are
not familiar with CBL already, we suggest you order a video of the CBL in
operation in a classroom. You can order it online at the CBL website, or call
1-800-TI-CARES.
What content is in a lesson?
Click here to view the introductory activity for CBL. Getting the interface to work is the
first challenge. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
Decisions Decisions: Building a Nation
Students role-play the leader of a
newly independent country
faced with many difficult issues. What kind
of government will
they establish? How will they relate to the former
colonial power?
How
will they stimulate the economy? How
will authority and resources
be shared among different groups? The
fundamentals of government
and nationhood come alive.
What do I get?
A
teacher's guide and CD, 28 Student Reference Books (7 sets
of 4) with
detailed lesson plans and reproducible worksheets.
What do I need to use it?
Windows or Macintosh computers
Is there a demo or preview
site? You can learn
more about Building
a Nation at this location.
What content is in a lesson?
Coming soon...under development.
The Global Lab Indoor Air module focuses on air quality
testing and telecollaborative science. Students devise an experimental design to
measure air quality at their school. Several tools are used. The first one, the
Drager tube, permits measurement of CO2 concentrations. Particulate
matter is also measured. Stunning results are possible with good design and
collaborative work. Results are posted on CLEO, TERC's new web-tool for sharing
data and projects online. The module gives a feel for the telecollaboration that
can occur in the actual GL community. 
What do I get?
Enough of two kinds of Drager tubes (diffusion and sampling) and TERC air pumps
for one class, with instructions on how to sample CO2.What do I need to use it? Web connections for students to post results.
Is there a demo or preview site? You have already read about the unit in Tales. You can follow the link to the TERC website that describes the full Global Lab curriculum.
What content is in a lesson? Click here to view an activity for Global Lab. How does one measure the quality of indoor air? What factors go into the measurement? What protocols would one use to make best use of the Drager tubes? To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
Hands On Physics presents a
sophisticated way to experience hands-on experiments in mechanics with
inexpensive materials. HOP builds on core investigations in kinematics, dynamics,
electronics, and heat. Students build models and instruments to measure a wide
variety of phenomena. The approach taken by HOP is very much a dialogue of
science; student teams design and build their projects. Their discussions
around successes and failures in their projects bring the culture of science to
life in the classroom. HOP is a module that can be used throughout the year or as a project-based design segment in any physical science class.
What do I get? A
web-based teacher's guide including four core projects and HOP kit with all
materials and tools needed for two projects.What do I need to use it? All materials are provided in the HOP kit. Good lab tables and storage space for projects is required.
Is there a demo or preview site? You can visit the HOP website for more information.
What content is in a lesson? Click here to view an activity for Hands On Physics. Building the dynamics cart or the bungee jump are projects in the kinematics unit. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
Back to Module Selection
The Hero's Journey :
lets students and groups of students write epic tales and publish them on the web. The theme of the journey of the hero and his or her trials, defeats, and successes fills the pages of world literature. Explorations using Hero's Journey can include rewriting using web tools major classics: Everyman in Chicago's South side, Gulliver on Lake Michigan, etc. Tales from non-western traditions can be adapted and explored in this medium. A source for ideas is Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces. Parallel tales with identical structures yet radically different characters and scenes can be compared to permit students to push themselves beyond the entertainment value of the narrative to analysis of plot and structure and the almost all chemical power of symbols. What do I get? A wide variety of web-based resources including a reference section, examples of classic stories, and a story tool. The authors' imagination is the only limit in this application.
Is there a demo or preview site? You can learn more about The Hero's Journey at this location.
What content is in a lesson? Coming soon...under development.
ImagiProbe:
Bob Tinker, President of Concord Consortium, pioneered MBL or micro-based labs.
Probes connect to the computer and real time data sets are graphed. ImagiProbe brings
similar techniques to handheld computers through the ImagiWorks interface. Students design
and collect data from experiments on cooling, light, pH, and voltage. Data are
shared with student handheld computers for interpretation and data fitting. ImagiProbe is a
tool that can be used across the whole year.What do I get? One ImagiProbe interface with temperature sensor, light and voltage sensors.
What do I need to use it? The ImagiLab General Science and Water Quality Activities and a Palm OS handheld computer.
Is there a demo or preview site? Previews of the ImagiProbe are provided at the ImagiWorks site. Start with this link.
Also, if you are not familiar with ImagiProbe already, we suggest you view the ImagiProbe Tour.
What content is in a lesson? Coming soon...under development.
Language Logic encourages
students to discover, formulate and
share rules describing
the
nature of the linguistic differences. Using a KidSolve application
"Hypothesis Builder", and series of words, sentences
and
paragraphs in translation available on the Web, students
explore word
families; prefixes, suffixes and roots; patterns
of subject, object
and verb;
They post their hypotheses into a shared database
for comment
by other students.
What do I get? What do I need to use it?
A new tool,
"Hypothesis Builder", web-based language resources
and activities.
Is there a demo or preview
site?
"Hypothesis Builder" is presently underdevelopment.
What content is in a lesson?
Students explore a set of 20 translations of five
words,
and build their understanding of language rules, and the
relationship
of language to culture and geography.
LOGAL Chemical
Kinetics is a simulation package that permits experiments with atomic
and molecular interactions. The micro-world in Chemical Kinetics opens to inquiry
important facets of kinetic theory and the gas laws. Students can vary the mass
and size of molecules as well as temperature of the system. For more advanced
studies students can change activation energy of a molecule or the delta H for
the reaction. Questions like "How would doubling the temperature quantitatively
affect a reaction?" or "How would changing molecular mass or size affect the
number of effective collisions?" 
What do I get? A CD with
the LOGAL Chemical Kinetics software on it in Windows and Macintosh format and a
teacher's guide on use of the simulation. What do I need to use it? A Windows or Mac computer with a CD drive.
Is there a demo or preview site? Previews of the software are provided on this RiverDeep (LOGAL) demo site. Look over the activites that this elegant microworld supports.
Free demos for science, math, and language arts are provided on the website. You get
free access to all of RiverDeep's programs for one month. They do not download to
your computer. You must be online to use the web-based emulators. It certainly is
worth a visit.
What content is in a
lesson? Click here to view an activity for Chemical Kinetics. How does changing the
mass of a molecule affect the diffusion rate? It will diffuse more slowly, that
is clear, but what is the quantitative relationship between diffusion and
temperature? The built-in spreadsheet lets results of many simulations be stored
and plotted. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
The Mars Exploration Project (MEP) builds on the
current wave of NASA exploration of the planet Mars to bring elegant inquiry to
earth science students in the middle grades. The Mars Project was written by TERC
and JPL. Through image analysis and physical modeling, students inquire into the
landforms on Mars and make comparisons with those on earth: - Was there water on Mars?
- What landforms indicate erosion by water, which indicate erosion by wind?
- Which can be said conclusively to have been made by water erosion?
What do I
get? A classroom set of booklets introducing Mars Exploration and the
Great Martian Floods, plus a set of images for student analysis.What do I need to use it? The Mars Project requires lab tables.
Is there a demo or preview site? Click here for a summary or visit this web site.
What content is in a lesson? Click here to view an activity for MEP. What distinguishes landforms made by water, from those made by wind? What factors go into the carving of land forms? The image set and physical models of sculpting provide several levels of hypotheses and confirmation. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
Measurement in Motion
is used for defining, graphing, and analyzing motion with data from QuickTime
movies. It is a tool that can be used throughout the year.
What do I need to use it? Macintosh computers with a CD drive. Making home grown movies requires an AV machine with a capture board.
Is there a demo or preview site? A demo is available on the publisher's site. Use the back button on your browser to return to Module Selection. Visit the site.
What content is in a lesson? Click here to view the introductory activity for Measurement in Motion. Animations guide users on the interface and potential for the tool. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.
VideoPoint permits simple
to more complex analysis of Quicktime movie clips to explore the mathematics and
physics of motion. Students apply mathematical modeling to real situations.
Cartesian and polar coordinates are supported. "What is the speed of impact of a
Karate chop?" "How do trig functions describe Ferris wheels?" The combination of
visual data and numerical and graphic analysis is unique and a most powerful
learning tool. VP can be used as a data gathering tool with analysis done on
students' graphing calculators. Student movie clips can be analyzed as well.
VideoPoint is a tool that can be used throughout the year. The VideoPoint
interface is more complex than Measurement and Motion. It is better suited to
secondary students.
What do I get? A teacher's guide and
CD with over 100 clips and one copy of the VideoPoint program.
What do I need to use it? Windows or
Macintosh computers with a CD drive.
Is
there a demo or preview site? You can learn more about VideoPoint at this location.
What content is in a lesson? Click here to view an
activity for VideoPoint. Visual data lets
students interact with phenomena they can understand and explore mathematically.
Hoop shots, skate boards or NBA clips are all sources of data. To return to Modules Selection Details, please use the Back button on your browser.