Tech Task #9 – Smartboard

This week in ECMP355 we had to opportunity to experience a hands on class using Interactive Whiteboards (Smartboards). I took a lot away from this class since I was exposed to Smartboards in Grades 11 and 12, and will most likely be using them in my future Field Experiences, Internships and in my teaching career. Our techtask has assigned us to choose an outcome from the Saskatchewan Curriculum, find a few activities to fit this outcome and post them on our blog.

I chose to look into High School Mathematics, as that is the area I am majoring in. The outcome for Grade 9 Mathematics I am going to explore is N9.2 which focuses on learning how to work with rational numbers, fractions, and square roots (multiplying, subtracting, etc). A few websites that I found helpful for dealing with Grade 9 Math were:

Illuminations – iSmartboard – Lesson Planet – SMART Exchange

These websites provide many opportunities for students to strengthen their math skills and explore further understanding of this concept. The SMART Exchange website is a complete lesson for teachers to use on their smartboards dealing with Fractions. The other 3 websites have links, worksheets, or are games, that can be used in a lesson by the teacher, or simply assigned for students to work on individually. Smartboards are excellent when working in any subject, but especially in  math as I learnt from using them in my senior High School maths. Having the ability to further understand visually, being able to alter images and equations, and offering an inclusive activity for students to be able to get up and try the exercises is great. They have the same qualities as regular whiteboards and chalkboards, but provide so much more outside of those characteristics and are great to have in every classroom!