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MathsClass

A blog about teaching and learning in a maths classroom.

A story for Trigonometry

Monday, 02 March 2009 | 3 Comments

A really easy way to create engagement when introducing a new topic is to explain some of it’s applications outside of the maths classroom.  For Trigonometry, I use an explanation of how I used trigonometry in a previous career to find the height of trees.

This story may have different mileage for you.  It works for me, because it’s my personal story.  Also, I wouldn’t show a video of me presenting it in class, but would draw it up on the blackboard as I went – obviously.

I’ve been meaning to post this story for ages, and probably would have just used text.  But I wanted to play a little on the weekend to see what I could come up with using a Wacom Bamboo tablet, ScreenFlow and Jarnal.

The result is embedded below.  Use it, if you can / however you want / not at all…



A story for Trigonometry from Simon Job on Vimeo.

Posted in • Activity • Story • Lesson Idea • Trigonometry • Media • Video | Short URL: http://mths.co/1422

Comments

Liz on  03 March 09  at  06:19 PM #
that is so cool, i can't wait till i teach trig this year i am definately going to show them this. I only have a roof story to tell so this will be nice to add to that. Thanks
Michael Dear on  04 March 09  at  08:57 PM #
Hi Simon, Enjoyed your presentation. I guess all NSW maths teachers are feeling a bit nervous about how we're going to most effectively use the impending new technology in the classroom. Particularly, how are we going to make useful maths ICT resources in a time efficient way. I like your graphics tablet idea, although I haven't had great experiences using a tablet myself - detailed drawings were really clumsy. I have also tried photographing various stages of a presentation on my physical whiteboard and used them as a part of a PowerPoint presentation. Worked OK, but I like your idea of making it a mini-video. Unfortunately the NSW DET has blocked your blog, so I can't show my students your presentation ...

author

Simon on  04 March 09  at  09:09 PM #
Hi Michael, thanks for commenting. I'm still working out how I might use the graphics tablet - hence this experiment. Unfortunately both my blog and the Vimeo site (where the video is hosted) are blocked (well, not unblocked!). Although, staff should have access to them. Also, if you join up to Vimeo (for free) you can download the original file on the "video page":http://vimeo.com/3433829. Alternatively, if that's not a solution for you, let me know and I have another means of getting the video into your classroom 😉

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Simon Job — eleventh year of teaching maths in a public high school in Western Sydney, Australia.
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