Minutes

Math 2.0 conference planning session

November 11, 2009

Sponsor: Mathfuture: Math 2.0 Interest Group

Location: Elluminate online

Listen to archived session here.

 

Note: This is a "dynamic" posting. Feel free to add or change what you see below. Let me know if you are not able to do so. -Ihor

 

Participants:

 

·       Maria Durokova (moderator): droujkova@gmail.com

·       Ihor Charischak: ihor@clime.org

·       Sue Hellman: mshellman@telus.net

·       Colleen King: mathplayground@gmail.com

·       Tom Bosher-Perran: tomperranMSIC@gmail.com

·       Deb Boatwright: BoatwrightD@newmarket.k12.nh.us

·       Cal Armstrong: sig225@gmail.com

·       David Weksler: wex@pobox.com

·       Brian Licata: http://twitter.com/blicata

 

Talking points:

 

• Purpose of conference. What would you like to see happen at this conference?

    Share examples of projects, activities, etc. that show how math 2.0 can enhance math education.

  

• Sponsors. Should we have sponsors? At the FETC virtual conference in October '09 they had groups & vendors act as "sponsors". This sounds like a good idea. Some potential sponsors for this Math 2.0 Conference might be Mathplayground , Mathfuture and CLIME. How would/should this work?

  

• Sessions. In order to keep a lid on topics I thought it might be useful to narrow the field of possible sessions. Some examples:

  

·       Sharing of interesting examples (vignettes) of Math 2.0 in action. (Here's a couple of quick examples posted by Erin Schultz that I liked.)

·       Highlight specific dynamic software applications (i.e. Sketchpad, Geogebra, google spreadsheets) and how they are used in the classroom.

·       Contributions by Math Bloggers. Most math teachers are probably not aware of the contributions that math teacher bloggers make to enhancing a web 2.0 style of learning and teaching.

 

 Presenters. Volunteers who are active in bringing Math 2.0 into their teaching. Share their wisdom and knowledge. Invite those that might not surface to volunteer if we know they are doing worthwhile things. Some examples:

 

Wendy Petti and her work with spreadsheets comes to mind.  How would Google Spreadsheets enhance her current work? Lots of venues to explore here.

Maria Anderson is another candidate for a slot.

Colleen suggested the Fahlsbergs: Tim Fahlberg (Mathcasts) and sister Linda Fahlberg (Geogebra)

Cal added: Encourage those folks for whom writing a blog/article (seems to be) is beyond them... but they would like to spend 5 minutes talking about a Web2.0 tool/approach that's worked for them... doesn't have to be known name, does it?

  

• Call for Presentations. TBA. If you would like to be a presenter at the conference let us know. Include a contact email address and/or url with your comment.

  

• NCTM Conference in San Diego. I'm planning to have a CLIME booth in the vendor area at the annual meeting of NCTM. Our main goal there will be to promote Math 2.0. What can we do at the booth that will get math educators who are not familiar with Web 2.0 uses in math ed (and most likely do not have a Twitter account) to get inspired by it?

  

Other points brought up during the session

• Ihor has been involved with CLIME (Council for Tech in Math Education) an affiliate of NCTM for over 20 years. CLIME will be one of the "sponsors" for the conference.
• The programming environment Logo was a catalyst for the current movement towards technology as a platform for the teaching and learning of math.
• Math 2.0 is about using dynamic math software in a Web 2.0 world with a focus on teaching, learning, collaborating and sharing.
•  Geometer’s Sketchpad - version 5.0 is out. Feedback?
•  The other player in town that’s grabbing lots of attention: Open-source Geogebra. New version out.  update: Applets Revamped
•  Java Sketchpad – still waiting for a better version. Possible Java Sketchpad update?
•  Discussion with Karen Coe from Key Curriculum is promising.
•  Yearners (teachers who seek a dramatically different paradigm for schools) & Schoolers (those that believe schools are fine – just need some tweaking.) Taken from Papert’s “The Children’s Machine” – Chapter 1
•  FETC one day conference – Oct 22 2009 website. Nice Second Life feel to it without actually being in Second Life. This one was done professionally. How could we bring some of the neat features here without it costing an arm and a leg?

•  Venues for conference. Colleen: I like the K12 format because people can watch the presentation whenever it's convenient for them. Then we can hold live elluminate sessions for those who are interested in pursuing topics further. Sounds great. 
•  Promotion. NCTM facebook page has 1400 friends. Start there.
• How to encourage Global and local collaboration.
• Maria brought up Walden II and the “golden age”. Could this be the beginning of the golden age for math education?
•  Gaming is another important topic. NCTM’s Calculation Nation has made a significant contribution. Folks familiar with this could be presenters. Also, Colleen’s experience would be valuable here.
• Sugar has great math “edge” games.
•  Should we have different levels – beginners, etc.?
•  Important software environments include Scratch, Logo, Alphawolfram, Google Earth
•  Pecha kucha anyone? 5 min talks using only 20 slides.

 

Hey Gang, what did I leave out?

 

Some math 2.0 relevant sites (as suggested by our planning participants.)

 

·       Maria: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/topics

·       Maria:  http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events

·       Brian NY: http://mathematics24x7.ning.com/

·       CLIME Wiki is now at: clime.pbworks.com

·       Ihor: NCTM Illuminations & Calculation Nation

·       Maria: Math 2.0 on Diigo

·       Tom Bosher-Perran: http://adifference.blogspot.com/