So we have all these great applets, but how do we use them?! Of course there are way too many for me to detail in this little blog, however I will explain a few fun ones I have found, some pertaining to the sample lesson plan. They are all very user friendly and take only a couple minutes to figure out how to use them. Each one has various activities or learning goals, some more brief and others quite involved.
First, let's set up our computers so they are ready to run the applets. Most require Java, which can be downloaded
here. Also, your computer's settings may vary as to whether it runs the program automatically or if you have to allow it to run each time. Once you have installed the program, you should be ready to explore!
Tower of Hanoi
http://www.mhhe.com/math/ltbmath/applets/ch1/
In this activity, it is a puzzle where students are required to complete the well-known game, Towers of Hanoi, with some restrictions. Students must start with two rings (as noted by the white rectangles at the bottom of the screen) and work their way up to more rings. Also, they cannot proceed unless they have completed it in the minimum amount of moves, or make a guess as to what that number is.
Golden Ratio
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_315_g_3_t_1.html
Here, this applet allows one to manipulate the patterns and see the eventual Golden Ratio from the Fibonacci sequence ratios. One can input any two values for F_1 and F_2, then scroll through the ratios of consequential values to discover that it becomes closer and closer to the Golden Ratio as n increases.
It would be nice to have the list different websites that offer applets. I know they are on the Resource links page, but having a link here with a short description about the site would be helpful.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great taste in interesting and fun applets! Both of these are definitely ones I would consider trying out in my classroom. For that reason, I wish that you would have provided maybe just a couple more screen shots of these applets at work so that I can see what my students would get to play around with on their screen. Additionally, it might be helpful to provide a how-to bit on searching for the right applet. Providing steps to searching up math applet websites, or directions on how to navigate certain math applet websites would be great.
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