Click here to be redirected to the Illuminations site.
The Illuminations website has two major resources: lessons and interactives. Although the site is a great resource for discovery based lessons, this blog will focus on the applets Illuminations offers.
There is a navigation bar to narrow your search. To look for applets that will suit your purpose, click the box marked "Interactives" and proceed to choose age group and/or subject matter desired.
Once you have chosen an applet you think might fit in with the curriculum you plan on teaching, you will find 5 tabs at the top of the applet: Activity, Instructions, Exploration, Related Resources, Print All
- The "Activity" tab includes the actual activity.
- The "Instructions" tab gives you instructions as to how to use this applet. Some applets are fairly self explanatory, but others require this tab.
- The "Exploration" tab give examples of things you can try in class, as well as questions that will enable students to explore different mathematical ideas rather than just play a game.
- The "Related Resouces" tab links you to lessons that can go along with this applet
- The "Print All" tab enables you to print out a screenshot of the activity as well as information found in all other tabs for your reference, or to hand out to the class as a sheet to reference during the applets activity.
The navigation bar is always located at the right if you would like to modify your search at any point to narrow or broaden your scope of interest.
Below are a few instructional videos on how to use some of the specific applets.
Below are a few instructional videos on how to use some of the specific applets.
Your videos are so clear and illustrate very well how to use this applet. It shows a lot of different aspects that you might not be able to pick up on your first try. My favorite is the applet that computes pi. It has always been interesting to me, but I like that we can physically see more and more sides getting added and how close it gets to actual pi.
ReplyDeleteI really like the videos! You talk at such a good pace and the information you're providing is so clear as well! I also really like how the title of the videos redirects us to the site!
ReplyDeleteI also like how you explained each tab. I know personally, I would not do that because it's self-explanatory, but we can't ever go wrong with more information!
I agree with Joy that the computing pi applet is great! I hope these can help our students to become math nerds like us and enjoy the wonders of pi!
My personal favorite though, is the balance. I always liked the idea of using it in algebraic lessons, but of course not all teachers have a balance scale. Using algebra tiles along with it is a good visual, but I think this applet beats all! The visuals wonderful and students who didn't follow at the beginning can easily make sense of what is going on