Week+3

= Week 3: Fundamental ideas of algebra =

This week has a subject focus. You will start designing curriculum, with attention to the big picture of mathematics education you sketched in Week 1 and the more detailed meaning and significance principles you found important in Week 2.

Objectives

 * Design an algebra activity (any level k-20)
 * Continue using past technology; add Wolfram|Alpha and screencasts
 * Put "fun" in "fundamental"
 * Decide whether Bloom's taxonomy is a useful tool for you

Introduction
... Fundamental ideas of algebra
 * Function
 * Variable
 * Links among multiple representations: graphs, tables, formulas, stories, diagrams
 * Coordinates
 * Linearity and non-linearity
 * Equivalence, equality, equation

Task grids
There are 7 tasks this week. As people work on tags, Diigo widgets on this page will fill with links to their results. Meanwhile, they only show the placeholder link to this week's Musical Interlude. Send questions about coursework that you believe are interesting to several people to ed534arcadia@googlegroups.com

Task 1
Design an algebra activity. Include: Your activity can be long or short, as long as it includes all elements above. Put activity description on your blog or use your favorite lesson planning tool. Add the link to your activity to [|the course Diigo group], using the tag **algebraactivity**. Make sure you choose Share to a Group option and select ED534Arcadia group.
 * learning goal(s)
 * features that make the activity meaningful for students
 * features that make the activity interesting for you and other curriculum designers
 * technology and other materials for setting up the activity
 * assessment that contributes to the learning goals and the meaningfulness of the activity

media type="custom" key="8069570"

Task 2
Some designers find Bloom's Taxonomy useful, and others do not. Find one source supporting the use of Bloom's Taxonomy in education and one source against it. Link your sources and briefly describe their arguments in a screencast. Also talk about applying the taxonomy to your algebra activity design (Task 1) - would it help?

You can use [|Jing] or any other screencast tool. You may need to create an account on [] first to use Jing. Here is [|"Jing - the missing manual"] how-to.

Add the link to your post to [|the course Diigo group], using the tag **Bloom**. Make sure you choose Share to a Group option and select ED534Arcadia group. media type="custom" key="8069610"

Task 3
Find a Wikipedia article relevant to the topic you chose for meaning and significance of mathematics in other endeavors (Week 2, Task 3). [|Register at Wikipedia and log in before editing] to track your contributions. You may want to read [|the Wikipedia page on editing pages]. Editing Wikipedia is similar to editing this wiki.

Blog in text or an embedded screencast about the Wikipedia article you edited (or your past editing experience, if any), and what you think about using Wikipedia for learning mathematics or mathematics education - a controversial topic. Include the link to the page you edited, and what alias you used there, so that people can highlight your contribution using the page's History tool. Add the link to your post to [|the course Diigo group], using the tag **wikipedia**. Make sure you choose Share to a Group option and select ED534Arcadia group.

media type="custom" key="8069726"

Interlude
media type="custom" key="8069816"

Task 4
Use [|Wolfram|Alpha] to solve an algebra problem of your choice. The problem you enter becomes encoded in the url. Add that url to [|the course Diigo group], using the tag **wolframalpha**. Make sure you choose Share to a Group option and select ED534Arcadia group. In the comment to your link, say what you think about using W|A and other solvers with students. You can choose to make a longer blog post about the topic (text or screencast) if it interests you greatly.

media type="custom" key="8069738"

Task 5

 * Live task**

[|Full recording of the meeting]
Attend the weekly class meeting on Wednesday at 7:30pm Eastern US time. [|World Clock for other time zones.]

To join the meeting:
 * Follow this link: []
 * Click "OK" and "Accept" several times as your browser installs the software. When you see Elluminate Session Log-In, enter your name and click the "Login" button
 * You will find yourself in a virtual room. There is text chat, voice chat, and other tools. You need a headset to participate.
 * Recording will appear here after the meeting

If you can't make a meeting, review its recording, which will appear on this page after the event, on your blog, adding suggestions, questions and comments. You can use text or an embedded screencast for your review. Add the link to your blog post to this table:
 * //Name// || - || //Your meeting review url// ||

Task 6

 * Live task**

Attend a live event at one of online mathematics education communities. Here are some of the places where you can search for events:
 * Math Future Wednesdays 9:30pm ET or Saturdays 2pm ET (weeks alternate - see the list). Elluminate
 * #mathchat Mondays 3:30pm ET and Thursdays 7pm ET (every week). Twitter
 * [|Scratch] Fourth Monday of each month at 7pm ET. AdobeConnect
 * [|Wolfram Education] (multiple events each week). OnDemand
 * [|TappedIn] (times vary). TappedIn chat rooms

Briefly review the event you attended on your blog. You can use text or an embedded screencast for your review. Include the link to the recording of the event in your post. Add the link to your post to [|the course Diigo group], using the tag **week3event**. Make sure you choose Share to a Group option and select ED534Arcadia group. media type="custom" key="8069388"

Task 7
If you do this optional task, you can count it toward a missed task for any week of the course.
 * Make-up task**

On the average, the US didn't do as well as desired on the latest international PISA study. But what do these numbers mean? Find and review a critique of the study, written within the last few months. What is your opinion about the topic? Make a text or an embedded screencast blog post about it. Add the link to your post to [|the course Diigo group], using the tag **task7**. Make sure you choose Share to a Group option and select ED534Arcadia group.

media type="custom" key="8069758"