Mathematics

Technology Resources in Mathematics for Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle School, High School
In true TPACK fashion, we should be looking for technology resources that help teachers teach math in transformative ways (Modification and Redefinition on the SAMR model) that allow us to do things we've never been able to do before without the technology. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has a great site called Illuminations that is filled with resources for teachers to make math come alive for students--to help students understand the "why" of math, not just the process of doing calculations. The [|activities section of the lluminations site] is filled with age-appropriate tools that allow students to "mess around" with math. It's okay to try out these simulations and make mistakes; in fact, these tools provide great opportunities to learn from your mistakes. Students who take the bigger risks and push the envelope will probably learn more than those who "just figure out the right answer." When you get to the site, pick the appropriate grade level //(NOTE: this counts for 4 hyperlinks, one for each of the 4 grade levels because once you pick your grade level, there are 20-30 rich resources appropriate to that age group)://

Technology Resources in Mathematics for Students with Special Needs:
"Mathlanding (ML) is designed with the elementary math specialist/coach/mentor and teacher in mind. It's a dynamic resource to help support the professional development needs of elementary educators in building mathematical knowledge and instructional practice. The site is created to provide organized access to high quality resources and tools that support teaching and learning of elementary mathematics. Mathlanding is a project of Maryland Public Television in partnership with The Math Forum at Drexel University and the International Society for Technology in Education." Mathlanding has a page called "[|Strategies for Teaching Students Struggling With Mathematics]." It's not technology for teaching math but it does have resources for some fabulous strategies that are research based. This site is at the Substitution level of SAMR because you're just getting easy access to a lot of journal articles and other research in the field which you could also get if you spent hours in the library. //(NOTE: All the Illumination activities above are appropriate for students with special needs depending on the student and the need. There are a lot of boring sites that assume students with special needs need only the boring fundamentals of math. Drill and kill websites that just have animation to disguise low-level expectations for students are NOT a good example of technology to assist students with special needs as they learn math.)//

Technology Resources in Mathematics for Students Learning English (ELL):
[|Figure This! Math Challenges for Families] is a great site put together by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), but guess what: Click "en Espanol" and it is. Family support is one of the best strategies for ensuring student success in any subject, but especially math and science. //(NOTE: On some pages, you'll land on a page in English, even though the page you were on was in Spanish. But click on "en Espanol" on the side and you're right back to being in Spanish.)//