HOW TECHNOLOGY IS AIDING MATHEMATICS LEARNING:
STUDENTS USE GEOMETERS SKETCHPAD & KHAN ACADEMY
September, 2017
Math 8: Volume 1, Issue 1
W
Hi Parents!
Welcome to Math 8! I want to reach out to you all to tell you about two incredible programs, Geometers Sketchpad
and Khan Academy, which we will be using in class to help your child build a deeper understanding of mathematics!
GEOMETERS SKETCHPAD
Building Understanding with
Interactive Drawings
Next week in class, students will
begin using Geometers
Sketchpad, a mathematics
software that allows students to
draw geometric shapes,
manipulate those shapes on a
plane, measure their angles and
sides, and construct midpoints,
angle bisectors, parallel lines,
perpendicular lines, among many
other functions.
Geometers Sketchpad is
downloaded on all school
computers and every Friday we
will be going to the library as a
class for students to use it as a
learning tool to deepen their
understanding of concepts we
have learned in class that week
through hands on activities and
exploratory learning. They will
have the chance to test the rules
and theorems we learned in class
to build a stronger understanding
of why they are true. This
emphasizes not just rote
memorization, but the reasoning
behind the math rules, which
September 2017, Volume 1, Issue 1
How Technology
is aiding
Mathematics
Learning:
Students use Geometers
Sketchpad & Khan Academy
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
develops problem-solving skills
when presented with new
challenges, and thus makes math
more innately interesting. It also
allows students to see
mathematical procedures in a
visual modality as opposed to just
as numbers and letters on a page,
making it more accessible. For
example, students can draw out
shapes and practice rotating them
to understand why the formulas for
rotation make sense.
Next Week
Over the next few weeks in Math Geometers Sketchpad used to demonstrate
8, we will be studying polygons in rotation and reflection
the coordinate plane. We will look Here you can see how Geometers
at transformations such as Sketchpad might be used to practice
rotating a triangle a chosen amount of
rotations, translations, reflections,
degrees or reflecting it over a line and
and dilations. Students can use learn how this relates to area and angles.
Geometers Sketchpad to explore
how the transformations affect Other Lessons using GSP
area or angles within the polygon
using its area and angle measure Angles formed by
features. Students can also use the intersecting lines
built in transformation features to
explore how the shapes move Triangle Angles
around the plane using different Angle Bisectors
points of rotation or lines of Congruence and Similarity
reflection.
 HOW TECHNOLOGY IS AIDING MATHEMATICS LEARNING: 2
STUDENTS USE GEOMETERS SKETCHPAD & KHAN ACADEMY |
SEPTEMBER 2017, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Khan Academy is a website that is
completely free to access and use.
Students will be encouraged to use
this it as a helpful resource during
our time in the library as well as
on their own time.
Khan Academy allows students to
select the topic they are studying
based on their math class or grade
(we will use 8th grade). They can
then choose the topic we are
studying (this week: Geometry)
and track their progress by
watching videos of mini-lessons
and taking practice quizzes. These
practice quizzes provide step-by-
step solutions to every problem,
which can help students understand
how to solve a problem, where in
the process they made a mistake,
and how to correct it, an approach
that builds understanding rather
than relying on rote memorization
of steps.
Next Week
The online video lessons, as
pictured below, are helpful for
reviewing older concepts that may
have been forgotten as well as
new ones learned during the week
Progress
Sidebar
that need reinforcement. For
example, on the rotations unit,
which we will be looking at
next week, Khan Academy KHAN ACADEMY FEATURES
allows students to use an
interactive rotation activity that
helps foster an understanding
of rotation, the necessity for a WATCH VIDEOS of
lessons on any topic
point of rotation, and rotations
relationship with area and
angles within rotated shapes. Use INTERACTIVE
Students can then watch a
video lesson which further
activities within lessons
explains the mathematical
principles and steps, and then Take PRACTICE
solve practice problems. They QUIZZES
can do all this at their own o CHECK answers
pace, allowing them to build
self-knowledge of their
and get
progress and areas of IMMEDIATE
improvement. Every Friday, FEEDBACK
students will have the o See STEP-BY-STEP
opportunity to choose between solutions to each
using Geometers Sketchpad question
and Khan Academy in order to
reinforce what they have been
o Provides links to
taught that week and check for video of related
understanding. lesson after each
question for
reviewing
purposes

Any questions? See something you want to know more about? Please feel free to
contact me with the information below:
Ms. Rosasco
rosascoa@bc.edu
(631) 371-6767