Math through SAMR

    Being part of the first wave of Chromebooks in my high school, I thought it was really interesting how little we used them. The Chromebooks never left the classroom and we only used them for researching topics in history, science, and English. For math, we never touched our Chromebooks, like EVER. Everything in my math classes was done by hand whether it was a homework assignment or not. Fast forward to college and EVERYTHING was online. Since I was used to doing work on paper, it was a huge struggle for me when assignments were all online while the tests were on paper. Let me tell you, online math homework SUCKS especially when it grades only your answer and not your process.

    So, what is the common ground? Strictly online math assignments are extremely unbeneficial, but there is still technology not being utilized in the math classroom. The truth is that math is everywhere but we are commonly taught that math only exists in the classroom. Every day we see sales at the grocery store saying up to 35% off, we see houses for sale stating their square footage, and we see gas prices per gallon. The mathematics classroom HAS to transform and connect to the world around the students. This can be video calling a math class in Europe to see what they are learning. This could be picking your favorite state/country on google maps and using it to find the total area of the state. This could be tracking the ocean tides and graphing its position on the beach relative to time. What I am saying is that math is not stagnant and it is not contained in a classroom. It is everywhere and kids need to understand that it is an amazing tool to see the world through. Technology is our friend if we choose to use it properly and it has the power to take students to places they never thought possible.