equatIO can be a good tool to get your mathematical thinking down electronically. equatIO is part of a bigger suite of tools from texthelp. There slogan relates to helping make math digital. Whether you are a teacher who uses the tool to create content for students or you have students that use the tool to demonstrate competency or submit mathematical papers, feel free to take a look at this resource that I have put together. Good Things to Know About equatIO
On day ten of Google, we will take a look at equatIO. Over the past year, I have watching how equatIO is evolving and transforming their product to help make math digital. I am impressed with what I have seen so far.
Let’s face it, showcasing math work electronic can take a bit of time and energy to get your point across. Text help is trying to help solve this with their product equatIO. I can see both math and science teachers embracing this chrome extension.
EquatIO has a chrome extension that you download from the Chromestore (free for teachers). Once downloaded and activated, you are able to
You will also notice that equatIO has text prediction so that the moment you start to type ‘quad’ – you can select quadratic formula and the formula will show up without the user having type the entire formula. When you get into the options menu, followed by math options, you are able to turn on math, chemistry, and/or formulas prediction to help save you time.
In the gif below, you will see how to:
And that is my Spiel…
*This post is near and dear to me seeing as though I used to teach math for eight years.
Virtual Reality is certainly a buzz word these days. Lately at our school, we have been exploring ways by which we can incorporate virtual reality in the classroom. One idea came from a math teacher, Trever Reeh, who blogged about having students explore angle of elevation.
Google Expeditions
Mrs. Taylor, a Geometry teacher at BHS, decided to try out a similar activity but instead use Google Expeditions. To get the students used to the app, she showed them around Machu Picchu first. She highlighted certain geometric characteristics as well as showcase the area. We heard lots of ‘that’s cool’ and ‘can we go somewhere else’.
Next step was to get students to understand how angle of elevation and right triangles can help determine how far they are in the virtual world to certain landmarks. Two landmarks in particular were the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben. Students were paired up where one visited Paris, while the other visited London.
Mrs. Taylor started a different Google Expedition, High Points of Europe: A Tour of Towers, and had those going to Paris virtually see the Eiffel Tower first. The partner then measured the angle of elevation the student took to see the highest point of the tower. Once the measurements were taken, students switched roles so that measurements could be taken by looking at the top of Big Ben in London.
Students then had to do some quick research on their Chromebook to find out information about how tall the towers are, with correct units, to determine about how far they are from the landmark in the picture.
This was such a great opening activity for the students to learn about a new mathematical topic. They were engaged and had fun. I certainly wish that I was able to implement this activity back when I taught Geometry to my students.
A BIG thanks to Trever for inspiring us to try this out activity. Of course, if you would like to chat about how you can use Google Expeditions or Virtual Reality into your curriculum, stop by and we can chat.
And that is my Spiel…
A math colleague of mine, Stefan Fritz, found himself in a situation where he constantly was in the need for customized coordinate planes for worksheets, activities, assessments etc that he was creating for his students.
With the lack of great resources out there, he decided to create his own website. How COOL is that? What is this website you ask?
Here a user is able to indicate how they want to customize a coordinate plane to look:
Math teachers know that typing math notation in Google Docs takes a bit of work. Rachel Fairhurst, a middle school math teacher in the Bedford School District, created a Google Doc with a list of shortcuts for her students so that they can type math expressions efficiently and correctly without having to spend the time to find what they are looking for in the equation tool bar. A sample of shortcuts can be seen in the image below. To view the full list of shortcuts that Rachel felt were important for her students click on this Google Doc link.
The trick to getting started in a Google Doc is to open the equation editor in the Google Document under the insert window. There is even a shortcut to inserting an equation without the need of moving the curser to the insert window.
Chromebook Shortcut: Alt + I + E (Alt + I will open the Insert window. E then opens the Equation editor)
Mac Shortcut: Ctrl + Option + I + E (Ctrl + Option + I will open the Insert window. E then opens the Equation editor)
Demonstration of Using the Shortcuts
For example: If I am looking to typing the following equation in a proper math notation in a Google Doc
y=3(pi)x+5/8
I would type the following:
y=3\pi(space bar key)x+\frac(space bar key)5(tab key)8
For a better demonstration, watch this short view.
Big Thanks to Rachel for sharing this great resource for students!
Craig M Sheil 