Podcast Blog # 2

                               Podcast: Math Dude


Episode: How To Raise an Exponent to a Power

As I continued following the math dude podcast, I listened to the next episode called “How to Raise an Exponent to a power”. In this episode, math dude explains the importance of exponents. He tells his listeners that the further in math you go, the more important they become. First, he quickly reviews how to multiply exponents. After that he gets into telling listening what is means to raise an exponent to a power. He explains that an exponent is the little superscript number that tells you how many copies of the base number to multiply together. So, in the case of (2^3)^2, the exponent 2 tells us that (2^3)^2 is the same thing as 2^3 x 2^3. In the same way, we can now unwrap each of these 2^3s using the fact that 2^3 = 2 x 2 x 2 to find that the problem (2^3)^2 = 2^3 x 2^3 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2. In other words, it’s equal to 2 multiplied by itself 6 times—that is, 2^6. After he explains this, he gives a quick and dirty tip.   The quick and dirty tip for raising an exponent to a power is to simply multiply the two exponents. So instead of uncoiling the whole problem like we did before and multiplying everything out, we can simply multiply the exponents—3x2=6—to find that (2^3)^2 = 2^(3 x 2) = 2^6. At the end of this episode math dude gives several practice problems. 


               Related Links:  

                          Basic Rules of Exponents
                           Kids Quiz on Exponents


Episode: How to Write Small Numbers with Scientific Notation 

The next episode I watched was called “How to Write Small Numbers with Scientific Notation”. In this episode he begins by reviewing what Scientific Notation is. He then explains what “really tiny numbers” are. He says “When I say small number I’m talking about a number with a small absolute value—that is, a number that’s much smaller in magnitude than the number 1. For example, in this sense the diameter of a hydrogen atom—which is about 0.000000005 cm—is a really small number.” The next things Math Dude explains is what negative powers of 10 are. A negative exponent tells you how many copies of the base you need to divide by. So 10^–2 means to divide 1 by 10x10. In other words, 10^–2 is equal to the number 1/100 = 0.01. Lastly, he explains how to use scientific notation to write small numbers. Remember that writing very small numbers using scientific notation is just like writing very big numbers except the exponents are negative. Before concluding the episode, math dude give several practice problems.


               Related Links:  

                          Scientific Notation Worksheet Website
                          Scientific Notation Game on Quia

Episode: What is Pi?

The last episode I watched was called “What is Pi?” First, math dude begins by explaining what the meaning of Pi is. The origin of the number that we call “pi” for short (and usually write with the Greek letter π) that’s equal to approximately 3.14 has a very easy-to-understand meaning. He explains how to make a perfect circle, then tells his listeners how to use that circle to find Pi. The next thing he does is tell everyone what Pi is. The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is always pi…no matter what circle you draw. Lastly, Math dude sums up by explaining what Pi day is. Pi is 3.14 and if you turn this number into a date, you get March 14. This is why every March 14 math enthusiasts around the world gather together across the interwebs to celebrate and enjoy some pi. And the good news is that everybody is invited to celebrate in whatever way moves them. 


               Related Links:
                         Official Pi Day Website
                         Activities for Teaching Pi

                               Podcast: Grammar Girl


Episode: Bring Versus Take

In the podcast, Grammar Girl, the next episode I watched was called Bring Versus Take. In this episode grammar girl begins by discussing the difference between the word “bring” and the word “take”. You ask people to bring things to the place you are, and you take things to the place you are going. She then discusses the expection of "Bring" and "Take" is in Idioms as well as for future events. Before ending, Grammar Girl summarizes what she talked about in the episode. Remember that when the locations are clear, you ask people to bring things to you and your location and you take things to other people and locations. If you’re talking about an event in the future, the word you use indicates where you are imagining yourself in the scenario.

 

Episode: How to Speak English Like the Irish

The next episode I watched was called “How to speak English like the Irish”. This episode was in honor of St. Patricks Day. First Grammar Girl discusses how to sound Irish. English grammar is pretty consistent, but the standard spoken form in Ireland takes on a life of its own. For example, rather than rely on "to have just done" for a recently completed action, we would say "to be after doing." For example, instead of saying “I’ve just found a Euro on the road!” an Irish speaker would say “I'm after finding a Euro on the road!” Grammar Girl goes on to dicuss some Irish Phrases. She also later talks about their accent. One example is how they Irish took the “th” sound and simply replaced it with a “t” (unvoiced) or a “d” (voiced): So do ya see de tirty tree and a tird trees over dere? Basically this episode was a small summary of the many differences between Irish English and other brands of English

               Related Links:
                         More on Speaking English like the Irish
                          St. Patricks Day Coloring Pages

Podcasts

    For the last several weeks, I have been subscribed to the Math Dude podcast. In the first podcast I listened to “How to Memorize Numbers”. In this episode, math dude gave his listeners some tips on how to remember numbers by turning them into phrases. As an example, he said imagine you need to memorize the number 54,321. Using the Major System, you’ve converted these digits into the series of consonants “l-r-m-n-d”. Then, because you’re clever, you add in vowels and one “h” to turn this into the fairly memorable phrase “alarm hand.” He says that in order to remember this, the trick to doing this is to not actually try to remember the semi-memorable phrases you come up with, but instead to turn those phrases into impossible-to-forget mental pictures. For the previous example “alarm hand”, math dude says to think about waking up to the sound of your alarm and opening your eyes to see a huge hand hovering over you. The end result is that you’ll have turned your number into an out-of-the-ordinary mental picture that you truly can’t forget. At the end of the episode, math dude gives a couple practice problems.

• Click here for another helpful website for memorizing numbers!

Math Dude here!

 

The next episode I listened to was called “What is scientific notation?” In this episode math dude talks about what scientific notation is and how we can use it. The idea behind scientific notation is to write all numbers as decimal numbers times multiples of ten. In order to understand this, you must realize that any number that’s greater than or equal to 1 can be written as: some number of 1s (meaning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on up through 9), plus…some number of 10s (meaning 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and so on up through 90), plus…some number of 100s (that is 100, 200, and so on through 900), plus…some number of 1,000s, plus…some number of 10,000s, and on and on up to some multiple of as large of a power of ten as needed. For example, a number like 4,250,000 can be thought of as: 4,000,000 + 200,000 + 50,000 = (4 x 1,000,000) + (2 x 100,000) + (5 x 10,000). Math dude goes on to explain how to write large number in scientific notation and gives a practice problem of the day.

 

The last episode I listened to was called “How to Convert Between Fahrenheit and Celsius.” In this episode math dude explains how we measure temperature through a thermometer. The thermometer is scales on it that is marked in either degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Celsius, depending on where you are. In order to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius, the quick and dirty tip is to remember that temperature in degrees Celsius = (temperature in degrees Fahrenheit – 32) / 1.8. For example, to convert a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit (which is the boiling point of water) into a temperature on the Celsius scale, simply subtract 32 from 212 to get 212 – 32 = 180, and then divide this number by 1.8 to get 180 / 1.8 = 100 degrees Celsius. In order to covert degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit you must first multiplying by 1.8 and then adding 32 to the result, like this: temperature in degrees Fahrenheit = (temperature in degrees Celsius • 1.8) + 32. Math dude ends by giving a few practice problems. 

Here is a short tutorial on how to covert from Celsius to Fahrenheit!  

 

 

Overall, I think the math dude podcast is good for students because they are able to learn a lot if they pay close attention. One problem I could see is that math dude talks fairly quickly and it is easy to get lost. I can see students have trouble keeping up and understanding what he is talking about all the time. I feel like this would be better for higher grades.

 

Grammar Girl!

The next podcast I am subscribed to is called Grammar Girl. In the first episode I listened to, called “When to use Articles Before Nouns”, grammar girl talks about the fact that with countable singular nouns, you have to have a determiner. Use whatever determiner you need; in particular, use “the” if you’re distinguishing the noun from other things; use “a” if you’re not. With proper nouns, plural nouns, and mass nouns, determiners aren’t necessary, though you can still use them depending on the meaning you’re after. Remember not to use  “a” or any other determiner that implies counting with a mass noun.

 

The next episode I listened to was called “Why are British English and American English so Different?” In this episode, grammar girl discusses how American English is different from British English because of the revolutionary leanings of a dictionary writer (Noah Webster), typesetting conventions, geographical separation, and the opinion of one influential style guide author.

 

The last episode I listened to was called “Sentence Fragments”. Grammar girl begins talking about fragments. A complete sentence must have a noun and a verb. Verb is an action word. The subject is doing the action of the verb. Imperative sentences are a command, such as “Run!” There are some tests to determine if the sentence is a fragment. First, ask yourself is there a verb? If there is not a verb, it is a fragment. Another way is to determine if it is a fragment, you can ask yourself if there is a verb but no subject- is it a command? If not, it’s a fragment.

 

Overall, I think that Grammar girl is a good podcast. She talks slower and makes the episodes interesting. She is easy to understand and give a lot of good pointers. I would definitely recommend this for students.

Here are the websites for these podcasts!

• Math Dude 
• Grammar Girl

Useful Technology in my Future Classroom

This year in EDU 3110 I was exposed to many new ways to use technology in my future classroom. In my opinion the most useful tool we learned about would be the virtual field trip. A virtual field trip is a great use of technology to use in any classroom. I really enjoyed making the virtual field trip and was able to see how I could incorporate it into my classroom. Virtual field trips are a different way of using PowerPoint. It is a fun, easy way for kids to learn. I did my virtual field trip on food and nutrition. I had the veggie tales characters be the tour guides taking the students through the grocery store and teaching them about food groups and keeping a healthy diet. The field trip also taught the kids about which foods go in which groups and some examples of healthy meals to make in the kitchen. I was also able to include links and embed videos within the virtual field trip. I could definitely use this in my future classroom. I think that all students would be interested and have fun with this.

Another most useful tool that I learned about this semester in 3110 was Glogster. This was the project that I had the most fun working on. I really enjoyed making my glogster about our solar system. I will definitely be using glogster in my future classroom. I was able to create multiple different pages about the planets, the sun, moons, asteroids, comets, and much more. I included many helpful links as well as related videos. Glogster is a wonderful way for students to get engaged in the lesson. I showed my grandpa and my dad the glogster I made and they both said that they learned more about the solar system through my glogster than they had in their whole lives! That may be an overstatement, but it goes to show that glogster is a great way to teach kids (or anyone for that matter!) I will definitely be using glogster in my future classroom for lessons such as the solar system or learning the writing process, etc.

The third most useful technology project I did this year was ActivInspire. I really liked how it was very engaging. I can definitely see myself using this in my future classroom for lessons in which I want to get my students really involved, such as math or science. This is a great way for all types of learners to get engaged and excited. It is also a great hands on activity that will get the students up and active in the classroom. I liked how it was comparable to PowerPoint, which I am very familiar with, so I was able to catch on easily. I also liked how there were already pages you could use as examples or incorporate into your slides. I will definitely use this in my classroom.

There are so many useful tools we learned this semester that I will be using in my future classroom. The Virtual Field trip and Glogster were definitely my top favorites, but I was able to learn a lot from all of our other projects! I liked learning how to make a video through Animoto. It is something that is quick and easy to do, and can be used in the classroom at any time. I even incorporated my Animoto video into my Glogster site. This shows how we can incorporate different types of technology into one lesson. I really enjoyed each technology project we did this semester and will be able to use many of them in my future classroom.

iPads in Elementary Schools

          The iPad is a great tool that can be used in the classroom. In many cases it can replace the computer. It is small and fun to use as an educational tool, which makes it great to use in the elementary school classroom.
          In third grade, the ipad can be a very useful tool in the classroom. There are so many things students can learn from and do with the ipad. There are thousands of educational apps designed for students to help further their understanding of what they are learning in the classroom. These apps can help kids review basic skills, improve critical thinking and decision-making skills, and even learn to read better. Blogging is another great way to use the ipad in the classroom. Teachers can have their students blog about things that are on their mind. This is a great way from students to express themselves and their knowledge about what they are learning. Students can also use their ipads to track homework assignments, take notes, and surf the web. Another thing students can do with the ipad is download books to read, both educational and recreational. 
          For teachers, the ipad is also a very useful tool. It is a great way to help students learn more in the classroom.Teachers can give lessons, monitor progress, stay in touch with parents and other teachers, and much more. It is a great way for teachers to stay organized. 

Ways to use the ipad in the classroom

• Educational Apps
• Recreational Apps
• Blogging
• Books
• Videos/ Movies
• Podcasts
• Internet
• Twitter
• Music