As
the readers of this blog may remember I had chosen MS Excel as the technology for
using in my Mathematics class.
I had a three pronged logic for using this technology with the
primary reason being using something different to perform mathematical
operations.
Excel was used by the students to learn how to do Numerical
Differentiation. Traditionally we had taught this topic using pen and
paper. My assumption was that the students would find the usage of
technology beneficial as it will help them in doing the calculations
plus the convenience of making any changes in the formulae without losing any
work as well as eradicating any incorrect uses of formulae.
Once I introduced the idea to my class about using something
different to solve these differentiation problems, most of the
students were enthusiastic about it. However there were a small minority who
still preferred the pen and paper method. However by the conclusion of the
topic they too were convinced that Excel did make the solution of these
problems easier.
To record the success, or otherwise, I asked one of my
students, Khalifa, to give a crash course to his peers. One of the students then
made a video of this presentation using his cell phone and it is available at
This is another example of using a technology in class as the
students can view the video of any learning or teaching at their leisure for
after hours help.
Looking back, I think the experiment was a success it
made the students' learning easier and hence my job too.
I am so convinced of using Excel for such problems, that in the
upcoming semester I would use it to teach the whole of the Numerical Techniques
learning outcome, of which Differentiation was just a part.
