Area, Mass, and Volume, OH MY!

Title: Area, Mass, and Volume, OH MY!
Author: Bob Albrecht & Paul Davis

This article was about teaching students how to calculate area, mass, and volume. What made this lesson so interesting is that the teachers used a tangible model to show the students what area, mass, and volume really meant, and why it was important. They used pennies as the model. The way technology fits into this is that they went to a certifies website to find out the dimensions of a penny such as its diameter, thickness, composition, and mass. This in itself introduced technology to students. I feel that these days, technology is used widely for recreation but by bringing it into the classroom it can prove to students that the Internet is a way that they can broaden their horizons and figure out so many things they otherwise would not know. I feel that by including this "tangible" lesson into their classrooms, these teachers increased the students knowledge of the subject. It helps greatly to be able to see how your calculations contribute to the real world instead of doing a problem out of a math book. I feel that these students would have learned more and in a more effective way by doing this lesson

Q1: How would I use technology in my classroom to benefit a math lesson?
A1: I personally believe that little songs help children remember things better than just trying to memorize them off of a sheet of paper. When I was younger I remember learning songs about division and multiplication that helped the steps of it all stick in my head. I think that with the internet, you can find a song related to math like these ones and have it play in your classroom with the click of a button. If you didn't have the internet in the class you would have to find it on your personal computer then save it to a disk, then play the disk in your classroom, assuming that there is a CD player in there. The internet just makes things so much quicker to accomplish.
Q2: How could I encourage students to use the internet on their own to research something of their interest.
A2: If all the students had access to the internet while not at school, I think it would be neat to show them how to correctly research a topic of their choice (with parental supervision). I think I would relate this lesson to history. I think that anything in an elementary school history book can be explained in greater detail online. I think it would be neat to introduce a topic and have the students pick out little things from it and research them online. Those little things could be definitions, important terms, places, important people, anything. I think that by having to learn something themselves first, it helps increase their interest in that subject before you even teach it.