Extra Cred 3.5-Tammy

Tammy Bah

25 November 2014

Applied Calculus

Blog #3.5

Part A: #1

Website: http://www.coolmath.com/

Brief summary:

Coolmath.com is a fun, colorful, free and easily accessible website that allows kids to learn a wide range of math games dealing with topics such as algebra, geometry, pre calculus, and calculus as some examples. The site started in 1997. Coolmath.com also has other websites that teachers, parents, and those who are into finance and benefit from. The interesting thing about this particular website is that the participants are able to have an interaction with the games. This means that, the website users are able to communicate directly with the machine; I think this is a pretty cool feature of Coolmath.com. The website even has a section titled, Totally Stressed Out. Coolmath.com also has bright colors that help distinguish what is associated with what topic.

Skills Required:

• ·      To know basic math techniques
• ·      To know how to use a computer/have a computer
• ·      To read words and understand what they mean in the mathematical concepts
• ·      Understand how to use a computer as well as sentences dealing with math

Appropriate for Age?  This website is for ages 13 to 100. For the 12 and under crowd, they might need more help or adult supervision. But just like anything in life, repetition is needed.

When/how this source is best used? Since the concept is that math is cool and fun, this should be used at anytime whether it be at class or at home before dinner. I think that it is best used when the student knows how to use the Internet and is comfortable enough to use the computer on his or her own.

Recommendations: I would recommend this to students who need extra practice or just genuinely like to do math problems.

Part A: #2

Website: http://www.mathisfun.com/

Brief Summary:

Mathisfun.com is a website that is supposed to be fun and enjoyable to learn math for those who use the website. This is intended to be for students to use as a tool to learn more about math in a fun way and a way that is easier for them because they do not have to worry about the pressures of a classroom. The website also has little blurbs on the topic in ways that are helpful for the average person. The website is also great because you can choose which grade, whether is be second grade or fourth grade. Topics included are counting, fractions, and bar graphs, however this is all based on what grade one choose.

Skills Required:

·      To know basic math techniques

·      To know how to use a computer/have a computer

·      To read words and understand what they mean in the mathematical concepts

Appropriate for Age? I believe this site is age appropriate from Kindergarten to Year 12 of high school. What is good about this site is that you can choose which age group you are seeking. Although, children who are too young to use a computer will need help from a teacher, parent, sibling, etc. Other than that, the site is very appropriate and clear about age ranges. Additionally, the site could be used by college freshmen who might need a refresher on topics learned in their last year of high school.

When/how this source is best used? I believe this source is best used for teachers in schools and parents at home to help their children get the extra help they need, if there are concepts that need tuning up.

Recommendations: I would recommend this site for working parents who do not have the time to teach their children after they get off of work. It is something that the kids can use in the kitchen while parents are cooking dinner and they can ask parents for help, if needed. I would also recommend this to teachers who would like to use computers in class as a “starter exercise” or “warm up”

Part A: #3

Website: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Brief Summary: WolframAlpha is a website that I use frequently, being an econ major and taking many econ and math courses. It is a commercial website that was founded in 2009. The main purpose of this website is an answer machine of sort! Basically, it’s like Google but for math, you can type in many questions and computations and then you receive an answer. However, there are limitations to the kind of questions you can ask. This is free and you can also get it as an app on a smartphone as well or your one computer. As of 2012, there has been Wolfram Alpha Pro, which means that with a monthly subscription fee, one can get a lot of other things that aren’t in the regular one like audio and images.

Skills Required:

No skills required! However, one must know how to type in their question correctly with the correct symbols or else you will get an error or a wrong answer, which would suck.

Appropriate for Age?  I believe that this site/app is appropriate for ages 13 (8^th grade) and up. This website can literally be used by anyone because there are so many features not only in math but physics, stat, chem and engineering.

When/how this source is best used? This is best used to make sure you did a problem right or how a graph looks like in comparison to your graph.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this to anyone and I can sincerely say that because I use it!

Part A: #4

Website: http://www.funbrain.com/

Brief Summary: Funbrain is a website that is known as the Internets #1 educational site for kids in kindergarten to 8^th grade dealing with games in grammar, science, spelling, and history. It was founded in 1992, one year before I born. It is also a part of Pearson Education, which is a big publishing division in academia. This is a non-interactive game, which means that it provides some safety to the kids out there on the Internet. The type of games and difficulty level varies based on topic (math, reading) and the students’ level of comfort with the type of question.

Skills Required: There are no major required skills, as most kids will be using their knowledge form school, however one must know how to use a computer and how to use a mouse.

Appropriate for Age?  This website is great for the age group that it is intended for, I think it would be nice for kids to take turns and do them, maybe to create a slight competition among friends. FRIENDLY!!

When/how this source is best used? Many teachers and plenty of students to help on learning more techniques for math use this! I think its great for home as well or aftercare at schools with those kids of programs.

Recommendations: because of its credentials, I must say that I recommend Funbrain to children and their families, as math is a very hard concept if not done frequently.