Geometer's Sketchpad

While searching for lesson plans this past week I kept coming across the term Geometer’s Sketchpad. I’ve never seen or heard of it before this week. I looked it up online and found that it’s a software program that allows students to investigate mathematical concepts and build objects, such as three-dimensional shapes, figures, graphs, and diagrams. It can be used for a number of grades (3-college) as well as for a number of concepts, such as numbers and operations, geometry for all grades, measurement, calculus, etc. It can also be hooked up to a LCD projector, classroom computer, and SMART Boards.

Basically it’s a tool used to visualize concepts that are difficult. I like that it allows teachers to incorporate technology in the classroom and it seems to be extremely beneficial for students. It’s hard to explain so I downloaded a Sketchpad Workshop Guide and took a chunk off there to try and illustrate some of its concepts for you. Here is one of many examples of what a Geometer’s Sketchpad is about:

Sometimes students will have trouble remembering or understanding a particular theorem. Discovering the theorem themselves or actively exploring its consequences can make a huge difference in their level of recall and understanding. This tour challenges you to discover a theorem. As you solve the challenge, you’ll learn many new Sketchpad features.

When the midpoints of the sides of a quadrilateral are connected, the resulting
shape is always a __________________.

What You Will Learn
• How to construct a polygon using the Segment tool
• How to show an object’s label
• How to measure lengths and angles
• How to create a caption
• How to apply formatting options to text
http://www.dynamicgeometry.com/Instructor_Resources/Evaluation_Edition/Download.html

It then goes into a step-by-step procedure teaching the above concepts. It’s really quite simple and not very time consuming, and I think it’s pretty cool. Check out the above website to learn more about it. It’s really sweet.