Using Technology to Illuminate Children’s Mathematical Thinking: A workshop presented by Lisa Carboni, Lower School Head Teacher at Carolina Friends School, and Joan Walker, Lower School classroom teacher at Carolina Friends School, at the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools 2014 Annual Educators Conference
Screencasting is often used by teachers to prepare lessons for students. Some teachers use this as part of the flipped classroom model. What we have been using in our classrooms is, in a way, a “flipped screencast.” We use screencasting with the Educreations app on classroom iPads to have our students show us their math thinking. This would work with other screencasting apps as well. Once a student records what Educreations calls a “lesson,” it is saved to the teacher’s account. The teacher can then view it on the iPad or from a computer logged into the teacher account via a web browser.
Educreations: You can download the Educreations app from the iTunes store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/educreations-interactive-whiteboard/id478617061?mt=8
The free plan includes 50MB of cloud storage space for your lessons. If you need additional space, there is a Pro version, which includes extra storage space and additional features. You can also explore other screencasting apps such as Explain Everything, which is available for both iPads and Android tablets.
The Educreations FAQ has helpful information about how the app works: https://www.educreations.com/faq/#ipad There is also a demo within the app.
Teacher accounts: You can create an account either from the app on the iPad or at https://www.educreations.com/
The problems we give our students to solve in Educreations are often based on the Cognitively Guided Instruction model (CGI). Want to learn more about CGI? This website has lots of great links to give you more information: http://michellef.essdack.org/node/44 You can find a chart summarizing the types of problems at http://www.teachertipster.com/cgi_problem_types.pdf
Students take their time to plan out how to approach the assigned problems.
Students like to share their lessons with each other.
