ActivInspire and Secondary Maths

[rexboggs5]

The release of ActivInspire has generated a lot of excitement, as well as a lot of questions. I am mainly interested in how the new software can help/hinder the teaching of maths, and ploughing through hundreds of posts on the ActivInspire thread is, well, un-inspiring.

So I suggest we start our own discussion on ActivInspire and Secondary Maths here on this forum. I am very interested in how other maths teachers are using ActivInspire to prepare lessons, or in their classrooms. And also in what new tools you have found to be useful, and what new problems (and hopefully with solutions) you have encountered.

I have downloaded the software but not yet installed it, so I can't contribute anything useful. Can anyone kick this discussion off?

Cheers

Rex

[paul_mc]

I am a secondary maths teacher and prepare all of my lessons for the IWB.
I have got Activestudio v3 and Activinspire.
I have messed around with AI but cant see how all the add ons (and some of them are excellent and some are rubbish in my opinion) outweigh all the hassle compared with v3!
I have a masters in sofware engineering and still i am finding AI difficult to fathom.
I am sticking to v3 for the time being until I see a time when it's worth my while.
Moaning over!
:(:(:(:(:(

[phil at dchs]

It will take at least two updates before I consider advising my maths dept to switch from AS3 to A_Inspire.
The tools are far from fully functional in Inspire and sadly some of the much loved features of AS3 did not even make an appearance in the first release proper of Inspire on March1st.
I do hope more is done to integrate Maths Type (currently V6.5) into the software in the way it does with Word2007.
It's all gone quiet on dual pen use despite this being demonstrated over a year ago on a training video. I have a post on the Inspire page that is over a week old on this matter and it has had no replies.
IS ANYBODY THERE?
Maths teachers need to show the way........

[paul_mc]

As far as I am aware the dual pens are not available yet and when they are you will need to buy them!
I have played with the softare and I am cetainly not inspired!
Some of the ease of V3 have been left out and made more difficult in Inspire. I have an MSc in Software Eng and was a computer programmer and I find it difficult to fathom things out!!!
I use the Activpods but alot of the interactivity and ease of use has been removed!
I will be sticking to V3 for the forseeable future and may never jump ship - the problem with that is that there will be no more updates for V3
Was the software released too early?
Software developers please sort things out before we all end up uninspired!
:(:mad::(:mad::(:mad::(:mad::(:mad::(:mad::(:mad:: (:mad::(:mad::(:mad::(:mad::(:mad::(:mad: (Sad I know!!!!)

[Syrith]

Hullo there,

I hear you saying that the activstudio v3 is in some ways better than the activInspire. Our school has v3 but I am having some trouble. Is one able to type equation editor maths characters onto a v3 flipchart and then edit them?

Thanks
Elise

[saha]

Hi Elise,
Welcome to the forum.

Currently the best way to get Math equations into V3 or Inspire is to:

-create the equation in Microsoft equation editor

-then use the camera tool to take a snap of that

-then paste the image on the flipchart

If you try to do a cut and paste inside microsoft word, then the result is not very elegant.
Also to edit the equation you have to go back to Microsoft Word.
If I have misspoken on this, I am sure the math experts will correct me

Please see an example of a flipchart with equation using this method.

[rexboggs5]

I prefer to use MathType from Design Sciences (http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/). You get a 30 day free trial, and then it reverts to MathType Lite, which is still better than Equation Editor.

I have MathType Lite on the 3rd column on my toolbar and just select it when I want an equation. I type an equation, select it (Ctrl A) and press Ctrl-C to copy it. I then drag the equation into my flipchart (it becomes an image) and press Ctrl-V to paste the eqation back into MathType.

So if I wish I can now edit the equation and repeat the above steps.

Clicking on the image of the equation in the flipchart does nothing, as it is no longer a math type equation, but just an image.

Cheers

Rex

[rexboggs5]

Re ActivInspire and Maths ...

Quite a few of the experienced maths teachers on this forum haven't made the jump to ActivInspire yet, as there isn't enough improvement from a Maths point-of-view (and some would say there has been a deprovement). I know that Promethean is/was working with Design Sciences to allow full integration of the MathType software, but it hasn't happened yet. I suspect once it does, there will be a mass move by Maths teachers to ActivInspire.

Cheers

Rex

[Syrith]

Hullo Saha and Rex,

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to reply. I am keen to try the suggestions. Will let you know what happens.

Regards
Elise

[jlanderson]

With Inspire, can one make a flipchart with the protractor turned on for some slides and turned off on other slides?

[LisaD]

You can make an action object on any of the pages where you want to use the Protractor tool. Just open the Browser window and click on the actions tab. There you will see something that says "Drag and Drop." Just drag the one that says protractor on to the flipchart page. Then when you get to that page, it will signify that the students are to use the Protractor tool. They just click on that icon that looks like a protractor.

Now the protractor will remain open (even if you change pages) until you close it. Just click on the little icon on the protractor tool and choose close from the menu that appears.

Hope that helps!

Lisa

[jlanderson]

Is it possible to permanently reorient the full protractor so zero is in the 3'oclock position?

[Lgilley]

So, here I sit, after spending hours trying to use this forum and the other tools on Promethean Planet to enhance my lessons and get my 9th - 12th graders "Inspired" and engaged in their math classes (I teach Algebra and Geometry to 14 - 18 year olds) and I'm struggling with the amount of time it takes to search everything and then find and evaluate something useful. I applaud the idea of starting something that is VERY relevant to those of us teaching Math at the "secondary level". I'd love it to be streamlined and extremely useful. I use Inspire because I won't ever switch over if I keep going back to Studio 3, and since there have been a fair number of updates, I'm finding the usefulness better than what I see posted here.
My biggest question for "all" is how to get these kids in to math using the IWB. Unfortunately, many of my students see math as a foreign language, and an unnecessary one at that, despite my passionately provided "proofs" to the contrary.
Thanks.
Lonnise Gilley
Secondary Math Teacher
Rural High School
Maryland, USA

[rexboggs5]

So, here I sit, after spending hours trying to use this forum and the other tools on Promethean Planet to enhance my lessons ... and I'm struggling with the amount of time it takes to search everything and then find and evaluate something useful.

I am gradually putting together what I hope will become a comprehensive set of high quality interactive digital resources for teaching mathematics. It can be found at http://interactivemaths.net.

The interface isn't great (to say the least), but it is designed to help teachers quickly find digital resources for the lesson they are teaching tomorrow. Some topics are well-covered; others are less so.

So visit now, and see what is there. And I will have some time in December and January to update the website, so come back towards the end of January next year to see what has been added.

Cheers

Rex

[RealTester]

Hi,

to put it mildly, I think this software is a piece of junk, especially if you seriously want to do maths in higher grades. That is I have to teach calculus, statistics and some simple vector algebra.

The implemented geometry tools are a joke, slow to use, the calculators I found so far all do 1+2*3 =9 !wrong

There are so many things you can't do with it, like ploting functions. I'd like to use geogebra with it, but using the overlay mode isn't good, because it is slow and the maximizing/minimizing is totally inconvenient - just more clicks.

You should be able to run software like geogebra or geonext or Decartes3D within AI as objects with all the properties objects have in AI.

Yes, if you want graphs of functions prepare them in advance, but then I can use the good old day light projector with pens, even there I would have more flexibility then with prepared graphs on the PC which can't be changed. Plus preparing everying in advanced is contradictory to interactivity if you ask me.

So as long as this software isn't doing what I want it to do I unfortunatly see no point in using it or the board; and the board is a nice peace of hardware, if you ask me, but the software is not.

And getting KIDS to do math isn't a question of having an interactive super digital whiteboard with fancy software and pictures or the KIDS having a PC. If you can't motivate them, IWBs are useless, the problem is how to motivate them. I have a 12th grade and I am doing statistics in a basic course - they see maths as a foreign language, chinese to be exact, as well and the IWB won't help me, so I teach maths around problems they find interesting. Motivation for pupils comes from the creativity and the enthusiasm of the teacher, not from super fancy hardware and software. Therefore don't take it personal if you can't motivate them, it is often hard to find out what things they like, besides, they have other things on their mind at this age.

Greetings form Germany...

[wyomingnan]

Promethean has known for a very long time that their product is not very valuable to math teachers as far as being able to type fractions, equations, etc. into a flip chart. Very short-sighted it seems. If they ARE working on it, they need to hurry AND let teachers know that their needs have been heard.