The five sessions that we spent on the graphing calculator have been very useful to us all - even the group leader. We all feel more comfortable with the calculator and more confident, too. As the group leader, I discovered new functions relating to angle measure and I introduced them into a lesson. Steve used the linear regression, list, and scatter plot features for an activity in his Applied Math class. Pam has been regularly using the graphing calculator with her math lab and applied some of the functions we learned in our workshops. Tracy is developing a way to integrate the lcm and gcd feature into a lesson for seventh grade. This workshop really helped us to improve our use of calculators in the classroom!

Session #5

This was our last session. Topics covered were scientific notation, rounding, lcm, gcd, evaluating functions on the homescreen, quick zoom, zoom integer, and zoom fit. We also examined old regents exams in geometry and algebra to see where students would be able to apply the calculator. We discussed the fact that students need to do the work by hand for most problems but that the calculator is great for checking and verifying an answer. One of discussions centered on using the lcm and gcd functions. This topic is taught in 7th grade and the teacher was unsure how she could use the fact that the calculator will determine the lcm. Graphing calculators can not be used on the 7th grade math test, so we discussed how using lcm and gcd on the calculator to get the answer without knowing how to do it by hand, can get the students to figure out how to get the lcm on their own with their own algorithm.

Everyone agreed that these sessions had been very helpful and informative for them. They would like to do another one next year - so hopefully, the teacher center will be around to enable us to do that.

Session #4

This week we spent more time on lists and regression. We examined question #36 from the June 2009 Integrated Algebra exam and used the calculator to determine the actual regression equation. We also looked at the standards for each class and discussed where we can integrate the graphing calculator into the curriculum.

Session 2 - 1/28/2010

This week's session began with review of last session's topics. Members were asked to:
1. Graph and show an accurate picture of y = x^2 - 4x - 480.
2. Add the line: y = -10x - 48 and find the point of intersection, using the CALC function and the table.
3. Use the TRACE key to state 2 points on the line.
4. Change table settings to appropriate values for a t-chart for the parabola.
5. Use CALC to find the turning point of the parabola.
6. Find one "zero" of the parabola.
7. Given: y = -x^2 + 5x + 50. Find the turning point from CALC and table.

Topics covered after the review were:
1. Graphing over a specified interval using / in the y = and the TEST & LOGIC functions
2. Using the TEST function to test the equality of two expressions.
3. Storing a value for a variable.
4. Evaluating expressions using the STO function
5. Shading and the different line styles
6. Ways to check whether a quadratic has been factored correctly: TEST, graph, table
7. Generating a set of random integers and ensuring the "seed" is set beforehand.

These sessions have already been beneficial. One member's students are collecting data to analyze with regression and the graphing calculator. NICE!

Our next session will be on statistics and lists.

Tentative schedule of topics

Week 1 - graphing, math, angle
Week 2 - math, angle, mode, vars, draw
Week 3 - stat, statplot
Week 4 - list
Week 5 - review, discussion of ways to integrate into class

First Meeting 1/20/2010

Our first meeting was on Tuesday, 1/20/2010. We started with the graphing functions of the TI-83 plus calculator. The following buttons/functions were covered: Y=, ZOOM, TRACE, table, tblset, calc. We then moved onto the MATH key and started the angle function. At the beginning of the next meeting, we will have a worksheet to complete requiring the use of all the functions that we learned at the last meeting.