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Spring 2007

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photo by Tom Cogill

What does the popular television series Lost have to do with a high school math analysis course? With the right technology tools, an innovative Curry mathematics education student like Allison Satterwhite has no trouble making the connection.

During her spring 2006 field practicum at Monticello High School, Satterwhite needed to present the Law of Cosines to her class. Unsatisfied with the traditional method of standing at a board talking through the steps of a textbook word problem, she wanted to engage her students in problem solving. Her solution was to use the technology available in her classroom and challenge students to locate the site of the plane crash that stranded Lost’s fictional survivors.

After viewing a digital video clip from the pilot episode, students visited various Web sites to gather needed information. There they found the likely model of the plane, the altitude and speed at which it was flying, and the conversion factor from mach to miles per hour. Students also used graphing calculators, geometry software, digital protractors, and a little guidance from Satterwhite in the process of tracking down the crash site.

“After the lesson, I had several students tell me that they had never done anything like that in a class before,” Satterwhite says. “They were very impressed that I created a lesson using a TV show and connected it with what they were learning.”

Activities like this would not be possible – or at least not easy – without access to technology, Satterwhite believes. “The technology,” she says, “made this lesson more engaging, understandable, and efficient.”

Satterwhite credits her Curry mathematics methods courses taught by Joe Garofalo with showing her the potential of technology for helping students learn math. The Curry Center for Technology and Teacher Education, in partnership with technology companies Smart Technologies, Canon, and InFocus, provided the grant that supplied her classroom with the necessary technology.

When it came time to do her student teaching in fall 2007, technology in some form found a place in almost every lesson. “I used it to make topics more easily understandable and to create interactive activities so students could practice concepts in a variety of ways,” Satterwhite explains. “As long as technology is available and appropriate for what I am teaching, I’m sure I will be using it in the future.”