Using Smart Boards with Computers to enhance student participation as well as using the technology as an aid in presenting and saving lessons for students.
One of the more useful tools available to mathematics teachers available is the use of a “Smart Board". There are several manufacturers with different models but the important objective is making use of the board.
For example, as one teaches algebra 2, solving equations using the Algebraic Field Properties is very important for students to master the material. The teacher can present a topic, assign homework, and then review the homework the next day with the students. Using a Smart Board which is attached to a computer and an LCD display panel used to project a "virtual chalkboard" unto a screen. However, now there is no chalk but an electronic writing pen which allows one the opportunity to write on the screen just as if one were writing on a dry erase or chalkboard.
One of the advantages of the SmartBoard technology is that everything that is written is also captured as an image, and or audio file so that students that are absent as well as information the teacher wants to present again is saved as a file in the computer. And, whatever content was reviewed can be transferred to a website, a printed hard copy, or transferred anywhere as an electronic document.
The other advantage of use of the Smart Board in Mathematics is that today’s students like technology. So, they will enjoy using the "smart electronic pen" and write their work on the board to use the technology. So, in algebra 2, the students will be motivated to get out of their desks and show one their work using the SmartBoard. And, the teacher can have several students do the same or similar problems on different pages of the Smart Board. The students using the electronic "smart" pen can use different colors with different thickness and create their own individual style of writing to show the other students. In this manner, the Smart Board has now enabled students to change from being spectators but now become active participants in working out and showing the work solving those algebraic equations.
Consequently, one positive advantage of using the SmartBoard is increased student participation. Another advantage is that all work can be saved, is documented, and easily accessible for review purposes later in the course. And, it also provides a means for students who miss the class for any reason to have the actual material in electronic form that was missed on that particular day. It is also useful in that lessons can be written by the teacher, and presented comfortably in the classroom as a PowerPoint presentation with the added bonus of having the interactive tool where equations, and or material can be added by means of use of the electronic smart pen. These are just some of the features that can be used with the Smart board technology for mathematics, or for any subject for that matter.
