Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

I just got back from Asilomar, in Monterey, CA, where I was attending the CMC North Math conference.  What a beautiful place! Had a really great time talking to teachers about integrating technology into their classroom and ways they could use the technology resources they already had.  An interesting thing happened while exhibiting.  We were using an 'interactive white board' using a Styrofoam white board and eBeam to demonstrate our software ( The Geometer's Sketchpad, TinkerPlots and Fathom ), and so many people immediately assumed that the software only worked with a white board, therefore not of interest to them since they didn't have one. The purpose of using the interactive white board was merely to show the software better and allow others to interact and draw folks in to play.  What was revealed by talking to many of these teachers was really that they assumed that interactive, dynamic software could not be used unless you had a way for students 'tou...

One of the most frequent questions today at NCTM in Albuquerque was "how do I get the students involved with the software (in this case Sketchpad and TinkerPlots ) using the interactive whiteboard?" Which, if you think about it, almost makes no sense...isn't that the nature of an interactive whiteboard - students are interacting?  But...apparently not. My guess is many teachers continue to use the interactive whiteboard in the manner that they used the projector/screen set up - as a demo tool, with themselves as the driver and students watching. If you want interactivity and student involvement in order to engage students in learning and discovery, then you want them to "drive".  How to do this? Here are a couple suggestions: 1) Have students go up to the whiteboard and be the driver of the software physically, either by following the directives of the teacher or the steps in the activity worksheets or from inquiry and suggestions from other students in the...