Lorenzo Castilla's Learning Diary by Lorenzo Castilla https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3 Moving to Maths 2.0 [European School Gateway] en-us 2017-09-24 07:11:53 UTC 2026-02-03 22:45:45 UTC hello@padlet.com lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190511448 2017-09-24 07:16:24 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190511448 Hello from the South of Europe! lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190511635 My name is Lorenzo and I live in Huelva (Spain).
I am a math teacher in a high school and I have tried to teach math in an innovative way since I started teaching twenty years ago.
Among other innovations, I have always tried to use the new technologies. However, technology and resources used to teach are changing really fast and we have to be update and learn from others teacher.
I think this course will help in this task!
]]> 2017-09-24 07:19:14 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190511635 Why is Maths unpopular? lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190967198 From my point of view, mathematic is unpopular because students find difficult to see it around them. Also, in math class you have to think and students prefer to do things automatically. Another problem is that it is an abstract subject and needs concentration.
In addition,they constantly hear that it is a very difficult matter and almost impossible to understand.
Attending to teachers, over the years has been taught without showing its utility in daily life and in a very theoretical.
So we have a lot of work ahead to chage all those topics.]]> 2017-09-25 18:05:07 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190967198 Actions/ideas that I would like to put into practice in my Maths classroom lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190974899 2017-09-25 18:19:30 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/190974899 Why Maths 2.0 lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/191039289 It is usually difficult to work with computers because in my school they are available only few hours a week for each group. I think it would be great to have computers and use them as much as possible while working with others materials and resources.
My students love activities using ICT and those different from a list of word problems. I use CLIL methodology in our bilingual program and students enjoy a lot the activities with videos or with the language assistant. Everything new attract their attention the most. Even being a math content that we have worked in the traditional way before became interesting to them if we treat it from a new point of view or with ICT.
Therefore, I try to mix new and traditional methods to present and work math contents.]]> 2017-09-25 21:09:54 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/191039289 Self-assessment activity https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/192230094 2017-09-28 18:36:14 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/192230094 Applying Maths skills to a real-world problem lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/193111338 Since I started teaching math I have tried to introduce real-life things in my classes. It is quite easy to do it when teaching geometry or statistics. However, with other parts of the subject is not so easy.
In the last two years I have participated with other teachers in a project  of soap elaboration. We have used project-based learning. In my classes the students have worked with proportion and percentage calculations that are needed to know the amount of each ingredient in the soap recipe. In addition, they have prepared a spreadsheet to get the expense to make a quantity of soap. Each subject has worked on some of its content relating it with the soap. As a final project activity,  they have made soap in the natural sciences class.
Students enjoy this experience while applying mathematics to real things.]]> 2017-10-02 17:10:22 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/193111338 Making "real" a Math activity lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/193137118 I use social networks when I explain matrices to my older students. I ask them if they know how facebook finds out the people they tell us we can know. I teach them that starting from a matrix with ones and zeroes, depending on whether people are friends or not on facebook, we can find out. The square of that matrix gives us people related through a friend.
I also show them that the square of the matrix containing the relationship between different airports -1 if there is flight between them and 0 otherwise- gives us the flights between those airports with one stop.
It surprises them.]]> 2017-10-02 17:55:40 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/193137118 Starting out a lesson about pi lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/193146630 To introduce pi number I ask my students to bring circular objects and a thread to surround it. In class I tell them to surround the object with the thread and measure the length. Then I ask them to measure the diameter of the circle and divide both lengths. They observe with surprise that the final amount they get all is almost equal (pi).

]]> 2017-10-02 18:11:25 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/193146630 Maths and real-world jobs lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194101618 In my classes when we start with a topic I try to show students what they are worth in real life. For example, when I teach statistics I talk about people who work at the national statistical institute and what they do there. I talk about real surveys they run and I show the form used. In order to attract their attention, I teach them how to do a form with Google form tool. Thus, my students see that mathematics is used in the working world.]]> 2017-10-04 21:51:19 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194101618 Bringing the real world into your Maths classroom lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194442421 Some  resources and tools to connect Maths and real worl are:
http://nrich.maths.org/frontpage
http://cala.unex.es/cala/epistemowikia/index.php/Aplicaciones_matem%C3%A1ticas_para_la_vida_cotidiana
https://www.superprof.es/blog/ecuaciones-matematicas-revolucionarias/]]> 2017-10-05 18:12:35 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194442421 Music and Maths lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194629567 I think we can always use good existing resources in the network in case we are not good at music. This is an interesting example of video to connect music and math.
https://youtu.be/zAxT0mRGuoY]]> 2017-10-06 11:21:14 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194629567 Dance and Maths lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194935820 This is a interesting lesson to use dance to demonstrate understanding of symmetry
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-symmetry-with-dance]]> 2017-10-07 19:11:41 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194935820 Crafts and Maths lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194937383 Last Christmas my students built a Christmas tree using hexagons made of Eva foam (Ethylene Vinil Acetate). They enjoyed a lot mixing geometry, integer numbers operation to put the pieces and craft.

]]> 2017-10-07 19:33:31 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194937383 Writing, Storytelling and Maths lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194938540 The best experience I have of writing and Maths is the one in the eTwinning project MAVEN. The students create a book with the stories experienced by the heroes of the project in the different continents, and which contains interesting mathematical challenges and stories that interconnect mathematics with other disciplines. You can have a look in it https://issuu.com/alesja.shapkova/docs/book_maven_adventure]]> 2017-10-07 19:52:01 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/194938540 Collaboration in my Maths classroom lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/197004258 I try to make my students work collaboratively as much as possible. Sometimes in oral activities they prepare a small presentation on the topic that we are dealing with in group and they exchange it with the other groups. At other times they work in pairs and are rotating the partner.
I believe that collaborative work is very important because some students can learn from the ideas of others. Also, in real life, teamwork is more and more necessary and we must prepare our students for it.
This video is a good example of how to work with children collaboratively]]> 2017-10-14 07:48:06 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/197004258 eTwinning Maths Projects lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/197005277 I have some experience in eTwinning. By the moment, my best project is MAVEN. This is a project to promote the learning of Mathematics in English through videoconferences, games and varied activities. At the same time, other transversal subjects on the curriculum are studied: geography, plastic and visual arts or ICT using CLIL methodology. Coordinated by Alesja Spihala (Latvia) and Tatjana Amerhanova (Estonia), nine schools from nine countries have participated — Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania — with twelve teachers and more than one hundred pupils aged between 12 and 15.
We received some quality labels and national awards. We got the 2016 national award in Spain and we were in the European final.]]> 2017-10-14 08:08:50 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/197005277 Why use digital technologies in Maths lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198475669 Reasons for using digital technologies in the Maths classroom
Digital technologies can help us to be more accurate in drawing mathematical objects such as figures, functions... Sometimes we do it on the blackboard and students have to imagine what we  want to represent exactly. However, with this technology we can do it properly.

What are some of the downsides or dangers of using digital technologies in our Maths classroom?
Technology is sometimes used in the classroom for no educational purpose because it is easy to entertain students with technology. In addition, even using it for educational purposes, if the technology we are using is not well known, we will lose a lot of time. Therefore it is important to know the technology and to program well our work.

]]> 2017-10-18 22:16:33 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198475669 Flipped Maths Classroom lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198478605 Currently there are very good tools to work the flipped classroom methodology. In my high school we use Classroom and Moodle at the same time that other online tools like Drive, Dropbox or googledocs. Currently, Microsoft also has interesting tools like microsoft365 or Microsoft Teams.]]> 2017-10-18 22:37:25 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198478605 Online Graphing Calculators lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198889057 I think Geogebra is a very useful application. Firstly it is intuitive and look like very modern. This makes  the students like it. In addition, it can be used in various parts of mathematics and there are resource banks already made.
One use for which is not very common is Statistics. In the following link there are resources to work Statistics:

]]> 2017-10-19 22:11:03 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198889057 Minecraft and Maths lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198890795 My kids are big fans of Minecraft, they love it. I think this is a good example of a resource that motivates students. Using Minecraft to teach math can capture the interest of our students and engage them in math.
This game allows to construct some Polyhedrons and work the scales, the proportions, volumes and area very easily.]]> 2017-10-19 22:23:58 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/198890795 QR Codes in the Maths Classroom lorenzo_castilla1 https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/199246425 QR codes are useful for math classes as any other tool. From my point of view, it is a somewhat limited resource because its usual use is to hide information. We can do that in other ways that does not require an electronic device.]]> 2017-10-21 07:50:19 UTC https://padlet.com/lorenzo_castilla1/fbrw3om11r3/wish/199246425