Despite the possibly very bashful rating on GSP on my last blog post, I have grown to appreciate what the software has to offer. Out of Desmos, Geogebra, and GSP, I must admit that GSP has the most functionality of the three, after all.
Like mentioned in the previous “bashful” post, there are a lot of menus and tabs. Nevertheless, that also means that there are a lot that I have learned. There were several things that flabbergasted me with things I have never even thought of before.
First, section over multiplying factored form was a revolutionary, because I have never thought of multiplying the form (x+n)(x+n) using squares and rectangles, but it WORKS!!!
Also, the balancing scale was really eye opening. I mean, I have learned equations in 4th grade and have worked with it ever since, but GSP demonstrated solving equations in a whole different approach.
If I get the opportunity to host a lesson using what we’ve learned in GSP unit, it would definitely have to be equations with balancing scale. It is a much better way to have students understand the relationship between the left hand side and the right hand side, rather than getting confused over all the “shifting this and that to left& right”. In regards to grade level, the lesson will be appropriate for 7th grade, where most students are first introduced to variables.
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