Geogebra

29 May

Template for self-assessment questions

GeoGebra 0 Comments

Here is a template that I might use to generate questions for students’ self-assessment in future. Based on a query that one of the participants in a GeoGebra online tutorial asked about generating random questions for simple multiplication for lower primary students.

The online tutorial was conducted by some teachers in the Singapore MOE GeoGebra community to share how GeoGebra could be used to create resources for home-based learning.

24 May

Angular velocity

06 Motion in a Circle, GeoGebra 0 Comments

This GeoGebra app shows how angular velocity ω is the rate of change of angular displacement (i.e. $\omega=\dfrac{\theta}{t}$) and is dependent on the speed and radius of the object in circular motion (i.e. $v=r\omega$).

Students can explore the relationships by doing the following:

Keeping r constant and varying ω.

Keeping ω constant and varying r.

Keeping v constant by varying r and ω.

24 May

Angular displacement

06 Motion in a Circle, GeoGebra 0 Comments

This GeoGebra app shows the relationship s = rθ.

One activity I get students can do is to look at the value of θ when the arc length s is equal to the radius r. This would give the definition of the radian, which is the angle subtended at the centre of a circle by an arc equal in length to its radius.

Mathematics defines the constant π as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. This can also be shown in the app, although you need to drag the moving point to a point just short of one full revolution.

28 April

Best-fit Line

21 Practical / Planning 0 Comments

For lab work, students often have to estimate a line of best fit for their data points manually. It takes a bit of practice to get it right. With this app, students can generate data points with varying types of scatter and predict their own best-fit line before comparing it with a computer generated one based on the least mean square method.

25 April

Hydraulic Press Simulation

IP3 05 Density, Pressure and Upthrust 1 Comment

This simulation can be used for O-level Physics, for the topic of Pressure. I created it as it was relevant to our school’s IP3 physics as well.

It demonstrates the working principle of a hydraulic press. By adjusting the cross-section areas (A) of the two cylinders, you only need a small amount of force at the narrow piston to exert a large amount of force at the wider piston. This is how, when driving, the force applied by one’s foot is enough to supply a large force to apply the brake pads on a car’s wheels.

The advantage of using GeoGebra is that one can create such simple simulations within a couple of hours and it can be readily embedded into SLS – a wonderful tool to have during this period of full home-based learning.

08 April

Using Loom and GeoGebra to explain a tutorial question

04 Forces, GeoGebra, Loom 0 Comments

It’s Day 1 of the full home-based learning month in Singapore! As teachers all over Singapore scramble to understand the use of the myriad EdTech tools, I have finally come to settle on a few:

  1. Google Meet to do video conferencing
  2. Google Classroom for assignment that requires marking
  3. Student Learning Space for students’ self-directed learning, collaborative discussion and formative assessment.
  4. Loom for lecture recording
  5. GeoGebra for visualisation

The following is a video that was created using Loom to explain a question on why tension in a rope on which a weight is balanced increases when the rope straightens.