Thinkfinity.com+(Illuminations)

toc Presenter: Ann Johnston, IU12 Time: 9:30 - 10:15 Room: Lab A Contact: amjohnston@iu12.org

__Description of Presentation__
[|Thinkfinity] is an online web portal (sponsored by Verizon) that is a one-stop shop for K - 12 educators, students, and parents looking for educational resources. It is FREE, easy to use, has no login or password, and offers over 55,000 resources including lesson plans, maps, worksheets, interactive games, calendars, video clips, audio clips and many others. Thinkfinity is partnered with nine of the most prestigious educational associations in the nation and all materials submitted for acceptance in Thinkfinity must first be reviewed and approved by a panel of educational experts.

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__Highlighted sites__
Line of Best Fit http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=146 Geometric explanation of (a + b)² http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=127 A Candy Game http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Algebra/IntergerIterationsOnACircle.shtml Interactive Geometry Dictionary http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?id=22 Art Algorithms http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=148 Tangent Planes http://mathforum.org/~klotz/tangents/TangentPl.html Check That Digit http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?id=L693

__Blogging notes from this session__
Session began with embedded survey using Polldaddy.com. Results can be viewed by clicking on view results. Search results done by participants during the session are posted under the discussion tab. Verizon joined with Marco Polo to create Thinkfinity.com - search portal for 50,000 resources - K-12, all subjects as well as interdisciplinary ideas. Free and no log-in! 4 main tabs - educator, student, parent (math specific section for parents) and afterschool programs Nine content providers are listed at the bottom - Illuminations and EconEdLink are strong math resources. To search you can limit to a specific topic, grade level, resource type (ie. Manipulatives, audio, media, worksheets, glossaries, interactives, lesson plans) and/or content partner. Learning objects are embedded into sample lesson plans. Educator Tab Illuminations - content provider with strong math resources Ann demonstrated other sites that can be searched for interdisciplinary and math lessons and activities.
 * tabs across the top includes Content Providers, 21st Century Skills, Literacy Network, Standards Alignment (does not show PA at this time - all currently based on National standards, if the search displays a yellow star the resource is aligned to state standards you just need to select PA), State Education Network and Thinkfinity@your library
 * online professional development
 * quick links at the bottom of the page
 * on right is the calendar (linked to searches from all 9 content providers resources) and newest resource
 * Connected to National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
 * Every activity includes instructions for activity, exploration activity (work well on IWB)
 * Some activities include learning objectives, materials and worksheets as well.
 * Geometry dictionary is interactive - students can manipulate the diagrams.

Q: Can you create a hot list for the students to use? A: Unfortunately no. Del.icio.us or Diigo, social bookmarking sites are good ways to create hot lists for students. Example is under the section below - Ann's bookmarks. Diigo allows for highlighting and annotations and you create groups. Del.icio.us allows networks but not annotations. Another option is to use a Furl.

__Additional Resources__
Ann's bookmarks:
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