I created and used this reference sheet during my student teaching
experience. My students were about to begin a chapter on
matrices, and much of the material involved (or could involve) the use
of the calculator to perform operations. Since we did not have
enough calculators for every student to take one home for practice, I
believed that a reference sheet with examples of correct syntax was in
order.
This artifact should be used in an Algebra 2 course in which students
have access to the TI-86 or a similar graphing calculator.
Impact
This artifact will be of use to students as they study NC S.C.O.S. Algebra 2 standard 1.04 (operations
with matrices), and will provide practice for NC Computer/Technology
standard 3.03 (use of graphing calculator). This
artifact will support teaching by serving as supplemental reference
material for students; this artifact could also support teaching
practice by serving as a reference for teachers who are unfamiliar with
working with matrices on modern graphing calculators.
Alignment
While working with matrices, students in my class were doing
technology-enhanced activities -- even the traditional homework
assignments involved the graphing calculator, since we did not ask
students to know how to find the determinant for a 3x3 matrix, for
example. This artifact helps facilitate the use of the
technology by saving teacher time for concept-related questions instead
of tool-related questions. Since this artifact also helps address
content and technology standards, it satisfies NETS-T standard III-A.
