Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Teaching Perspective

Today I had to take on the challenge of teaching perspective to my students in math.  This is a fairly easy concept, but it seems to be something my students' young 4th grade minds have trouble grasping. Fortunately, my students had iPads and the app Doceri to help them gain a greater understanding.

I started the lesson by creating an object with cubes.  I then used the camera on my iPad to show the students the different perspectives of the object.  As a class, the students each drew an example of what the perspective was of the object from the side, top and front on their Whiteboard app.  After they became familiar with the vocabulary, I gave the students a pile of cubes and had them design a 3-D object that had a variety of height and depth.  Once they designed their objects, they created a slide in Doceri to describe each view.   The students enjoyed creating their objects and were amazed by how much the perspective changed from one to another.

Click Here for an example of a Doceri project on perspective.




11 comments:

  1. Excellent use of technology to make a difficult concept easier to understand! I love how you used both manipulatives and digital tools in combination to create an activity that really helps students connect with the material and gain a firm understanding of this abstract concept. Kudos to you and your students!

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  2. Very cool! I could have used a tool like that to help me understand my high school geometry class. I have always had a hard time imagining different visual perspectives. Nice work.

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  3. Great visual presentation of a concept that can be difficult to explain. This is and idea I can try in my class with our Geometry unit.

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  4. I too like the idea of using the manipulatives as well as digital. You have found a way to blend the two into a great learning opportunity.

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  5. I love this idea! I was lucky enough to see this lesson first hand and it was great to see how engaged the kids were and to see them getting a better grasp on the concept of perspective! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. The visual component with the use of technology is second to none. I work with students that may struggle with abstract concepts due to a learning disability. Any time I can incorporate different modalities to present information is very beneficial. Thanks so much for sharing your awesome teaching!

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  7. Great use of technology to teach something in a different way. I bet this helped your students gain a better understanding of the material. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. What a great way to incorporate technology in the classroom and to
    teach an abstract concept. Thanks for sharing this idea!
    - Nate Bacon

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  9. A little perspective can change a lot. It can mean the difference between a kiddo "getting it" or not. Great idea!

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  10. Perspective was a really tough concept for my fourth graders to learn. I am definitely going to have to try this! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. What a great idea! Even with my 8th grade students, perspective is something that is hard to grasp for some of them. This makes learning fun. Thanks for sharing!

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