Mr. L's Math» GeoGebra

GeoGebra Institute of California Has a New Website

Bill Lombard — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:39:34 +0000

GeoGebra logo

My favorite math teaching software, GeoGebra, just got a nice boost. The GeoGebra Institute of California has a new website.
The mission of the International GeoGebra Institute (IGI) is to empower students and teachers at all levels to learn and teach mathematics with our easy-to-use and freely available software and interactive materials. The IGI is a rapidly growing network of non-profit organizations around the world. Our California GeoGebra Institute will support local users in the following activities:

face-to-face workshops for teachers
online support for GeoGebra users
presentations at California conferences
publications in California journals

GeoGebra supports free learning materials (applets) which have interactive graphics, algebra, and spreadsheet components. These materials are available from elementary school levels through university levels.
We wish to show California teachers and students how to use GeoGebra so that it can be used as a major curriculum force in the classroom. GeoGebra is very easy to use, with a point and click interface. You can quickly create interactive applets that illustrate concepts in all of the major school mathematics curriculum areas. GeoGebra is a free program that can perform geometric constructions, graph functions, create sliders that can be used to define functions, find derivatives and integrals and change everything dynamically. It is also straightforward to create html files that will be available online to anyone with a browser. Since GeoGebra is a java program, Mac or PC computers both work fine. Come join us in celebrating this terrific software!

A big thanks goes to Andy Hammons, our website creator/guru, who made this possible. Andy is the 2011 Hesperia USD District Teacher of the Year.

GeoGebra – Let Me Count the Ways We Like You

Bill Lombard — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:34:23 +0000

Guillermo Bautista, who is the host of Mathematics and Multimedia, recently posted a terrific article about GeoGebra, in which he summarized reasons why this incredible open-source software has been so successful. I asked his permission to reprint his post for my readers and he readily accepted.

Michael Borcherds, lead developer of GeoGebra, asked why GeoGebra is successful in the GeoGebra Forum; I summarized the responses and came up with 15 reasons. Here are the reasons why GeoGebra has been so successful all these years.

It is FREE.

It is open source – meaning, it is developed collaboratively by us:programmers, teachers, mathematicians, and users not just a few people.

It runs in multiple operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.).

It runs in different devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets).

It promotes mathematical connections (algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, etc.).

It highlights multiple representations (equations, graphs, tables).

It is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to use.

Its files can be easily uploaded to the web as applets.

It can be exported to different file formats (png, pdf, eps, etc.).

It supports Latex typesetting.

It supports spreadsheet, CAS, and 3D (GeoGebra 5.0).

It has an elegant appearance and dynamic colors.

It has excellent support community.

It can be used by elementary school students up to graduate schoolstudents.

It is updated frequently.

Thank you, Guillermo, for this post and many others from your excellent site.

GeoGebra Prim – a Simpler Version of GeoGebra for Younger Students

Bill Lombard — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:41:34 +0000

GeoGebra Prim workspace

The developers of GeoGebra have created a version of the algebra/geometry/creative math software for younger students. This “slimmed down” version has much of the capabilities of its bigger cousin, but with a simplified interface. Users of GeoGebra will find no difficulty with this version, but for new users it is somewhat easier since there are no dropdown icon menus. There are some default options that simplify drawing, and only the most common geometry constructions are available from this menu.

Here’s the download site for this new addition/edition of GeoGebra – making this creative, intuitive software easier to use for younger minds:

http://www.geogebra.org/webstart/4.0/GeoGebraPrim.jnlp
Some of the features:

* Restricted set of Tools available
* All available Tools visible at once
* Larger Font size
* Larger / Thicker Objects
* Just the Graphics View showing
* Easier to select objects
* Labeling of objects disabled
* Angles always between 0° and 180° by default

My verdict after playing with this new version: It’s a sure winner, and I’m glad to see that younger people will be better able to develop their mathematical minds with GeoGra Prim.

Bill Gets His GeoGebra Trainer Certificate – Anyone Want Some Training?

Bill Lombard — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:51:35 +0000

GeoGebra Trainer Certificate

I just received my GeoGebra Trainer Certificate today from Agnes Tuska, Director of the GeoGebra Institute of California at CSU, Fresno. It’s taken awhile for all the paperwork process to be completed, but it certainly feels good. Here’s what it looks like:

It feels good to be part of this ever-growing group of educators using this fabulous program. In a few months GeoGebra version 4 will be available in wide release. It’s available now but still in beta stage. I guess I’ll be changing my email signature now to include this.

GeoGebra – 2010, The Year in Review

Bill Lombard — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 05:57:01 +0000

What a year it’s been for GeoGebra!

There were three International GeoGebra Conferences in 2010

3 million netbooks with GeoGebra were given to students in Argentina. Similar projects are running in Australia and Europe.

GeoGebra was part of Google Summer of Code 2010

24 new GeoGebra Institutes in all continents (except Antartica)

3.8 Million Downloads of GeoGebra this year
5 Million Visitors to www.geogebra.org this year. This means up to 33,000 visits per day or 170,000 visits per week
Our visitors came from 217 countries and territories. Most visitors came from Europe and North America
GeoGebra received the National Technology Leadership Award in Education

I am so pleased to be a part of bringing this software to the public’s attention. GeoGebra is the kind of thing that I wish I’d had when going through middle/high school, to say nothing of college. To me, it’s an elegant, simple to use interface between me and the beauty and structure of mathematics. Whenever I share GeoGebra with people, they invariably are amazed, stunned, and lastly thankful, that they can control the creation of such works of math/art.

If you have not yet worked with this fabulous software, please make a point of visiting the GeoGebra website, where the Mathemagic begins.

Here’s the page with all this information and more.

GeoGebra has just received the prestigious Tech Award

Bill Lombard — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:18:34 +0000

Markus Hohenwarter receiving the Tech Award in Education for GeoGebra

More kudos for GeoGebra; I continue to share this wonderful open-source software program with others and watch them experience the joy as they see mathematics come alive with power and creativity. My students experience this on a regular basis.

From the Tech Awards website: http://techawards.org/

“The Tech Awards program inspires global engagement in applying technology to humanity’s most pressing problems by recognizing the best of those who are utilizing innovative technology solutions to address the most urgent critical issues facing our planet. People all over the world are profoundly improving the human condition in the areas of education, equality, environment, health, and economic development through the use of technology. It is the goal of The Tech Awards to showcase their compelling stories and reward their brilliant accomplishments.

The Tech Awards is an international awards program that honors innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity.

GeoGebra is open-source software available for free through the Web that enables users to dynamically experiment with mathematical concepts.

Technology can play an important role in learning mathematics. Teachers and students alike often depend on interactive technology to learn about and experiment with math.

The dynamic mathematics software GeoGebra addresses all levels of education by joining arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and calculus. It features a very clean, easy-to-use interface. Since the tool is open source, a large user community has emerged to create interactive online materials for specific subject matters or a particular educational level. Having been translated into over 45 languages, it continues to expand to offer equal information access across the globe.”

Download GeoGebra and share with others at: http://www.geogebra.org/cms/

First North American GeoGebra Conference – Ithaca, New York

Bill Lombard — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:08:36 +0000

The First North American GeoGebra Conference will be held 27-28 July, 2010 at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

I’ve been honored to be a part of the Scientific Committee for this conference. This committee has the responsibility of reviewing conference proposals. I’m looking forward to an interesting experience seeing how others use the powerful program, and also what’s in the future for this creative software.

The website above has just been created and will be updated as information becomes available. Mark you calendar for an exciting two days with fellow GeoGebra enthusiasts!

GeoGebra Has New Features – Even More of a Good Thing

Bill Lombard — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:31:31 +0000

GeoGebra, the award-winning free software that math teachers are raving about, now has even more neat features:

A Spreadsheet – numbers in a different view!
Automatic animation – your graphs come to life!
Statistics functions and graphs!
Matrix and complex number support!
. . . and more!

Find out about all the details in the GeoGebra 3.2 Release Notes.

All new features are described in the fully revised manual GeoGebra Help.

The school year is starting – a great time to get your students off to a flying start with this wonderful graphic brain food!

CMC-S (Palm Springs) and CMC-N (Asilomar) GeoGebra Updates

Bill Lombard — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:21:54 +0000

My session on GeoGebra at the CMC-S Palm Springs conference was well attended. The room seated 120, and CMC staff had to turn away at the door many folks who wanted to see this great open-source software. I was pleased to be able to share a little of the story behind GeoGebra, its creator Markus Hohenwarter, and show the audience some of the spectacular things that teachers can do “with the greatest of ease.” Many audience members said they were going right home to download GeoGebra. Two weeks later I was asked to repeat some of what I had done at workshops for the Corona-Norco USD; response from these teachers was tremendous as well. Some of these teachers were downloading GeoGebra and creating some neat things during my presentation! I’ll be sharing this wonderful software again twice next week at the CMC-N (Asilomar) and the Technology Conference hosted by the California League of Middle Schools/High Schools & Computer Using Educators at Monterey, CA. The title of the sessions are:

VISUALIZE ALGEBRA & GEOMETRY CONCEPTS WITH GREATEST OF EASE

I’ll also be repeating my session on STAR preparation:

STAR TESTING: PREPARE STRESS-FREE STUDENTS & TEACHERS EASILY

Focus your curriculum while preparing students to perform well on the STAR by incorporating simple, easy-to-use techniques. Free, ready-to-use resources for students at, below, and above grade level.

Asilomar is always a great conference in a spectacular setting on the California coast.

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GeoGebra and the Varignon Parallelogram – Beauty, Structure, and Simplicity

Bill Lombard — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:58:07 +0000

The power and ease of use of the free open-source software GeoGebra is simply incredible! My freshmen and sophomores were in the computer lab today and they created several GeoGebra files to help them with their homework in the future.

They took to the software like a duck takes to water. After a few simple directions, they created the four different forms of a linear equation with sliders to animate the graphs. Several students went even further and created the standard and vertex forms of a parabola with animation. It was quite nice to have all students on task and no discipline or motivation problems.

I’ve uploaded a file used in Geometry called the Varignon Parallelogram; it’s used to show that the midpoints of any 4-sided figure, when connected with straight lines, form a parallelogram.

This is a fully interactive app for you to play with. Just grab a corner of the 4-sided figure (A, B, C, or D) and move it. You’ll notice that other parts of the figure move in response to your changes – this is called dynamic software.

There are two check boxes used to hide or show the diagonals of the original figure. The proof that the inside blue figure is a parallelogram is done in Geometry, so I won’t go over the details here.

One of the other nice features of GeoGebra is the Construction Protocol – it allows the user to see how the original construction was made. If you click on View/Construction Protocol you can see all the steps I used. At the bottom are controls showing you the construction step-by-step in real time.

Click on the following link to bring up the GeoGebra file The Varignon Parallelogram in a new browser window. Depending on your internet connection, it may take a few moments to appear.

You will need Java installed on your computer to run this app; most computers already have this installed. If you need to install Java, visit the Java website to download a copy. It’s free and available for all computers. And if you want more information about GeoGebra, visit the GeoGebra website.

Enjoy the journey, and let me know how you like it. Comments and feedback are always welcome.