1. “Secrets” of High-Quality Interactive Lesson
Content
• Jacqui Derby: Quia
• Dennis Goyette: Interactive
Sites for Math and Calculus
• Charlene Montoya: Writing
Center
• Shelly Robinson: Financial
Literacy
• Zak Stroker: Dalton’s Play

2. Beginning
• Definition of “Interactive Activity” and
changing the focus of our PLC

3. What makes a Interactive Activity
High Quality?
• The focus is on student interactivity not teacher interactivity.
• The learning objective is student focused
• The learning objective is observable and measurable
• It offers opportunities for the students to practice the skills we want them
to learn
• If animation is used it has a purpose
• The activity is sequenced from easy to difficult building on students' prior
knowledge
The activity assists students in arriving at the correct answer with feedback
based on course content.

4. Next Steps
• We each found an interactive activity that we could use in our classrooms.
• We implemented these in a different ways.
• We talked to or surveyed our students to see what they thoughts were.

5. Zak’s Interactive
Dalton’s Playhouse
Conservation of matter in chemistry

6. What it is.
• An interactive web site that allows students to have a
virtual inquiry-based experience in chemistry.
• Students navigate the four mini-experiments and by
answering questions specific to their data, come to
the conclusion that matter is conserved in all chemical
reactions.

8. What the students thought.
• “It was pretty cool how you could see the experiment and re-do
it if you needed to”
• “It was really hard to figure out how to use the balance thingy”
• “That was so much easier than just reading about it”
• “I wish it had sound”
• “That made so much more sense because I could, like, see what
was happening to the stuff and I knew it was impossible to lose
it (matter)”

9. What the teacher thought.
• Although it lacked certain aspects that I would have
liked to have seen, namely sound, pop-up
instructions, language options and a running
commentary, I really liked this interactive because it
gave the students the opportunity to not only
“perform” an experiment but to engage in true virtual
inquiry. I would highly recommend using it in
Chemistry or Physical Science classes.

10. Jacqui’s Interactive
Quia Activities

11. What it is.

13. What the students thought.
What the teacher thought.
Future implementation

14. Dennis’ INTERACTIVE MATHEMATICS
Interactive sites for algebra and
calculus along with Texas Instrument’s
new TI-Nspire CX calculator.

15. TI-Nspire CX
http://education.ti.com/calculators/products/US/home/

16. TI-Nspire CX
Other sites include:
www.youtube.com/TIforEducators
www.youtube.com/TexasInstrumentsCalc
www.atomiclearning.com/ti_nspire
Also a TI-Nspire for Dummies book

17. Sites for Calculus
 http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=221
 http://www.analyzemath.com/calculus.html
 http://cow.math.temple.edu/
 http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/calculus/calculus.htm
 There also the multi-media lessons with simulations built into the lessons from NROC
Students Comments:
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=221 is very helpful when I need to find the tangent lines at a point of
the derivative of a function. The only thing that threw me off was that I had to use the x-intercepts to graph it instead of
inputting the functions but everything else was fine after that. I'll stick to my own graphing calculator though. The free
calculus tutorials and problems
http://www.analyzemath.com/calculus.html was extremely helpful. I feel that it helped me a lot with parts I wasn't
understanding. With Cow Math I had been using it before and I've always found useful
whenever I got stuck with a particular section in my math and couldn't understand it.
I didn't find Curvebank helpful at all. Some of the topics they discussed were a bit hazy and not very well explained. I
would rather use Cow Math instead.
I for one find the lessons to be highly effective. I find that reading while listening really helps to implant things in my
memory, and the equations and graphs really help to bolster my understanding. Also, it's nice to be able to just listen or
just read, in situations where I'm multitasking or short on time. It also translates easily into concise, accurate notes.
I honestly don’t think that the lessons and simulations help that much. They give you an elementary understanding of the
material but the example questions in the lessons don’t help at all when you go to do the homework assignments.

18. Other Sites
 http://teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/
 http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-
interactives/
 http://multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
 http://www.vectorkids.com/
 http://www.hellam.net/algebra/
 http://interactivecontentcorner.com/
 http://www.ixl.com/math/algebra-1

19. What the teacher thought.
 For the classroom, any math or science course, I would highly recommend the TI-
Nspire calculator and interactive activities.
 As for algebra, I think the http://www.ixl.com/math/algebra-1 site would be the
best.
 For calculus, I go with what one student commented on for the sites. He seemed
to be the only one seriously checking them out.
 The calculus lessons with audio and simulations are good as well. Obviously
listening and watching something being explained is very usefule
 Sites for video tutorials that are not interactive include
 http://www.analyzemath.com
 http://www.brightstorm.com/amth
 http://www.khanacademy.org/#browse

20. Writing Center
Charlene Montoya

22. What Students Think
 ”The thing I find most helpful about the writing center is the Purdue Owl. I
have used Perdue Owl on numerous research papers and I love it. I try to
use it as much as possible because you have been telling me to expand my
writing.”
 ”They seem like they could be very useful if given a specific format that we
needed to write in. Currently being in an AP English class, I am learning
most of those formats, but for someone who does not have that
background it seems like it would be very helpful.”

23. What the Teacher Thinks
 I have noticed an increase in the writing level of my students after including
the Writing Center.
 I believe giving them additional resources to assist them in their writing has
helped their overall performance in my AP classes.

24. Shelly Robinson’s Interactive
Activities
Financial Literacy Mathematics
Sem 1 and Sem 2

25. What it is?
Interactive Activity on W-2 and Form 1099 Interactive Activity on form W-4
INT
http://www.irs.gov/app/understandingTaxes/hows/mod0
3/sim_mod03_01.jsp http://www.irs.gov/app/understandingTaxes/hows/
mod01/sim_mod01_01.jsp

26. What it is?
Interactive Activity on how to write a Interactive Activity on filling out a deposit
check slip
http://www.themint.org/kids/writing-a-check.html http://www.gcflearnfree.org/everydaylife/deposit

27. What Students Thought?
After the activities students there was a survey for students to evaluate the
activities Financial Literacy Math Semester 1
(Interactive Activities on Taxes and W-4)
10 students completed the unit with the activities, and 2 students completed the survey.
#1 This IRS Tutorial Assisted me with your understanding of the W-4 Form. Neither Agree or Disagree 100%
#2 What did you like or not like regarding this simulation from the IRS? 1) I didn't like it just because the work is pretty tough.
Explain how it helped you understand the concepts or was it a waste of 2) The video helped me understand how the W-4 form,
time. because it went in detail about how the form worked and
made sure the watcher understood the details of W-4 form.
Financial Literacy Math Semester 2
(Interactive Activities on Writing a check and filling out a deposit slip)
6 students completed the unit with the activities, and 4 students completed the survey.
#1 This Interactive Activities helped Strongly Agree 25%
me understand how to write a
Agree 50%
check, fill out a deposit slip and
check registers? Neither Agree or Disagree 25%
#2 What did you like or not like 1) This would be extremely helpful to someone unsure about how a check is written. I would recommend this as a great
learning tool for students.
regarding this interactive
2) I had a hard time understanding how to make sure how to make a deposit, but eventually I figured it out and its all right.
activities? Explain how it helped 3) It was hard to write with the mouse when I had to sign my name on the check. It was easy to understand and very
you understand the concepts or detailed of how to fill everything out.
was it a waste of time? 4) The one about writing a check was fun. I just had a little bit of a problem using the mouse to write my name.
The deposit slip activity was kind of confusing. It kept saying that "I need to add $40 dollars cash to the deposit", but
there was no cash in sight to put with the deposit. Plus, there wasn't any directions until I accidentally clicked on the
hand that told me what I was suppose to do. I was impressed with the check writing activity. It was fun.
I wasn't impressed with the deposit slip. I really felt it needed to have more explanation with it.
Both concepts were good. I did learn from both.

28. What Teacher Thought?
Financial Literacy Math Sem 1
• there were two activities and 10 students have completed the unit with the
activities and only 2 students completed the survey.
• Not known how many actually completed the activities.
• Several of these students were on an accelerated pace for May 2012
graduation doing the course in 8 weeks, so they did not do any extra work.
• Some students do not want to take the time to do activities in Math courses.
• Taxes are a difficult topic for most people
• The activities were long and from the IRS Website
Financial Literacy Math Sem 2
• There were two activities and 6 students completed the unit with the activities
and 4 of the 6 completed the survey.
• Less students rushing to complete the material in an accelerated amount of
time.
• The topics were a easier and shorter and had animation
• More directions and explanation should be added to the deposit slip activity
based on comments from students.

29. General:
http://www.thinkport.org/classroom/tools.tp
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
Technology -
http://www.edutopia.org/interactive-whiteboards-technology-success
English
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/
http://www.twiddla.com/
http://writeboard.com/http://www2.writely.com/info/WritelyOverflowWelcome.htm
http://www.freeonlinegames.com/game/virtual-keyboard.html
Math
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html
http://teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/
http://multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
http://www.vectorkids.com/
http://www.hellam.net/algebra/
http://interactivecontentcorner.com/
Lanuage
http://www.transparent.com/language-resources/games/
http://www.spanish4teachers.org/InteractiveActs.html
Art
http://www.nga.gov/kids/
http://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/interactives
Research -
http://advan.physiology.org/content/30/4/135.full
http://www.am.dodea.edu/acss/ahs/documents/interactiveClassroom-fall09issue.pdf