Thanks to support from GeoGebra, Marcell was able to travel to the USA last week and attend the Rubik’s Cube World Championship 2013 in Las Vegas, see the following video: Marcell at Rubik’s Cube World Championship 2013

Marcell was very successful and is now world champion for blindfolded 3×3, 4×4, 5×5 and multi 3×3 cube solving. We are happy that GeoGebra made it possible for him to participate and live his passion for math and science. Congratulations, Marcell!

Do you want to meet Marcell in person? You will get a chance at the GeoGebra conference in Budapest in January 2014.

Please see the Conference Program for details on all the sessions arranged by the following strands:

• Algebra and Algebra 2

• Geometry

• Probability, Statistics, and Discrete Mathematics

• Precalculus / Calculus

• Early / Middle Grades Learning

Hands-on Workshops

In addition, day-long, hands-on workshops are provided within the conference. The two-day Newbie Workshop is designed for new users while our one-day Digital Ethics Workshop explores issues that impact all educators in our digital age – copyright, privacy, and social media.

Register Today!

There is still time to register and attend the conference. Please visit http://ggbnorthamerica.eventbrite.com and see you in Ohio!

For More Information

For more information, visit the conference website at www.ggbmidwest.com/conference or email co-organizers Steve Phelps <sphelps@madeiracityschools.org> and Todd Edwards <edwardm2@miamioh.edu>.

One of our main goals is simply to attract more students to raise their interest in mathematics through GeoGebra.

Our institute was born as a result of a great international cooperation, a project called “Use of new technologies in mathematics education” with the University of Cantabria in Spain, whose professors gave an outstanding series of GeoGebra trainings to our high school teachers.

Now, we are happy to pass now this knowledge on to other high school teachers, educational supervisors and students of the University of Niamey and Maradi and promote development of  GeoGebra resources in line with the national curricula in Niger. Despite the limited access to internet (appr. 26,5%)  in Niger, these series of trainings have involved more than 100 teachers and secondary school inspectors, and more than 8,000 students. For the moment most of the trainings are focused on the content of the subjects taught in secondary schools, namely statistics, trigonometry, transformations and equations.

GeoGebra provides African countries like Niger with a unique opportunity: it is free and very easy to download. This is a software that we have known and used mainly for its graphical aspects: we just love its graphics and that layout curves can be easily exported to other documents.

In the end of June, 2013, our university will join local Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 celebrations with a special GeoGebra session.

For more information please visit our site at http://ig-niger.refer.ne/ and join our facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/GeoGebra-Institute-of-Niger/255947331104256

As a new institute, born in the summer of 2012, our main goal is to make GeoGebra easy to reach for Mongolian educational institutions, professors, students and teachers. The first step on this probably long road was translating the software (GeoGebra 4.0 and 4.2) to Mongolian language since we think getting acquainted with the software in one’s  mother tongue is the most essential for it becoming  popular. Then we started to organize local workshops: first at the National University of Mongolia, School of Mathematics and Computer Science with 20 participants, then at the Mongolian State University of Education with 100 participants, both held in December, 2012.

Mongolia is quite a big country, its territory is more then 1 500 000 km2. Almost half the population, 1 700 000 people live in Ulanbator (literally “Red Hero”), in the capital. Navchaa, our chair is very enthusiastic about designing video tutorials, which she shares with primary and secondary school teachers to help them introduce GeoGebra into their classrooms. Till now, a huge number,  840 teachers have participated in her video lessons from almost all provinces in Mongolia; this year she is planning to produce some more  video tutorials.

This summer we plan to finish translation of GeoGebra 5.0 into Mongolian language. As Navchaa works at the National University of Mongolia as a professor for teaching initial teacher students to Mathematics, and her research focus is the integration of ICT into Mathematics teaching, this year she will integrate GeoGebra into her “Introduction of Mathematical software” course.

Organizing competitions both for students and teachers will be part of our plans for this year to make GeoGebra even more popular and fun.

For more information please visit our site at http://www.smcs.num.edu.mn/geogebra and join our facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/GeogebraMNG.

My name is Agustin Carrillo de Albornoz Torres and I am a Secondary School Mathematics Professor. At present I am working at the University of Cordoba (Spain), I am the director of GeoGebra Institute in Andalusia.

I am involved in working with various associations of professors and I am the chief secretary of the Spanish Federation of Teachers of Mathematics (FESPM) and the American Federation of Societies of Mathematical Education (FISEM).

When did you first try GeoGebra?

I started using GeoGebra in 2005. At that time I was coordinating a project on the integration of ICT in teaching in “Jándula Secondary School” which involved to provide computers for the whole school. Among the available programs to use in the classroom, it was GeoGebra. As I had some experience with dynamic geometry programs, I encouraged myself to find out what GeoGebra could offer.
In 2009 I published the book “GeoGebra. Much more than dynamic geometry ” whose aim was to offer some materials that could encourage and help teachers get started with GeoGebra.

How could we make GeoGebra even better?

It is not easy to answer this question because in each new version of GeoGebra we find significant improvements, as we have seen it with the addition of CAS or as it will happen with the 3D version.
In relation to the CAS version, I consider it still has to incorporate some commands and options to increase its power and in terms of the 3D version, I hope that we will soon enjoy the final version.
I also hope that versions for tablets and phones, which will make us have GeoGebra ready in our hands, will be available soon.

What do you love in GeoGebra?

Although all aspects of GeoGebra are remarkable, what I like most is its simplicity , which makes it so easy to use as it is such an intuitive program.
In addition, the ease offered by Geogebra to match levels or contents at any time they are working, make us consider it as an essential tool for all teachers who wish to incorporate ICT into their classroom.
Another noteworthy aspect is the community which has been created with millions of users willing to share materials and experiences, making it easy to use and ,above all, the power to solve any questions or problems quickly.
And finally, I also like the continuous evolution of GeoGebra, which forces as well as encourages us to discover the possibilities the new versions incorporate.

What are the GeoGebra related activities you participate?

From the GeoGebra Institute of Andalusia, I have taken part in the organization of meetings and conferences convened since its creation, which took place in Córdoba (2010 and 2013), Huelva (2011) and Granada(2012).
For many years I have participated in face-to-face and online teacher training courses in the use of ICT resources, including GeoGebra, promoting their use and encouraging teachers to their incorporation and use in the classroom.
This training is completed with various workshops and lectures at conferences and seminars held in Spain and Latin America.
Taking advantage of being the chief secretary of the FISEM ,I take part in all activities that the associations that belong to the federation call to promote and spread the use of GeoGebra.
Furthermore, in collaboration with the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) I participate in the development of materials and resources to use GeoGebra , which are being used in online training courses.
Also, in collaboration with the OEI and its American Institute of ICT and Education (IBERTIC) we have called “GeoGebra Day in Latin America” which will take place in Montevideo on September 14 as a previous activity to CIBEM .

The mathematics education community is constantly engaged in finding out how children best learn mathematics. The current National Curriculum Framework (NCF-2005) in India, developed by NCERT describes two goals, a “narrow aim” and a “higher aim” of mathematics education. The higher aim is about developing the children’s inner resources to think and reason mathematically, so that they become capable of making logical conclusions and handling abstractions. While following the „narrow aims” means equipping children with very good algorithmic skills by just having them remember the formulas.  At NCERT our  ambition is to chieve this „higher aim” rather than only the „narrow aim”.

As NCF recommends, the teacher’s role is to create opportunities for children to build their own understanding of concepts. However, if only we could discover precisely how children best learn mathematics then we could work out exactly how to teach them the subject in the most effective way.

It is easy to realize that GeoGebra promotes experimental learning and  can be used to represent mathematical content in multiple ways. So, the question – is can an innovative integration of GeoGebra in Mathematics curriculum support the learning of mathematics adapted to the children’s own learning styles?

Even though GeoGebra can influence what is taught, teachers need to design the suitable instructions and environment that best support this approach. Well-applied  GeoGebra can support  requirements of learning outcomes  as it helps the children process mathematical concepts through investigation and problem solving.

GeoGebra can also be seen as a catalyst for a paradigm shift. Since educational materials and books became accessible for everyone jn an electronic form, education has experienced a gradual shift away from the idea that its success relies on the student’s capacity to memorize and accurately recall large amounts of information.

Instead, greater emphasis has been placed on developing research and problem-solving skills; on equipping students with effective inquiry skills, including the ability to find and process new information using digital technologies. Many educators now see GeoGebra, with its interconnectedness, as an environment rather than just a tool for learning and teaching. The difference between these two perspectives is significant, the former requiring a fundamental change in methodology and teaching practice for many teachers. We should draw a road map for achieving the ultimate target of the highly progressive GeoGebra enabled Mathematics curriculum.

P.K. Chaurasia will be one of our key-note speakers at the pre-ATCM GeoGebra conference in Mumbai, December 2013. Follow his work at http://pkchaurasia.iitiancollege.info.

Our students are at various levels in terms of their learning skills and abilities, but on average they are very enthusiastic about learning Mathematics.  They are even more motivated when we use technology in the classrooms. I first used GeoGebra in my class when we were plotting graphs and the pupils found it fascinating.

Internet connection is not very reliable in our country, that is another reason why GeoGebra is a great educational tool, as it can be used offline. Low bandwidth, high cost of connection and access to computers are the main challenges we face .

In addition to desktops, a number of tutors now have laptops and 8 of our 56 members  of academic staff have recently been given tablets by one of our cooperating partners.  So we are now starting to teach with tablets but only at a very small scale (see picture below in my Math class, I am the first one on the right)

In our computer laboratory for students, we have forty work stations. For my class of an average of 45 this is manageable. However, the computer-student ratio for all the institution is still a problem as it now stands at 1:10.

I must mention as well that I am still in the process of learning how to use GeoGebra and I would be happy to learn more from members of the GeoGebra community.

We would be happy to cooperate with other GI-s, please  contact us at:

http://wiki.geogebra.org/en/GeoGebra_Institute_of_Chalimbana

Mathematics class at Chalimbana University learning Maths on a tablet

My name is Talgat Bainazarov. I have been teaching mathematics in secondary school. At the moment I am a vice-principal at newly opened Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Karaganda.

I am the translator of GeoGebra UI into Kazakh (my native language) and the Chair person in the GeoGebra Institute of Astana

When did you first try GeoGebra?

I first tried GeoGebra in 2009 when I was a university student on a workshop for prospective teachers held by a public school. Since then GeoGebra has become a good friend of mine.

Year 2009 was just an introduction. I didn`t go deep into it. A great impact on my enthusiasm was made in 2011 by the first GeoGebra ambassador Guillermo P. Bautista Jr. I came across to his blog when I was searching for step-by-step tutorials. I learned a lot from his tutorials in his wonderful blog Mathematics and Multimedia.

He brought me an idea of establishing a local GeoGebra Institute (there are 3 in my country now). After having learned to use GeoGebra step by step, I started to produce videotutorials and presentations in Kazakh.

What do you hate in GeoGebra?

The only thing that I feel pity about is that 8 years had past for this wonderful software to reach me. I wish I had known and used in my study at school.

What do you love in GeoGebra?

I love people in the GeoGebra community. All of the members of team are so responsive, enthusiastic and helpful that newly involved people in the community are easily “infected” by their passion to spread dynamic tool for mathematics to everyone. I have students, who in some way have become teachers, in the GeoGebra Institute of Astana, because they are making video, presentations and translations. They have created a public page on a social network.  They are sharing their knowledge and ideas. The feeling of contribution in the education has been driving them ahead. I guess, the same can be told about all the students around the world who are involved in the GeoGebra community.

What are the GeoGebra related activities you participate?

• The first activity is the workshop for maths teachers that I led in my hometown Kostanay in 2011
• The next year AEO “Nazarbayev Intellectual schools” invited Zsolt Lavicza to Astana for the August conference and a two day workshop. I assisted him on the workshop
• In May, 2013 we hosted Zsolt Lavicza and Istvan Juhos for the workshop. This visit was very productive, because we managed to meet a lot of important people who became more interested in the GeoGebra. We are expecting good changes in the development of mathematics in Kazakhstan.

Gerrit has given about 40 workshops all over  South-Africa since the establishment of the GeoGebra Institute in 2009. Many education ministry officials and math-teachers from Gauteng, Limpopo regions and the Free State have attended these workshops.

Based on his long teaching experience he has compiled an easy-to-follow GeoGebra 4.2 manual (based on the school curriculum), which you can download from the geogebra tube: http://www.geogebratube.org/material/show/id/39024. This manual has short YouTube video illustrations of each section.

Gerrit has also written articles evaluating his teaching experience, you can download his research results here:

• Stols, G.H. (2012). Does the use of technology make a difference in pre-service teachers’ geometric cognitive growth? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 28(7), 1233-1247. (ISSN: 1449-5554 & impact factor: 1.655)   http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet28/stols.pdf
• Stols, G.H. &Kriek, J. (2011). Why don’t all maths teachers use dynamic geometry software in their classrooms? Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 27(1), 137-151. (ISSN: 1449-5554 & impact factor: 1.278) http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet27/stols.html

Our development team is working hard on the tablet apps. Do you like the new simple, fresh and clean look of the app?