Things To Take Back To My Students

It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of our time at U of L. I have learned many things during these three weeks. Now when my students ask me what the practical applications are for the math I am teaching them, I will be able to make a connection to optics. I am sure that seeing a real reason to use trigonometry will make it more interesting and easy to learn.

Math is the language of science and if students cannot understand math, they will never really be able to understand science. And math, without its applications in science, is a lifeless thing. Math can never be fully understood without seeing it in the context of its applications. We need to foster the natural alliance between the science classroom and the mathematics classroom.

I have been working with a free education version of OSLO, a software program to help with the configuration of lenses. I have not been able to reconfigure Dr Mendez’s lenses like I had hoped, but I plan to use OSLO in my classroom this fall to illustrate the tracing of a ray through a simple lens. Also I am excited about several apps I have found on the web that will add interest to my geometry classroom.