In the Geometric Zone

This week in math we revisited Vygotsky's zone of  proximal development. The idea of finding the precise zone of a students development is a complicated and difficult task for teachers. The goal is for teachers to find the zone for their students so that the math is not to hard and not to easy. People traditionally like to learn and they like to be challenged and at the heart of this work is the work of caring. If teachers care about the work their students do and care about engaging the and scaffolding their learning so as to create a classroom environment that makes students feel like they can succeed yet be challenged then they will be engaged and excited about the learning they are doing in the classroom.

Later we went to the computer lab and experienced software called geometers sketch pad. First we were asked to draw a square. This proved to be very challenging and required some thought as to what really constitutes a square. I had to thing about the four sides and how they have to be the same length and about the corners and how they all have to be right angles. I realized it is not that easy to really draw a square even though we think we do it all the time.

Next we were asked to use several shapes such as a square, a rhombus, a kite,etc. This game proved to be very challenging and frustrating. Especially when you were trying to put a shape on top of another shape that didn't allow for that shapes properties.

I wonder about the future of education and how technology will be used in the classroom and I worry about the allocation of resources will all students have access to the technology and software, Will the new technology available in the classroom for some widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots even more than they are today?