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Purpose/Capabilities:
Geoboards are manipulatives that can be used by elementary,
middle, and high school students to explore a variety of mathematical topics
from shapes, perimeter, area, and congruence for geometry related topics to
fractions, linear equations, and linear systems for algebra and pre-algebra
related topics. This app is the virtual
version of the Geoboard with the same capabilities and more. The app has what seems like an unlimited
supply of eight different colored rubber bands and two different size boards, a
25-peg board and a 150-peg board.
Positive Aspects:
The benefit of using Geoboards in class is to allow students
the hands on experience of exploring a concept on their own and being able to make
and see a visual representation. The
benefits of using the app over the Geoboards themselves are the convenience,
having an unlimited supply of all the different color rubber bands, being able
to switch between a 25-peg board and the expanded 150-peg board with just a
swipe of the finger, and having the quick clean up without having to pick
rubber bands off the floor or worry about them being flung across the
room. In addition, students have the
ability to take a screenshot of their work so they can look back on what they
previously did.
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| Different ways to use this app. |
Negative Aspects:
Some may feel that the iPad version of the app does not feel
as hands-on, but in my opinion, the positives far out way the negatives with
this app. There are only a limited
number of concepts that can be thoroughly explored using the Georboard, but for
those concepts, I think this app is a great resource.
**These pictures were taken from iTunes Preview. For more ideas see: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geoboard-by-math-learning/id519896952?mt=8.
Sample Activity:
I worked with one of my colleagues in the math department to develop a sample activity for the Geoboard app. The colleague of mine often uses Geoboards in his Geometry classes to have students discover concepts or formulas on their own. He showed me one of his activities for investigating the formula for area of a parallelogram which I revised to fit the Geoboard app. See the link below for a copy of this activity.
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