Nathan+Craig

Unit Plan Link

Hello, my name is Nathan Craig, I am currently a first semester senior at Clemson University majoring in Mathematics Teaching. This fall is actually my last semester of classes as I will be student teaching at Daniel High School in the spring under Mrs. Norris. I grew up in the small town of Woodruff, SC, about an hour from Clemson. I love Clemson football, spending time with friends and family, and Clemson in general. My desire to be a math teacher originates from my interest in mathematics as well as my desire to help students understand math the way I do. That is just a little bit about myself, included on this page are several of my assignments for my Technology for Mathematics class here at Clemson, hope you enjoy.

TeacherTube Video media type="custom" key="4439667" This is a funny video I found on TeacherTube showing some common mistakes and funny responses from students on math problems.

Google Earth Lesson Assignment Volume of Solids

Volume of Solids is a concept lesson designed for grades 6-9, that covers several concepts. The concepts covered are volume and surface area of several different figures. The lesson requires the students to travel around the world, via Google Earth, to find several of the world's famous attractions. For example you can find the volume and surface area of the great pyramids, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and even the Earth itself. The lesson provides a different approach to volume and surface area for students, rather than finding the volume and surface area of figures the teacher creates. One weakness of the lesson I believe is the lack of formation of the formulas for the volume and surface area of figures, and the fact that all the measurements are provided for the student. I think the lesson would be more intriguing to students if they could research the measurements of the attractions themselves, possibly as a competition between groups to find the correct volume and surface area of the attractions the fastest.

Personally I think Google Sketchup is a great tool for students to use or for teachers to employ in their classroom. Sketchup has endless possibilities, teachers can use sketchup to develop problems for students, as a visual aid, or as a way for students to be creative. Sketchup is a great tool to explore three dimensional figures, usually students have a hard time understanding three dimensional figures on a two dimensional page. For instance, volume and surface area are concepts that involve three dimensional figures that can be represented in sketchup.
 * Google Sketchup**