Simulations: How are they useful in an educational setting?

I think that simulations are useful because they can allow you to do things that you might not otherwise be able to do. I remember doing simulations in history class without technology but it allowed me to really understand what it was like for the people during the time period we were studying. I think that simulations can be very helpful for my math classes, especially since I can use technology to create simulations. Many times it is difficult to illustrate properly concepts on the board, especially if it involves three-dimension objects. If I am able to simulate concepts on a computer I think students can get a better grasp on a topic. For instance with integrals, I can draw rectangles of different numbers to illustrate that the more there are the closer to the actual area it is, but if I have a computer program that can more accurately illustrate that concept, more students might be able to understand integrals. I think that simulations are also helpful because students learn in so many different ways. The more ways you can use to teach a subject the greater possibility you have of reaching all the students and helping them understand the information.

Tech Autobiography Update:

I wanted to start by apologizing that this is almost a week late. Things have been so crazy and I just plain forgot to check to see if something was done for the reading break. But here is my update....

The main thing that has stuck out to me so far in this class was the day that we learned how to make a website. I had used excel before so that was not new but I was intrigued by making websites. I am really excited to use them in the classroom and make websites that my students can acces at home to do work and understand the concepts in new ways. I know that I would have to get a program like "Dreamweaver" or another program that makes it easier because I could not spend the time looking up how to write everything out in code. That we make me frustrated and I would end up not making websites at all. It has also been interesting to learn about probes. It made me think back more on my middle and high school experiences and think how my teachers might have been incorporating technology by using probes but I may not have even noticed. One thing I remembered was when we used a special piece of equipment that could hook into a TI-83 calculator and display everything onto a screen. Not only were we learning how to use our calculators more but our teacher was also about to help us learn more complicated concepts in math.