1. Convergence Culture
{ Turning a Mathematics classroom into a knowledge
community through the use of New Digital Media
2. What is a Knowledge
Community?
Groups of people with shared interests using
online forums or blogs to share, gain or
enhance knowledge about a specific topic.
Knowledge communities have a greater
collective intelligence than indviduals.
3. Benefits of knowledge
communities
Teaches students
About New Digital Media
Internet safety
Communication strategies
Interpersonal skills
4. Benefits of knowledge
communities
Encourages
Enhanced reading and writing skills
Collaboration between students and teachers
Conceptual understanding of mathematic topics
through discussion
Students with different levels of knowledge to
participate
Student engagement through technology
5. Specific Benefits for
mathematics classrooms
For students to gain a deeper understanding of
mathematics they should do the following:
Discuss problem solving methods
Discuss results of problem solving
Justify steps and procedures
Use mathematical terminology
Discuss multiple representations of problems
6. Implementation
Knowledge communities can be used both in and out of the
classroom.
In the classroom:
Students can be grouped to solve problems and discuss their
solutions with classmates.
If internet access is available students can complete web quests
and answer teacher created questions on classroom blogs.
Students can use graphing technology such as GeoGebra
(GeoGebra.org) to create multiple representations.
7. Implementation
Out of the classroom:
From personal computer students can access teacher made blogs,
wiki’s, or web quests to answer discussion questions.
Before, during and after solving homework problems students
can discuss their thoughts and procedures with other students.
Teachers can monitor student interactions and give feedback on
discussions.
Students can create, edit and share their own Wiki sites covering
mathematical topics.
Students can participate in larger forums to gain more
knowledge to add to their classrooms knowledge community
8. Teacher Resources
The following websites can help teachers to
implement knowledge communities into their
classrooms:
Wiki’s: wikispaces.com
Moodle: Moodle.org
Blogs: blogger.com
Web Quests: Zunal.com
GeoGebra: GeoGebra.org
