PE5_Virtual Manipulative -Illuminations "Free Ride"

Well, in the end I went with the Illuminations website, "Free Ride" manipulative. 

My RILS is actually a trial for my CBR project. In my CBR, I'm going to have my students engage in activities with the virtual manipulatives, and then answer questions or do a project sheet to show what they've learned. 

I've been trying to figure out which manipulatives to use, and through the RILS I'm able to test some of the ones I've been looking at, to see how well they'll work in an actual situation. 

I really wanted to use manipulatives on subjects my students struggle with. I mentioned this is  my previous blog post, as my students often have troubles with fractions. Many of the fraction activities however seemed too simple, or childlike. 

I really liked the bike one, because it was more than just fractions, but the relationship of fractions and ratios. 

But this also promotes problem solving and analytical thinking. 

Students aren't just asked about ratios, fractions, but asked how they can use them to figure out an optimal route. 

In this virtual manipulative, you can choose from a variety of routes, and have to determine the best ratio of gears to use to get to the designated way points. 

What I think I may do for my students activity, is to give them 3 different routes, or goals to solve. They'll be working in groups, to figure out the optimal ratios to get solve the routes. 

Even if the students don't finish all of the routes, or meet all of the way points, I'm going to ask them to describe and discuss the methods that they used and why. If they were' successful, I want them to think about what they could change in the future and what that result might be. 

I'm more interested in them exploring and thinking than just getting right answers. I'm hoping the non traditional approach will encourage them to explore, rather than trudge through problems that they hate, and maybe aren't even really thinking about. 

So this RILS will let me test these ideas and hopes. Depending on how this works out, I may go on to use this for my CBR, or I may change how I present the activity, or even not use it at all. 

I'm interested to see how this works out.  Will they be able to do this? Will they learn from it? Or will it just be a fun distraction?

Hard for me to know from just what I've done. I mean, I had a lot of fun playing with the program and challenging myself. There's even a "par" feature, if you want to try to accomplish the way point goals in the least amount of pedals. I think personal challenges can be more effective than anything to get a learner to stretch themselves.

For me personally, I enjoyed the program, and I found it challenging, even as an instructor will experience in fractions!

I did not make par :( But it was fun to try

So now, the only thing that I can do is to try it out on others, on my learners, and see how they respond.

Stay tuned to see how this turns out!