Apps in Education : Photomath, the 'dream' for students

Photomath app

https://photomath.net/

Wow ! Math students will be happy to have this app in their pocket ! PhotoMath will solve some of your math problems.

You are a young student. You need to do this really difficult math exercise for your math class tomorrow. And you have no idea how to do it. 

What if you could just open an app on your phone, point your camera at your textbook, snap a picture and get the detailed instructions to solve your equation?  This is exactly what PhotoMath does. Awesome, isn't it?

PhotoMath app

https://photomath.net/

You think it's not possible? Wrong! PhotoMath is the world's first camera calculator. 

Just point the camera towards the mathematical expression, and PhotoMath instantly displays a correct result.

Features:

PhotoMath reads and solves mathematical expressions by using the camera of your mobile device in real time. It makes math easy and simple by educating users how to solve math problems.

PhotoMath app

https://photomath.net/

Supported features ? Go on the website here

Available:  for iOS and WP. Android early 2015

iPhone / iPad : 

The app is Free. You can download the app on iTunes

Language: English

Compatibility: Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

screenshot iPhone

http://a5.mzstatic.com/

WP : 

The app is Free. You can download the app on Windows Phone

Language: English

Compatibility: Requires Windows Phone 8.1 ; Windows Phone 8

screenshot WP

http://cdn.marketplaceimages.windowsphone.com/

Education:

Maths is useful. Young people need a better grasp of maths to compete in the job market, where an understanding of technology and numeracy are increasingly important.

The OECD’s PISA 2012 tested more than 510,000 students in 65 countries and economies on maths, reading and science. 

The main focus was on maths. Math proficiency is a strong predictor of positive outcomes for young adults. It influences their ability to participate in post-secondary education and their expected future earnings.

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) focused on young people's ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. 

Students :

Photomath is really the dream of all the students who have big problems at math curriculum.

PhotoMath reads and solves mathematical expressions by using the camera of students mobile device in real time.

Officially, it's meant to save you time flipping through a textbook to check answers when you're doing homework or cramming for a test. It's your math problems solved in your pocket. 

However, there's a concern about learning. Just because the app shows students how to solve a problem doesn't mean that the knowledge will actually sink in. 

Teachers :

If teachers don't confiscate iphones, smartphones at the door, some students could cheat when no one is looking. 

The chances of that happening aren't very high at this stage, but apps like this suggest that schools might have to be vigilant in the future.

Really ! I think the use must be moderated. It's very useful to do homeworking or cram for a test.

Teachers can also allow the app in the classroom at a moment of solving some math exercises, but always explaining how students get to those results.

And of course, during math tests or exams, iphones and smartphones are not allowed. Teachers can keep them on their desk until the end of the hour.

Finally, watch the video below:

PhotoMath from MicroBLINK on Vimeo.

Some thoughts:

Maths is useful. Young people need a better grasp of maths to compete in the job market, where an understanding of technology and numeracy are increasingly important.

But maths should also be studied for the same reasons we study Literature and Languages. It's our intellectual and cultural heritage. 

Most students are scared about math curriculum. A great number just hate math. However numbers can be wonderful, fascinating things.

Maths makes students more creative and gives them a deeper understanding of the way things really are.

Photomath can help the students to feel more comfortable with numbers and equations, if teachers are innovative in their own teaching. 

Did you read the interesting article Listen by numbers : music and maths by Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics? You must ! All math teachers could read it !

So, tell your students that Photomath is only a tool to help them to facilitate math.

"I must confess that only with the aid of mathematics did my ideas become clear."

Rameau, French baroque composer

G-Souto

22.10.2014
Copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Apps in Education : Photomath, the 'dream' for students by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

My thoughts about education : 2013 : great moments !

Dia de Reis | Dia de Reyes

www.google.com/

Hello again! We are in 2014 since six days. In Portugal, Christmas season will finish today with the Dia de Reis. It is not so important as in Spain. So all the students got back to school in Portugal, today, January 6th.

In 2013, I was very happy to see my carrier recognized once again in three different moments of the year. I made new friends, met new colleagues.

As I wrote early in the year, I had the great opportunity to participate at important and interesting conferences, in Portugal and in Belgium and to meet new friends, colleagues and talk again with some good friends. 

Fabio Nascimbeni

European Forum on Learning Futures and Innovation

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/

I attended the European Forum Learning Futures and Innovation as a speaker and participant, as well the Great Lx Conference on Games and TEL (only as participant) where I met personally some colleagues that I knew working together virtually.

I wrote three scientific articles well accepted. As a speaker, I presented the first one at VISIR workshop : "Bridging formal to informal learning: cases of grassroots innovation towards scalability" invited by MENON's Director, Dr. Fabio Nascimbeni, in Brussels, on March 19th, 2013.

http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

My visionary scientific paper "Visionary Learning in 2030: Secondary Education" on the calling upon experts and practitioners to come up with visionary papers and imaginative scenarios on how Open Education in 2030 in Europe accepted and pubilshed online in a Booklet ,in May 14th 2013;

And my third paper Time for Action: New Challenges at Secondary Education accepted at International Conference The Future of Education that took place in Florence, June 16th 2013.

I learned something new in each event and writing but the most important lesson for me was that I do miss having my own students on a full-time basis. 

Finally, take time to read printed books instead of web articles, went to some concerts at Casa da Musica, and to the movies with family or friends.

As a Linguistics and Literature professor, I really prefer a printed book in my hands. 

So, I'm ready to start a new year.

G-Souto

05.01.2014
Copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®


My thoughts about Education  : 2013, great moments ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

November : The most popular posts

Grace Hopper Google Animated Doodle

Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise."

Grace Hopper

Trbute to Grace Hopper

http://www.womencitizen.com/

Yes. Today Google Animated Doodle honors computer scientist pioneer Grace Hopper, United Sates Navy Rear Admiral born on December 9, 1906.

Hopper is known for being one of the designers of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages, which was created in 1959 during the Conference on Data Systems Languages.

http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/

It's interesting because it coincides with the Computer Science Education Week which begins today. 

Computer Science Education Week (Dec 9 - 15, 2013) is an annual international event dedicated to showing K-12 students the importance of computer science education. The event is organized by the Computing in the Core coalition and Code.org. The week wiil be full of resources and events to help curriculum directors and educators integrate and implement computer science lessons.

Europe Code Week

https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/

Like it is interesting because Europe Code week has been celebrated all over the Europe on November 25-30. 

So Grace Hopper quote could be my inspirational quote for this post. I believe and practice the change in education. Students welcome changes in our lessons.

Back my regularly scheduled program today! November, the most popular posts of the month.

So, let's doing! This is November in review of education tips.

I added six posts in November on different subjects. Here my list of the 5 most popular, presented in most reading order. 

In November, I wrote posts in English, Français. The two most read were wirtten in French.

I am happy to see that the most-read post of the month is a serious matter: Éducation: Parole aux enfants victimes d'exclusion. Child poverty is something sad every where and in developed countries, it is a flagellum in our days.

Child Poverty in Developed Countries

http://adam1cor.files.wordpress.com/

« Il y a un risque de génération sacrifiée »

Michèle Barzach, la présidente d’Unicef France. 

La Jorunée Internationale des Droits de L'Enfant établie par les Nations Unies (UN) en 1954 se célèbre le 20 Novembre.

Dans une étude inédite très récente, l'Unicef France s'est penché sur le lien qui existe entre "privations et exclusion sociale" chez les enfants. 

Entre février et juillet 2013, 22.500 enfants, âgés de 6 à 18 ans, et originaires de plus de soixante-dix villes de France, ont répondu à 133 questions sur leur vie quotidienne.

Crédits: Infographie Unicef

http://www.unicef.fr/

Les résultats de la consultation ont montré que près d'un jeune sur cinq est en situation "préoccupante" d'exclusion sociale.

Et tout est lié. Cette étude réalisée sous l'égide de l'Unicef France le prouve: pauvreté et exclusion sociale sont bien liées. 

Les 14,5% d’entre eux qui sont en situation de grande ou d’extrême privation voient également leur qualité de vie se dégrader proportionnellement à leur niveau de pauvreté. 

Photo: Lorea Marchand

Crédits: Unicef

http://www.unicef.fr/

Selon cette étude, 7% d’entre eux souffrent d'une "exclusion extrême". Le rapport mesure l’intégration des plus jeunes à l’école, à la maison, ainsi que dans la ville. 

"Vivant dans la précarité, ils se perçoivent aussi, plus en difficulté à l’école ou dans leur famille, plus éloignés du système de soins, plus marginalisés dans leur quartier, plus en insécurité dans leur environnement proche et moins associés à la vie de la collectivité que les autres enfants." 

Unicef

"Plus un enfant est dans la précarité, plus il connaît des difficultés à s'intégrer dans l'ensemble de sa vie", observait ce matin en conférence de presse Michèle Barzach, la présidente d’Unicef France. 

Comme enseignants, nous nous rendons bien compte de tous ces problèmes de précarité, exclusion, harcèlement, entre copains ou violence de la part des parents, défavorisent de plus en plus les droits des enfants et des jeunes ados, diminuent leur intelligence, ne leur permettant pas de faire des études.

https://www.google.fr/

"Les vrais artistes ne méprisent rien ; ils s'obligent à comprendre au lieu de juger." 

Albert Camus

Albert Camus, écrivain, philosophe, romancier, dramaturge, essayiste et nouvelliste français, né le 7 novembre 1913, fut aussi un journaliste engagé dans la Résistance Française (II Guerre Mondiale) et dans les combats moraux de l'après-guerre.

Google a consacré un Doodle pour le centenaire de l'écrivain Albert Camus. Et l'auteur fut aussi à l'honneur "sur les planches marseillaises et aixoises où ont été présentées une création, L'étranger, et deux oeuvres théâtrales, Les justes et Caligula". Trois spectacles fêtent donc le philosophe. Sans oublier l'exposition à Aix-en-Provence.

"Je crois que ce qui est beau chez lui pour les jeunes générations, c'est quelque chose qui peut être appliqué à soi-même et en même temps donner un élan collectif".

Aurélie Filippetti 

Discours d'Albert Camus lors de sa remise au Prix Nobel

L'auteur de La Peste et de L'Etranger est un des écrivains français les plus importants du XXème siècle, probablement le plus connu, cité et traduit à l'étranger. 

Prix Nobel de Littérature (1957) " for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times", il semblait naturel que ses écrits soient célébrés. Mais ni la Bibliothèque nationale de France ni Beaubourg ont acccueilli de rétrospective.

Dommage qu'un auteur aussi connu dans le monde et tellement lu et étudié ( au Secondaire à peine quelques oeuvres ) mais à la fac (études, recherches)  - Littérature, Philosophie - soit si 'oublié' 53 ans après sa mort. Et alors, un centenaire!

http://www.linternaute.com/

Éducation:

Cent ans après sa naissance, Camus continue une figure mythique de la littérature française et mondiale, par "sa pensée visionnaire, sa soif de justice, son ittinéraire exceptionnel".

Ressources pédagogiques: A lire sur le post

"Chaque génération, sans doute, se croit vouée à refaire le monde. La mienne sait pourtant qu'elle ne le refera pas. Mais sa tâche est peut-être plus grande. Elle consiste à empêcher que le monde se défasse." Albert Camus, (extrait du Discours de réception du Prix Nobel de Littérature, 1957)

Europe Code Week

http://codeweek.eu/

Europe Code Week, took place between November 25 and 30, 2013 all over Europe. It was an open source initiative, aiming to connect initiatives that could encourage European citizens and students to learn more about the art and science of computer programming.

"Computer programming is being heralded as the new literacy, yet it is still widely perceived as a skill that can only mastered with a computer science degree. 

With the wider availability of internet connectivity and freely available, easy to use technologies, this is no longer the case."

Technology is shaping young lives, bringing crazy ideas to life, build things that will bring joy to others.

"It's never been easier to make your own app, build your own robot, or invent flying cars, why not! It's not an easy journey, but it's a journey full of creative challenges, a supportive community, and tons of fun."

Why Coding? Read on the post

I am sure you were ready to accept the challenge and engaged you students to become makers?

Credits: http://mashable.com

Sometimes, I share with you some good talks about Education. I think it is important to hear specialists and discuss their ideas.

Today, I would like to share George Siemens, Professor at Athabasca University (Canada), in a talk about changing schools, changing knowledge.

Education:

Interesting, isn't it? Change knowledge needs and structures are influencing the development of new learning systems and models. And it is not easy. 
A good critical talk. He provides a critical evaluation of the testing/evaluation narrative in education and of the future of education.

As an educationalist, I think these kind of talks of innovative thinkers about different subjects touching Education are always very useful to us.

It's up to us reflect and reach some conclusions.

Don't forget to review Education: Stop Natural Disasters wich share some educational  digital resources or World Science Day for Peace and Development at school education sharing educational resources and activities.

I hope that all of you had a great weekend and feel ready for the new week ahead. As I do every month, I've put together a short list of the most popular posts of the previous month. 

Hoping that all of you tried some of my tips, resources or ideas to change your lessons and surprise your students.

Have a great  week !

G-Souto

09.12.2013
Copyright © 2013G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

November : The most popular posts by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.