Thinkfinity

To THINKFINITY and Beyond! ~Eric Walter​ What is Thinkfinity?...

Thinkfinity makes it easy for educators to enhance their classroom instruction with lesson plans, interactive activities and other online resources. Thinkfinity also provides a wealth of educational and literacy resources for students, parents and after-school programs. All of Thinkfinity's 55,000 standards-based K-12 lesson plans, student materials, interactive tools and reference materials are reviewed by the nation's leading education organizations to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased and appropriate for students. At Thinkfinity, you'll find primary source materials, interactive student resources and grade-specific research lists to help you tailor materials to meet your needs.

Chosen Lesson the First:

The first Thinkfinity I chose is a really cool, interactive 3d geometry lesson teaching surface area and volume. It has all the abilities of unifix cubes without needing the cubes! The best part is that because of the the concept of "can't see, does it exist?" (sorta like Schroedinger's Cat) can be explored with the lesson.

I chose this lesson because of how well it aligns with th 7th grade book, //Filling and Wrapping//, as an excellent introductory lesson.

Chosen Lesson the Second:

The second Thinkfinity I chose involves my favorite vocation of mathematics: Statistics and Probability. This lesson involves the introduction and exploration of the 7th grade concepts for "theoretical" and "exponential" probability. The interactive part of this involves a "card pulling" machine where the students have complete control over what cards are put in the bag and how many of each card is placed within.

​ Again, I chose this lesson because I saw in it a direct alignment with my curriculum for my teachers and myself. It is a fantastic, engaging activity for the students to complete following an introduction of the terms.

What else is on Thinkfinity?

With worry that I'll bleed answering this question with my reflection, I hope it suffices to say the ease and interest involved is a massive factor that I want to look at more that I can bring to my coworkers. There is a lot of good stuff I've already seen (seeded with some crap, of course), and I look forward to delving further into what Thinkfinity offers.

Reflection:

This lesson is one of the reasons I like the program so much. Thinkfinity is definitely in the upper eschelons of websites it was cool to be introduced to in the course of EDT. The site itself is nicely navigable, appropriately aligned, and interestingly interactive. The activities are engaging and 21st Century appropriate. I am greatly looking forward to trying out the activities I have already reviewed, as well as others the site has to offer. I also know that this is a resource I will bring back to the teachers I work with for them to employ in their classrooms.

The registered sites that work through Thinkfinity (i.e. - Illuminations) are places that I trust and have enjoyed the use of, albeit limited in scope, for a time (since my undergrad days). If they have Illuminations as part of their research-base, I continue to trust the other sites they have affiliated themselves with, especially if the quality of [most] sites is akin to those I have already seen.

Link:

Thinkfinity Main Site