Teacher Page
This webquest was designed with the interdisciplinary motto in order for the students to obtain ability to review and creative thinking, which is going to help them create links among the different scientifical fields of mathematics, history, philosophy, engineering and be able to acknowledge and apply them in their daily routine.
Basically, the aim was for students to get to know the pleasant side of mathematics, in which they present particular cognitive difficulties, by participating in a game designed also by students.This game was designed by students who have studied the Pythagorean Theorem and its application on the “Tunnel of Efpalinos” in Samos. Similarly, the teacher can ask the students, to create an identical game after they have worked on the webquest.
The webquest is intended for students of the first grade of Lyceum (14-15 years old) and its aim is to give them the possibility:
- To act as biographers – researchers by learning about Pythagoras (as a mathematician and as a philosopher) and also learn about the period he had lived in.
- To act as little scientists by studying about “The Tunnel of Efpalinos” as an incredible mechanical an architectural achievement.
- To act as mathematicians by applying the Pythagorean Theorem and the Efpalinos technique in an interdisciplinary way.
The completion of this lesson plan requires three fifty minute teaching hours.
The knowledge of calculating the square root and the power of a number is required.
The students must have an internet access and they can also work as groups after school.In this educational procedure the teacher could make some short time interventions during the presentation, to subjects about the consolidation of the theory and student activities.
In addition, the teacher can enforce the understanding of the mathematical part of this webquest, and the discovery process of the students, by demonstrating and using software tools like Cabri or Sketchpad.At the end of the third teaching hour, it is suggested that the teacher have the students complete a pamphlet with questions – problems in order to get an idea of the grade of conception of the Pythagorean Theorem from his students.
This valuation can lead the teacher to alter /modify the webquest and the educational process which of course can be changed dynamically depending on the level of the students each time.