Author Archives: Scott Steketee

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About Scott Steketee

Scott Steketee taught secondary math and computer science in Philadelphia for 18 years and received the district's Teacher of Excellence award. Since 1992 he has worked on Sketchpad software, curriculum, and professional development for Key Curriculum Press and KCP Technologies. He also teaches Secondary Math Methods in the graduate teacher education program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Polar Graphing

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Scott Steketee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6rBrby7aic&w=640&h=456]

After writing yesterday’s post on the connections between polar and Cartesian graphs, I realized that I hadn’t said anything about how easy it is to start from scratch and create a polar graph in Sketchpad, so I decided to write … Continue reading →

Posted in Math Software | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Cartesian and Polar Graphs

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Scott Steketee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqvksICv99E&w=640&h=360]

The May 2013 Mathematics Teacher has an excellent article by Jonathan F. Lawes (“Graphing Polar Curves”) on the value of plotting the same function in both polar and rectangular coordinates. Doing so not only helps students understand how polar coordinates … Continue reading →

Posted in Math Software | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Exponential Harmony with Sketchpad

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Scott Steketee

Last week was the fourth session of my spring Advanced Secondary Math Methods class at the University of Pennsylvania. Each year I assign a semester project in which groups of three students use lesson-study techniques—on a small scale—to create, test, … Continue reading →

Posted in Real-World Math | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

ICME: The Nature of Students’ Mathematical Thinking

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Scott Steketee

Like other enthusiasts of mathematics, I’m captivated by the way that mathematical ideas can explain things in the physical world around me, and by the way that I can carry out mathematical thought experiments in my mind and then apply … Continue reading →

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ICME: A Sensory-Motor Experience of Korea

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Scott Steketee

I had the immense good fortune this year to attend ICME, the International Congress on Mathematical Education. The Congress is held every year divisible by 4, and this iteration (the twelfth) was held in Seoul, Korea. It is quite something … Continue reading →

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Sketchpad Activities, Cognitive Demand, and Differentiation

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Scott Steketee

Not long ago, I conducted a Saturday morning PD session for some Texas teachers participating in an NSF research project. (The research is a controlled study of the relationship between students’ use of Sketchpad and their conjecturing and proving behavior. … Continue reading →

Posted in Professional Development | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Parents, Children, and Functions in Sketchpad

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Scott Steketee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4zYMJYzZi8?feature=player_embedded]

Functions are hard for students. Students seem to master various families of functions – linear, polynomial, exponential, trigonometric, and so forth. They can graph them, evaluate them, transform them, and answer a variety of questions about them. But ask even … Continue reading →

Posted in Math Software | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Writing Mathematics with Sketchpad

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Scott Steketee

In a recent blog post, Karen Coe referred to Conrad Wolfram’s opinion that programming is to mathematics what composition is to English. I’ve taught programming and written a lot of Sketchpad code, and I appreciate Wolfram’s analogy. In English class, … Continue reading →

Posted in Math Software | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Preparing Cooperative Teachers in a Competitive World

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Scott Steketee

I am troubled. Today is the first day of teaching my spring semester course, “Advanced Methods in Secondary Mathematics,” for my preservice master’s students. The mission of the Teacher Education Program at Penn is to prepare “reflective, collaborative, visionary teacher-leaders” … Continue reading →

Posted in Professional Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments