Kentucky Academy of Technology Education

To Matrix or Not to Matrix?

Core Connections

By Leslie Wicks, Henderson County High School

As school begins each year, it is often pondered whether or not matrices are important to teach. In most instances districts teach this concept because it is mandated by the Kentucky Core Content. What most people don't realize is that there are many uses for matrices in the real world.

Students can determine the number of 3 point shots verses the number of 2 point shots in a basketball game given a certain ending score, they can determine what supplies need to be purchased for a retail business and so much more. Matrices are a very important concept for students to know. Televisions use matrices for their color pixels, printers use matrices for their ink distribution, and most often they are used as a means to organize data. People use matrices on a daily based they just don't realize it.  Students have all created a chart like figure 1 below, which is a matrix.

Figure 1:

 

	Touchdowns	Yards Ran	Yards Thrown	Field Goals
Colonels	15	379	745	21
Trojans	12	286	932	9
Maroons	14	463	578	23
Storm	16	347	724	15

 

For the above chart to become a matrix, simply take off the labels. It will then become matrix A, as in figure 2.

Read More...

A Cloud of Words

Instructional Illuminations

What is a "cloud of words"? It is called a Wordle and it's creating a new teaching technique for 21st century educators. Wordle is a new, free Web 2.0 tool that creates a visual display of word clouds from text. The Wordle will show the frequency of word usage in a text by displaying the words most used in larger text.

Students can use the tool to monitor the frequency of word usage in their own writing or in any other document or article. They can modify the font, color, and design of the Wordle to create impressive artwork to accompany a research paper or reflective writing. Students who are visual learners can benefit from Wordle because it allows them to communicate and visualize a concept through words and art.

 

Read More...