Sadly, there are folks out there in the math and math education world who really don’t get what programs like GeoGebra and Desmos can do to open up mathematics to people who might not otherwise approach it. I happily commented on a forum thread recently, in which a member posed a geometry question. I sent back a GeoGebra screenshot and it was totally discredited. I followed-up with a generalized, dynamic version, and that was ignored. Instead the original author congratulated a fellow member who said he reasoned it out “without the use of a visual aid.” Well, if either of them took the time, they would have realized that I never could have made that applet without using the same reasoning. This is the 21st century, right? We need to allow students to express their thinking in a multitude of ways if we want them to keep thinking at all! I am now vividly reminded of how it feels when a teacher gives no credit to an approach he or she was not expecting. Sheesh.

Some screenshots:

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