Adventures in Data Collection

Are you using the TI-73 Explorer™ in your middle school math or science class? If so, you will want to check out the new book Adventures in Data Collection with the TI-73 Explorer, published by Texas Instruments. The 12 activities have students scan for treasure, explore racing cars, solve a mystery, and much more. There are bonus extensions with every activity that you can use with the TI-Navigator Classroom Learning System to extend learning and assess understanding. The book includes a CD with the activities in Word format so you can easily adapt them to use in your classroom. For more information, including a sample activity, visit our web site at www.vernier.com/cmat/tib.html

Calculator Lab Books Support EasyData

We have just completed updating our calculator lab books to support the EasyData Application for TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus graphing calculators. If you are purchasing a new book, you can find the EasyData versions on the included CD. If you already own the book and would like the updates, contact us, and we will gladly send you the updated book CD. If you haven't already made the switch to EasyData, now is the time. EasyData's intuitive user design makes this our best calculator data-collection software yet. Now that our labs support EasyData, it is a great time to make the switch.

EasyData is a FREE download from our web site at www.vernier.com/easydata

Activities Exchange from Texas Instruments

Interested in activities that make use of TI graphing technology? Then you will want to check out Activities Exchange (education.ti.com/exchange), a web-based repository for activities created by teachers, for teachers. You can find activities from TI EXPLORATIONS™ series of books, sample activities from Vernier lab books, and even activities based on the hit TV show Numb3rs. Many of the activities have been correlated to state and national standards.

Finding activities is easy, too. You can browse for activities by subject area or use the advanced search features to find activities that use a specific TI calculator or Vernier sensor. You can even submit your own favorite activities.

While you are there, be sure to check out the activity "Stride Pattern Analysis" submitted by Irina Lyublinskaya, Associate Director of the Discovery Institute at the College of Staten Island/CUNY. (Use the search code 6272.) Irina's activity is an extension to the TI Forensics Book activity "Tracks of a Killer." Students investigate the relationship between a person's stride distance, speed, and height using a CBR 2™ and the Vernier EasyData application to determine which suspect vandalized their school. The activity even has instructions on how to use the TI-Navigator system to facilitate transferring individual student data to everyone in the class. (The TI Forensics lab manual is available from Vernier for $25, order code: TI-FOR.)

Discover TI Neighborhood Workshops

Texas Instruments is continuing to offer workshops for teachers in select locations across the United States. These free workshops include sessions for science data collection, middle school math, algebra, geometry, and using the TI-Navigator Classroom Learning System. The science sessions are a great place to learn more about the latest data-collection technology for graphing calculators from TI and Vernier. The four remaining sites are:

• Nashville, TN
• Shreveport, LA
• Charlotte, NC
• New York, NY

• September 13, 2006
• September 30, 2006
• October 2, 2006
• October 14, 2006

• 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.
• 8:00 a.m. - Noon
• 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.
• 8:00 a.m. - Noon

Registration is required. For more information, visit http://education.ti.com/us/discoverscience