- TI-Nspire OS 4.2, NASA Fuel for the Fire Activity
- 18 Feb 2016 02:02:10 pm
- Last edited by KermMartian on 18 Feb 2016 02:45:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
With TI's annual Teachers Teaching Technology (T^3) conference coming up next week, it's no big surprise that TI has unveiled two new TI-Nspire CX-related products. The first is TI-Nspire OS 4.2, a new OS for the TI-Nspire family of handhelds that adds a few new math and science features; the second is a new activity in TI's partnership with NASA entitled "Fuel for the Fire". First, the major new features that TI's email to teachers mentions for the TI-Nspire OS 4.2:
The "Fuel for the Fire" activity for the TI-Nspire CX, part of mISSion imaginaTIon, lets students gain insight into a challenging math concept in the context of designing fuel tanks for a rocket. Students can explore "rate of change" in the context of rocket science as they work to design fuel tanks equipped for space. They play the role of a Fuel Systems Engineer designing a fuel tank, morphing a cylinder into different shapes to see how the shape of a tank affects the rate at which it can be filled. The activity will be available on TI's website today.
- Inequality graphing: for example, you can now graph equations like x^2 + y^2 < 25 (a filled circle, including the exclusive bound indicated by a dashed line)
- Sliders on graphs: Allows students to change values on a graph with a slider (for example, the radius r in the equation above could have its value set by a slider). This makes it easier to explore families of functions.
- Pop-up context menus that provide more tools while typing equations.
- "Prepare all the handhelds for tests from one location": This appears to let teachers set every connected handheld with an attached wireless module to the same screen, or to wirelessly put calculators into test mode.
The "Fuel for the Fire" activity for the TI-Nspire CX, part of mISSion imaginaTIon, lets students gain insight into a challenging math concept in the context of designing fuel tanks for a rocket. Students can explore "rate of change" in the context of rocket science as they work to design fuel tanks equipped for space. They play the role of a Fuel Systems Engineer designing a fuel tank, morphing a cylinder into different shapes to see how the shape of a tank affects the rate at which it can be filled. The activity will be available on TI's website today.