Frisch’s Math Department was privileged to host master math and physics teacher Miguel Bayona from the Lawreneceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.  Mrs. Sabrina Bernath, Chair of the Math Department, heard Mr. Bayona originally speak three years ago at a teaching conference at Rutgers. His expertise with Geogebra and incredible ability to show high-level application of the software in small, easily digestible steps made a lastly impression on Mrs. Bernath.  When the department showed interest in learning more about Geogebra, she arranged for Mr. Bayona to visit Frisch.

Mr. Bayona divided his all-day session into three parts: applications in Geometry, applications in Algebra, and then Advance Features of the program.  It was a highly interactive lecture where the teachers and Mr. Bayona happily went off on tangents (pardon the pun!).  Significant time was spent learning the various features related to Geometric exploration using the Midline Theorem as a starting point. For the algebra application part of the talk, the group investigated the properties of various polynomial and trigonometric functions. The teachers were also walked through the steps of how to create a customized tool.

Finally, after lunch, Mr. Bayona showed the group “Free Form” and “Function Inspector,” which are both functions unique to Geogebra that allow for spontaneity and endless exploratory options for the adventurous classroom teacher. With non-stop questions and many “ooohs”  and ” aahs,” the teachers who attended the conference are excited and motivated to use this software in their classrooms in the coming academic year.