Better Math with Wii Remote?

Planning for better math often means improving technology.  However, much of that technology is difficult to attain when districts are having to tighten their economical belt due to lack of funding.  If you are familiar with interactive white boards you know how helpful one can be for student engagement and technological interaction.  Perhaps the biggest downside is the cost.  SMARTBoards as the company SMART Technologies calls them retails these boards for a thousand to thousands of dollars per board that surface area equivalent to half the size of a standard white board for cheaper models.

However, since the advent of the Wii console, interaction in gaming has changed.  We are no longer being asked to sit for hours fiddling with joysticks and buttons.  Now we get to do it standing.  Ok, and a little more.  This new was of interacting with games has been adapted to interact with a projection in much the same way as a touch screen.

In 2008 Johnny Lee gave a presentation showing how a Wii remote can be used to create an interactive white board.  You can see more in the following link.

http://www.ted.com/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html

Johnny Lee’s home page: www.johnnylee.net

With as popular as the Wii system has become (champion of the console wars, selling 30 million consoles nationwide), it may be possible to snag a remote from home, since many of us already own two or four.

Creating an interactive whiteboard from a Wii remote takes a little patients and some know-how, but well worth it!  It can be as easy as downloading software, connecting the Wii remote, pointing it at a whiteboard, and using an infrared pen to interact.

Creating a Wii interactive whiteboard – Materials and Software

-Wii Remote ($30-$40)

-A Bluetooth enabled computer connected to a projector  or USB Bluetooth ($5-$20).

List of compatible Bluetooth devices can be found here: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/List_of_Working_Bluetooth_Devices

–Infrared Pens (can be made or bought) (less than $5 per pen to make, $10 or more per pen if bought already made)

This is a good source if you don’t want to spend a lot of time researching.  They sell all the needed materials and then some. www.wiiteachers.com

-You can download the needed software here: http://www.johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

Additional videos and information from Johnny Lee on previous link as well.

Every computer is a little different and can present its own challenges.  I was able to get my School Dell laptop to work.  I first had to turn on the Bluetooth device because it had been disabled by IT.  When I asked my IT department for help, I was told it could not be done with my laptop…they were wrong.

So this thing is created, now what’s the point?  How or what student mathematics performance am I seeking?

I am seeking to raise student engagement by having them get out of their chairs and be more interactive with math.  In a previous blog I spoke of using technology to link understanding between behaviors of functions by moving the function on a graph and observing parameter changes or changing individual parameters and observing graphical change.  This would be a perfect lesson where students would interact with the whiteboard and present the observations they found on their computer using  Geogebra.

I am also expecting that my lesson presentations will be more useful and I won’t have to stare at a computer screen while clicking buttons.  Programs like Geometer’s Sketchpad and Geogebra can become more alive.

So now the big question(s).

Is this technology worth trying?

Are there teachers or principals willing to adopt this technology?

If so, what impact can adopting this technology have on students, teachers, or school budgets?