There has been a lot of discussion around the Desmos app this week at my school. Many of the math teachers have been using it for a long time, but, as with many apps, our tech team is unaware so we have to go through the process of having it vetted for regular use. There are so many tools available to educators, but because Desmos is free, interactive, and engaging, a lot of the math teachers I know use it in their classrooms.
Even if you haven't used Desmos activities, you have probably guided students to use their graphing calculator. It's easy to use and creates simple graphs which I've used to build assessment questions for my classes. Last year the Colorado state assessments starting using Desmos as their built-in calculator for testing, and the school encouraged us to expose students to it before testing season.
Desmos activities are a whole other ball of wax. They usually come with some visuals for the teacher to explore and assess before deciding if it's right for their classroom. Topics are arranged by grade-level and at high school level they are arranged by course name (i.e. Algebra 1 or Calculus). Their search bar also makes it easy to browse for a topic and check out various leveled activities. With a teacher guide and a student guide for the activity students can work independently to explore the topic you've chosen on reflect on their learning.
In a school that is spread across the state, where the majority students are virtual, Desmos is a great tool to ensure students have time to explore, create, and reflect on math topics that build foundations for future learning. Would recommend!
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