A webinar tackling two topics, Teaching Mathematics Through Text and Tech was conducted on 9 December 2020 through the KaSaMa Teachers Community platform and was broadcasted via Zoom and Facebook Live. The first session, facilitated by Ms. Maria Theresa G. Capule-Navarro, focused on the importance of accurate presentation of mathematical equations and expressions using LaTex in the elementary school level. It included the introduction to the LaTex typesetting system, writing basic codes, creating and extracting LaTex code from MS Word documents, and integrating LaTex to other apps and softwares. The discussion also highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of using LaTex.

The second part, facilitated by Mr. Guillermo P. Bautista Jr., showcased the tools and capabilities of GeoGebra embedded in three teaching activities involving area. First, the GeoGebra slider and polygon tools were used to introduce the concept of area as the number of square units in a bounded region. Second, the GeoGebra regular polygon tool was used to introduce the Pythagorean Theorem using areas of squares formed from the sides of right triangles. Third, the lowersum and uppersum commands were used to introduce the Riemann sums as the approximation of the area under a curve. The construction of applets used in the activities was illustrated and the key questions and anticipated students’ answers were discussed.

Teaching Mathematics Through Text and Tech is part of the webinar series conducted by KaSaMa Teachers Community of UP NISMED in partnership with the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, Inc.