• The Smart Board replaces the traditional chalkboard and whiteboard.chalk board image by buckwheat from Fotolia.com
  
  Gone are the days when a teacher simply writes down words onto a board and asks you to solve problems. Smart Boards have brought a whole new dimension to learning. In 2007, the British Educational Communication and Technology Agency reported that exposure to interactive whiteboard technology through curriculum integration has a positive impact on student achievement. Smart Boards are used as an interactive, electronic whiteboard. This board enhances learning by providing content-rich visuals to the students.
  
  

Attribute Blocks

• The National Library for Virtual Manipulatives believes attribute blocks to be an ideal choice to teach sorting.This activity, for kindergarten through second grade, uses blocks that are different sizes, shapes and colors. An oval is displayed on the Smart Board, and the teacher chooses certain shapes of different sizes to put inside. For example, the teacher chooses two small, green squares and some larger blue squares. The teacher then asks the class to find others like these shapes to put into the oval. A series of different shapes appear outside the oval from which students can choose. After the students have made their choices, the teacher can press "Check," and the Smart Board will reveal whether the students were correct. A new problem is displayed after each one is solved.
  
  

Parts as Wholes

• Use Smart Board pattern blocks to demonstrate what a part of a whole is. Pattern blocks are used to teach geometric shapes in elementary school. These blocks normally come in plastic two-dimensional shapes so students can touch and interact with them. Johnnies Math Page, an interactive math site, has collected some Smart Board tools that have representations of pattern blocks. Here pattern blocks are used to introduce parts of a whole for third grade and up. The teacher explains that each shape can be a whole unit or part of a larger one. She then displays a blue diamond on the board and asks the class which pattern block would be a half of a unit. The teacher shows that the triangle fits as half into the blue diamond and asks if the blue diamond shape equals a quarter unit, make a shape that equals one unit. The students then need to choose how many blue diamond shapes to use.
  
  

Congruent Triangles

• Teachers can use Smart Board technology to demonstrate more complex geometrical concepts, such as congruent triangles. The National Library for Virtual Manipulatives recommends using a line segment activity on the Smart Board to teach congruent triangles to junior high students. On the Smart Board, the teacher gives students three blue line segments and three red line segments. Each red line segment is equal in length to one of the blue segments. The students need to connect the line segments together to form congruent triangles. In one case, SSS, or side-side-side, students must construct triangles where the sides in one are the same length as the corresponding sides in the other.