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teachers can create virtual classrooms where they add activities to a session for the day ’ s lesson. The workflow to create such a classroom is very similar to Desmos, which most teachers in Virginia are now familiar, for example, creating a classroom with a join code and then sharing that code with students (see Figure 5). GM also has teacher resources that are separate from the classroom or activity view, that teachers can offer to students who need extra help on a top ic (see Figure 6). GM Games & Integrations includes a game, a Chrome extension, and an interactive applet of vir tual manipulatives that represent visual models.

Figure 6: Teacher Resources allows you to browse pre - made activities for sharing with stu dents or that can be added to classrooms for les son plan activities.

Figure 7: Games & Integrations currently con tains one game, an applet of visual models, and one Chrome extension—but may be expanded in the future.

Figure 3: The Tutorials page has videos and in structions on how to use the different features of GM.

Discussion and Conclusion

Graspable Math is an intriguing alternative to the more well - known Desmos and GeoGebra online tools. In some ways, the GM tools exceed the ca pabilities of Desmos—such as the GM Canvas—in helping students bridge the notorious divide be tween the symbolic, concrete, and abstract dimen sions of algebra. However, GM also contains shortcomings. For example, since the GM Activi ties are still in beta testing, the developer commu nity is small and there may not be activities availa ble for every topic a teacher may want for their les son plan. Additionally, GM may be more confus ing to learn for some teachers initially compared to Desmos. The intuitive nature of GM ’ s functionali ty requires time devoted to learning how to operate

Figure 4: GM Activities has interactive activities for use with students. They integrate with the teacher ’ s Classroom View to track their work real time.

Figure 5: Student view of GM Activities, prompt ing for a session code to join the activity.

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 47, no. 2

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