TXESS Revolution

I was born and grew up in the countryside of New York State. My parents divorced when I was ten and soon after I was struck by a car while riding my bicycle. This episode in my life changed my path I believe. I gave me the time to focus on my education during the years of recouperation. I graduated in 1977 and spent one year in California at college before coming to Texas. I married soon after arriving here and attended another year at UTA before stopping to raise a family before finishing. In 1999 I returned to finish my education by completing a Mid-level Math/Science education degree at UTA. I taught as a substitute teacher for 10 years before completing my degree and starting full time teaching in 2006. I credit these years as the best education of the real classroom I received, they helped to make me a better teacher.

Have you had much experience with contour mapping previous to this class? Did you find this exercise increased your ability to visualize contour maps in 3-D? Could you use these same activities with your students? How might you adapt the activities in your classroom?
I did not have much experience in contour mapping, this helped me alittle and I would like to have more time to understand and apply this skill so that I can feel confident. I will try this on a larger scale grid with my students to help them understand how 3-D objects can be represented in 2 dimensions.