Proportional thinking

During this week's math class, we discussed the curriculum-changing activities Dan Meyer has been doing in the classroom. This wasn't our first time discussing his importance. We have learned that he has been able to make math lessons more engaging and exciting for students of all ages. He has done so by allowing them to think outside the box.

While discussing his methods, our professor showed us a video of Dan Meyer teaching a lesson on proportional thinking with a video of someone building a pyramid of pennies.

As someone who has difficulty with math, I found the video of the pyramid being built quite headache-inducing. It was fast and gave the viewer little time to process how many pennies there were.

In order to make the lesson more engaging, Meyer allowed the class to ask multiple questions (and saved them for later) that they first thought after watching the video. There were questions such as, "How many pennies are there?" "How many are in a stack?" "How heavy is it?"

After noting these questions, Meyer gave the class time to try to solve the question. He allowed the class to give rough estimates. After these estimates, he zoomed in on the video to show how man were in a stack (13). After figuring this out, the class was to see how many rows there were. Once this was determined, it was easy to figure out how many pennies there were by using the formula that is used to calculate area.

I found this lesson to be quite inspiring. I think it's important for teachers to understand that the process is important when teaching a lesson and trying to solve a problem. There is too much importance placed on the answer itself and, because of this, students are struggling with trying to find methods to solve a word problem.

In the video, Meyer has taught us the importance of process, curiosity, and collaboration with your classmates.

Let's talk about integers...

The following week after our lesson on fractions, we were given the challenge to answer the following word problem using integers:

The math question sounds quite easy. However, our table group had a lot of complications with this word problem. At our table of four colleagues, we seemed to all have different answers. It turns out there's more to consider when trying to solve the problem. We forgot to consider the fact that the base camp was 15C above sea level and started at 0.

In order to successfully solve this problem, we were given a blank sheet of paper and were asked to draw our solutions. As our professor has stated multiple times, it's extremely important to show your work and show how you achieved your answer.

This activity was really challenging but fun. The one thing I found quite interesting was our chance to walk around the classroom and look at the work that the other table groups did. By doing so, we were able to recognize the fact that there are multiple ways to solve the question.

In the photos below, you can see that people have used different techniques and images to solve their question. Majority of the groups used a similar method of drawing the mountain and then drawing a line graph in the middle in order to count the decreasing temperature.

After this challenge was completed, we were given a fun activity to enhance our math skills! It's an activity I have never heard of or thought to use in the classroom but I found it to be very engaging. It was Integer football! I'm no expert on football, but I was able to grasp the basics of the game.

We were to split our table group into two teams. With a penny and a large die, we had to roll the die and then flip the coin. If it was heads, it was a positive number. If tails, it was a negative number. The goal was to reach the opponent's side to get a point.

The game is so simple and easy to create - just using dice, paper, and pennies - and you can create really fun and engaging activity for the class. I genuinely hope to use this in the classroom.

Fractions, fractions, fractions!

Hello again!

During this week's math class, we had a really interesting math presentation on fractions. During this presentation, our two colleagues taught us ("elementary school students") on how to solve fractions. I usually have difficulty with fractions but I found the lesson to be both engaging and enjoyable.

The two presenters gave the students one handout - which was personalized with their names on it and had a math problem that was about them - and a manipulative of counting blocks. Each block represented a dollar value and it was up to us, the students, to determine how much money we had.

I found this presentation to be very insightful. It taught me how important it is to integrate a math manipulative into the lesson. By doing so, it makes the lesson more engaging - especially for visual learners. In addition to this, it's important to make the actual word problem more enjoyable. The presenters achieved this by creating a word problem that was about the teachers, rather than a random character named Sally or Mike. This made the lesson more humorous.

This presentation allowed me to enjoy math. Comparing to my experience in elementary school, math was strictly instructional and using a math manipulative in class was considered a treat. In this case, it's something that should be used in every single lesson to promote consistent engagement.

Following the presentation, our professor taught us a really fun method of teaching fractions. She gave us a pack of cards with fractions and shapes. We were to evenly distribute the cards around the table and play a game of "War." To win the game, you must put down a card (without looking) at the same time as your opponent. Whoever has the larger fraction wins.

Being someone who is really competitive in games (at least ones that don't require physical activity!), I found this game to be highly, highly engaging and enjoyable. My tablemates and I were playing quite competitively without realizing that we were learning in the process.

An important lesson that the math class has taught me is that it's possible to incorporate a fun game in your math lesson and still teach. I hope to use this method when I become a teacher.