I read the “How Many Blades of Grass” article earlier and
was very impressed with where such open ended questions can lead if teachers
have enough time and let the students discover their own methods of solving the
problem.
The Saraco article had some great ideas for a project. I’ve
thought about doing something similar, but have not due to my own lack of
knowledge. I also am pressed for time, but this might actually fit in great for
after the EOC test. With better planning I would be able to integrate it into
my school year the way it was presented. I really liked the fact that if
focused on minorities and women. Like in the article, I don’t think I could
name 5 important mathematicians that aren’t white males.
I also like Keleher’s project of solving contextual
problems. I would worry that many students wouldn’t know where to begin the
problems and I would need to make sure that there were some check in on the
progress before the due date. Also, getting the problems, working through them
to make sure they are appropriate and building a library of the problems sounds
time consuming. Perhaps that would be a summer teacher project.
Michael Lawson teaches at Central High and he hosted a family math night last year. He will be here to talk about it next week. Not exactly the same demographics as your school, but he can talk more about the context and lessons learned from his first year of trying this.
ReplyDeleteI've heard some teachers talk about working in projects initially as a way to build in variety -- again building in little changes that are manageable. This project provides one way to do that.
ReplyDeleteSee your point about the contextual problems. How can you help students in getting started?
Ask me about calling parents and let's hear from others who have done that.