@MrLewis_Math and I were fortunate enough to present in San Antonio at the 2017 NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition. Presenting was great but the sessions where we got to learn were the BEST!
El Chapo & Geometry: Using Current Events to Teach Proofs #300 (Erin Talley, Miranda Sanders, Jennifer Glendenning)
This was a great session where the teachers used a current event to teach proofs. At the time, they used El Chapo. Important part to remember when choosing the event: Make sure it is not too polarizing. They had the class argue whether or not he should be extradited to the US.
We were given handouts on how they organized the trial, formed the prosecution and defense, and taught the students the vocabulary.
This moved to Geometry proofs and how they were handled in much the same way. Students were asked to make a convincing argument. They were given a packet of the theorems and postulates that they may need a packet of 8 proofs to complete.
I loved the link to current events. I also loved how the students were motivated to win the "case".
Interesting point: this is a proof unit. They take all of their proofs for the year and do it in one unit. So this unit had proofs on parallel, triangles, parallelograms, etc. Interesting since I sprinkle it in each unit. May be worth a try this way.
Playing to Deeper Thinking: Creating a Maker-Space Mentality #383 (Barbara Filler and Karen Hudson)
This started with us working in groups on some activities. Materials that were out were playing cards, play doh, post its.
We did one with playing cards. Each person gets 5 cards, find the mean, median, and mode. Get a new 5 cards and do it again. What is the same? What is different? What do you notice? What do you wonder? Lots of openings here. Ex: Mine had the same median however the mean in one was higher than the other. I wonder: What is the highest mean I could get and still have the same median? The lowest? In the first one, the mean was lower than the median but in the second the mean was higher. Is there a way to predict which will happen? Patterns? Such good thoughts...
From my notes:
- Encourage kids to ask "what if" questions
- "Their brains need time to think but their hands need something to do."
- They had an awesome 3D printing Geometry project. I need to find out about this. They used Scratch 2.0 to create a figure and rotate it. They printed the design with the 3D printer to make a tile. They then used the tiles as stamps to put stamps on a large canvas. Some of the designs looked great but, as a stamp, the detail did not come out and this was a great time for the students to reflect and adjust just as anyone creating something would need to do.
- Find the slope of the hill. Kids get string, scissors, and measuring tape. Kids are in groups and are told to find the slope. Everything is an option. See what they come up with
- Slope: Class built ramps for homes where, someone who could not afford it, needed a ramp to get in and out of their home.
- Scratch: Write code to calculate the x and y-intercepts, slope, etc.
- Function? Stand in places in the room based on a range of times that you woke up. Function because you only had one choice to go to. (You didn't wake up twice.)
Stand in places in the room based on what color you are wearing. Not a function because maybe you could go one place for your shirt color and a different one for your pants.
OK, all of that was just before lunch on the first day!!!
El Chapo & Geometry: Using Current Events to Teach Proofs #300 (Erin Talley, Miranda Sanders, Jennifer Glendenning)
This was a great session where the teachers used a current event to teach proofs. At the time, they used El Chapo. Important part to remember when choosing the event: Make sure it is not too polarizing. They had the class argue whether or not he should be extradited to the US.
We were given handouts on how they organized the trial, formed the prosecution and defense, and taught the students the vocabulary.
This moved to Geometry proofs and how they were handled in much the same way. Students were asked to make a convincing argument. They were given a packet of the theorems and postulates that they may need a packet of 8 proofs to complete.
I loved the link to current events. I also loved how the students were motivated to win the "case".
Interesting point: this is a proof unit. They take all of their proofs for the year and do it in one unit. So this unit had proofs on parallel, triangles, parallelograms, etc. Interesting since I sprinkle it in each unit. May be worth a try this way.
Playing to Deeper Thinking: Creating a Maker-Space Mentality #383 (Barbara Filler and Karen Hudson)
This started with us working in groups on some activities. Materials that were out were playing cards, play doh, post its.
We did one with playing cards. Each person gets 5 cards, find the mean, median, and mode. Get a new 5 cards and do it again. What is the same? What is different? What do you notice? What do you wonder? Lots of openings here. Ex: Mine had the same median however the mean in one was higher than the other. I wonder: What is the highest mean I could get and still have the same median? The lowest? In the first one, the mean was lower than the median but in the second the mean was higher. Is there a way to predict which will happen? Patterns? Such good thoughts...
From my notes:
- Encourage kids to ask "what if" questions
- "Their brains need time to think but their hands need something to do."
- They had an awesome 3D printing Geometry project. I need to find out about this. They used Scratch 2.0 to create a figure and rotate it. They printed the design with the 3D printer to make a tile. They then used the tiles as stamps to put stamps on a large canvas. Some of the designs looked great but, as a stamp, the detail did not come out and this was a great time for the students to reflect and adjust just as anyone creating something would need to do.
- Find the slope of the hill. Kids get string, scissors, and measuring tape. Kids are in groups and are told to find the slope. Everything is an option. See what they come up with
- Slope: Class built ramps for homes where, someone who could not afford it, needed a ramp to get in and out of their home.
- Scratch: Write code to calculate the x and y-intercepts, slope, etc.
- Function? Stand in places in the room based on a range of times that you woke up. Function because you only had one choice to go to. (You didn't wake up twice.)
Stand in places in the room based on what color you are wearing. Not a function because maybe you could go one place for your shirt color and a different one for your pants.
OK, all of that was just before lunch on the first day!!!
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