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Im center by math project12/11/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Perhaps readers of this post will have some ideas as well? I continue to seek out project ideas from students, colleagues, and friends. That’s a natural part of learning, and it’s OK I reflect, collect student feedback, and try to make improvements for the next go-round. My projects and my approach are certainly a work in progress-sometimes a problem I find interesting will fall flat or it won’t actually show the math I want it to illuminate. ![]() I’ve applied this same three-step process to nearly every math unit I’ve taught: designing tiny houses to learn about geometry, analyzing World Bank data to learn descriptive statistics, etc. But by the end of the unit, my students had modeled populations as diverse as they are: Indian elephants and snow leopards, Mexico and New York City, and anything else they chose. “We have to do projects in math?,” several students asked incredulously. My Demographer project was the first unit my students completed this year, so it took some adjustment getting used to it. “When,” my students used to ask me, “will I ever use this in real life?” They don’t ask that anymore. Analyzing a graph? Here’s what it might tell you about population. Learning a new formula? Here’s how you can use it to predict population. I’ve motivated my students by having them choose populations they care about, so now I tie everything we learn in class back to population growth. Step 3: Infuse project-related problems into every lesson. From there, it’s relatively simple for me to create a template that students can use to do the same thing. In this case, I chose a population I cared about-Pacific humpback whales-and analyzed that population myself, using the same skills I want my students to develop. I find that the most effective way of doing this is simply to complete the project myself. I ask myself: What background information will they need? Where will each concept/skill be useful? What shape should their final report take, and how can it most effectively demonstrate mastery? (Quadratics, too, but I address those in a different project.) So, I think systematically about how they can use each of those concepts to accomplish the task of predicting a population. My unit on functions requires students to understand the basics of functions (domain, range, graphing, etc.) as well as linear and exponential models. Step 2: Create an exemplar student response, incorporating key standards and a template to get students there. They don’t know how to do it-which is the whole point! By the end of the unit, they will. In my classroom, I do the opposite: I present the most interesting problem first and tell students that the entire point of the unit is to develop the skills to solve that problem.įor instance, in my Demographer project, I ask students to choose a population they care about and predict its size in the year 2050. Math textbooks are full of interesting problems-the issue is that they always come at the end of the chapter! In a traditional classroom, students learn math skills through rote practice before applying them in any interesting way. ![]() Step 1: Define the most interesting problem that a unit’s content lets people solve. In this post, I want to dig into the process of creating a project like that, which, if done properly, can motivate an entire unit of study, show students why math matters, and inspire students to go above and beyond the requirements of the project itself. And I showed how this particular project inspired one student, who told me on Day One that she’d never liked math, to start considering what we as humans can do to protect the endangered Indian elephant. I also gave an example of a math project I’ve created, in which students use mathematical models to predict future changes to a population of their choosing. Students need to see immediately, without needing to ask, why what they are learning matters. In a recent TEDx Talk, I offered my first principle for designing better learning experiences, in math or in any subject: to make learning meaningful. One of my biggest goals as an educator, therefore, is not just to teach students algebra and geometry-it’s to change their very mindset toward math. But to my students, many of whom would actively tell you they hate math, it isn’t. As a math teacher, this is obvious to me. ![]()
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