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math

Feb 17 2015

Popping Bubble Wrap

What might a sheet of bubble wrap have to do with learning math?

So, in my last blog post I referenced former math teacher Dan Meyer’s online curriculum–offered for free as slides in PDF, Keynote, and PPT formats–that he used with real, live students. His latest thinking about math instruction took him to a different type of online curriculum, using problems he creates, to be presented to students in three acts. You can even see a list of all of the ones he has created, and if that number of examples is not enough to be used with your students, they should provide enough context for creating one of your own.

I wanted specifically to look at the bubble wrap one because bubble wrap isn’t really that important. It’s just a prop. But it’s what I might call a sticky prop, one that is simple sure, but it offers just a little bit of engaging interest to us (or to our students). Popping bubbles is something people like to do, either to relieve stress, because they’re bored, or who knows why. It feels good/interesting/curious to pop bubbles. And your students have likely popped some bubble wrap in the past. And that’s what I mean by a sticky prop: bubble wrap is interesting enough to hook us into the problem.

The cool thing about Dan’s 3-act problem with bubble wrap is, once we’ve figured out how to answer his questions (which often start with us making guesses, then refining our guesses with data points), we can apply it to different situations. If someone a year from now were to ask us “How much do you want for painting the inside of my house?” you might reference a 3-act learning experience. Personally, I’d ask how many rooms, estimate an hourly wage, then guestimate how many hours it would take me to paint those rooms. Most math problems might attack the situation is a very analytical way with how many square feet there are in the house… By design, Dan’s 3-acts are tied to situations that are more real and more every day, and if they all are not practical, they at least are sticky enough to command some interest.

I also like that so many of Dan’s problems involve video as a medium. Short videos demand our focused attention, and we can play them back multiple times, if we missed what we were supposed to see. It’s up to us as educators, I think, to make use of the millions of hours of free video available to us now to think creatively about the potential math, unsolved problems, and curious questions that lurk in short clips.

If you’re interested in 3-act math, I might suggest a few next steps:

  • Read through at least 5 of the examples linked above to get a flavor of a 3-act math problem.
  • Find one that relates to your own content standards, and try it with students.
  • Create your own 3-act, by including images and/or video in the problem. You can create your own, or borrow something with sticky interest from YouTube.
  • Reward yourself with some bubble wrap.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: 3-act, inquiry, math, meyer, video

Nov 26 2012

Looking for Volunteers!

I’m interested in exploring the use of the Khan Academy with students. I’ve put together a 10-minute video to provide you the skinny on what it’s all about.

  1. There are YouTube videos. Lots of them. This is how it all started.
  2. There are now practice activities in Math. They’re well done.
  3. Students and teachers (called Coaches) can monitor student progress.

I’m planning for some after-school workshops later in 2013 in using Khan as a tech integration course. But why wait? If you’re interested in putting a small group of students in now, contact me via e-mail. Here are some of the available units:

  • area, perimeter, volume
  • trigonometry
  • conic sections
  • matrices
  • decimals
  • fractions
  • telling time
  • absolute value
  • quadratic functions

To learn more about Khan directly, this page explains things nicely.

Podcast Video [ 9:47 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: khan, math

Jan 19 2012

iPads visit Mr. Neufer

neuferipad2

Today I observed Mrs. Cantor introducing the iPads into one of Jim Neufer’s classes at Goochland High School. They were trying out an app called Contig, which reinforces both “in-the-head” arithmetic and algebra. It’s an engaging game!

neuferipad1

The level of engagement today was pretty cool to see, you could hear a pin drop as I watched students totally engaged with the process of mastering the game. “This was fun, but it really made my head hurt,” a student told Mrs. Cantor from a similar experience last week.

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: ghs, iOS, ipad, math

Sep 30 2010

The Art of Sharing

I’m a believer in education about sharing. A lot of what I do involves creating new “stuff”–like the G21 framework, handout guides, presentations, etc.

Dan Meyer, a math teacher from California, has published his own curriculum materials for algebra and geometry. Since he’s a Mac user, they’re available in a variety of formats, including Keynote.

I have to applaud the spirit behind teachers sharing their sweat and time with others. I have never taught math, but just looking over Dan’s materials, I know I would have found a resource like this invaluable in any subject area, either to use as is, or more likely, to inspire my own ideas or twists.

So, if you’re a secondary math teacher, check Dan’s stuff out. If you’re not a math teacher, but create a lot of your own content, consider sharing it. Sharing is a two-way street!

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: Keynote, math, sharing

Jan 27 2010

Physics Simulations

Simulations are visual, and they move. They’re often touted as great modern-day manipulatives for learning.

wave_string

Check out the simulations for science & math for elementary, middle, and high school students at the University of Colorado.

By John Hendron • Resource of Interest • • Tags: math, science, simulations

May 15 2009

Math Rap

This video was an award-winning video submitted to the ISTE Vision website. Mr. Hildahl won an iPod touch!

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: math, video

Mar 25 2009

Curriki

Today via Twitter I learned about some new 8th grade resources for Math.

Curriki is a collection of free online resources where educators are sharing their lessons, ideas, and curriculum resources. Would you be interested in a summer workshop on using Curriki? Let me know in the comments.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: curriculum, free, math, middle, resources

Feb 20 2009

The Dark Side of the Triangle

In case you’re looking for something “different” this year for teaching the pythagorean theorem, check out this video starring Darth Vader.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: math, youtube

Nov 24 2008

Getting Students to Think Visually

I hear all the time from teachers that “I’m visual!” A lot of us would benefit from visual supports in our learning, whether it’s a video to introduce a concept, a chart or diagram, or images that reinforce text we are reading in a book.

I often hear that “I’m visual!” call from teachers who then say in the next sentence they need the steps of how to do something (on the computer) written-out, in sequential order. And that’s where I shake my head thinking, “Oh, you’ve got it all wrong!”

For the record, visual learning means without text. Sure, looking at words and reading sentences is visual, but that’s not what we mean when we are talking about visual learners. Second, I don’t believe in teaching the computer–a highly organized system–in rote steps for each application. While more painful at first for some, you are far better off learning the “system” than individual steps since the system is a set of rules and behaviors that carry-through, application to application (in well-designed systems).

It reminds me a lot of how I learned math in school. We knew to do a certain number of steps for one type of problem, and then for another, we had those steps. Half the instruction was determining what type of problem we had so we knew what steps to take. The test was often far easier, when all the problems were identified.

Visuals, math, and more are mentioned in a recent article worth your time from Edutopia magazine. In Teaching With Visuals, you’ll meet a young, creative teacher who is challenging students with different types of assignments–ones without rote rules to follow.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: edutopia, math, visuals

Aug 18 2008

SOL Websites

There are so many places online to find help and activities for covering the Virginia Standards of Learning. I recently came across these three PortaPortal sites from Fairfax County, each grouped by Virginia standards.

  • K-6 Math
  • K-6 Social Studies
  • K-6 Science
[poll id="2"]

By John Hendron • Resource of Interest • • Tags: elementary, math, science, socialstudies, sol

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About this blog…

This is the blog of John Hendron, Ed.D., director of innovation & strategy for Goochland County Public Schools. Through this blog I share information for teachers, administrators and families dealing with learning and teaching with technology.

You can contact me via e-mail! I look forward to hearing from you.

John Hendron Goochland Schools

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