Pee In the Pool and Other Summer Problems – Problem Solving Resources

As part of my daily brush-up-on education news, I read over my Twitter feed to see what interesting articles or problems the many great educators and educational resource companies I follow might have shared. I laughed so hard when I saw the Tweet from @YummyMath asking how much pee was in the water, with a picture of a large pool and many people in it. Come on – let’s admit it, we have all asked that question at one time or another (especially if you are a parent!!)  It’s a great question. And now I am curious. Where to start? My thoughts are I’d probably need to do some research on the average amount of pee found in a pool and then go from there. The great thing here – Brian Marks from @YummyMath has done that work for me, and even has an engaging ‘lesson starter’ video to go along with the lesson (link to the lesson). So – this would be a really fun problem to start out with that first day of school – funny, lots to notice and wonder about, getting ideas from students on where to begin, what information they might need, etc.

In an early post this summer, Summer Vacation – Use Your Experiences to Create Engaging Lesson Ideas, I talked about how your own summer experiences could raise questions and interesting problem-solving experiences to bring back to the classroom. But – as the tweet from Brian Marks @yummyMath reminded me, there are other amazing educators and resources out there who are already thinking of these questions and even creating the lessons for you. No need to reinvent the wheel, as they say – if there are some interesting questions and resources already being posed and shared, then use them. Saves time, maybe provides some ideas you hadn’t thought of before, or maybe it takes something you did think of and provides some questions or links that you hadn’t found yourself. As educators, we need to really learn to collaborate and share our expertise so that we are not individuals trying to support just our students, but we are educators trying to work together to improve instructional practices and student achievement. Isn’t that what we try to stress within our own classrooms – i.e. working together, communicating, and sharing ideas because this leads to better understandings and new approaches? Same goes for our teaching practices and strategies.

Here are some fun problem-solving resources, with lots of different types of problems, but definitely some ‘summer-related’ things already started for you!

1. YummyMath – (check out the ‘costco-size’ beach towel activity….that’s funny!)
2. Mathalicious – (Check out the ‘License to Ill’ lesson – relevant to todays’ debate on Health Care & Insurance)
3. Tuva|Data Literacy (Check out their lessons and their technology for graphing and analyzing data, and their data sets – so much here!)
4. RealWorldMath
5. TheMathForum
6. Illuminations 
7. Center of Math
8. MakeMathMore.com
9. MashUpMath

 

Education Growth Mindset – So Important for Teachers and Students

I just came back from Kaiserslautern, Germany, where I was working with Department of Defense Education Activities (DoDEA) math teachers as part of the DoDEA/UT Dana Center College and Career Ready Standards Initiative. Our focus this summer, which kicks off the next year of continued support and training, was on helping teachers create a classroom culture of student discourse and a growth mindset that allows students to develop deeper mathematical understanding and become problem-solvers and confident mathematicians. It was a fabulous two days, and the teachers, some who had never explored this idea of ‘growth mindset’, really had some powerful conversations around this idea of providing students productive struggle opportunities and helping them develop this sense that they can solve problems, and they can improve mathematically, and they can learn. It was rather eye opening for many.  How many of us educators have come across those students who give up without even trying because they think they can’t do it? Or they have been so ingrained in the idea that they are ‘bad at math’, so they don’t even try? That’s what this idea is about.

Carol Dweck is a leader is this field of Growth Mindset, and how to motivate and help support this idea of a growth mindset. In fact, the teachers I worked with as part of our workshop, read an article by Dweck that provided some insight into what we as both teachers and parents, inadvertently sometimes do that prevents students/children from having a growth mindset. Something as simple as the way we praise can actually interfere with this growth mindset. More here.

Many of you may be unfamiliar with what a growth mindset is, so I found a great TedTalk from Carol Dweck that explains the idea behind it. As educators, this is something to really think about because we want to develop in our students the willingness to persevere and solve problems that may seem difficult.

 

Summer Vacation – Use Your Experiences to Create Engaging Lesson Ideas

Sea Turtle at the Big Island, HI. How long do they live? How far do they travel??

I know most students and teachers this time of year are very familiar with Alice Cooper’s song “School’s Out for Summer”  (Seniors are probably focused on the line “school’s out forever….”  Maybe even some teachers!)  No doubt, summer is a time of rejuvenation for students and teachers – a much needed break, both mentally and physically. Note: Those of you who do not teach, and see teachers as having it ‘easy’ with the summers off, might try to spend some time in a teachers shoes before making those ridiculous assumptions, or read up a bit on what teachers actually do (they work more than 40 hours per week) and why summer breaks are so important.

Summer break is fast approaching for many, and some may have even started theirs. I remember those first couple of weeks literally not wanting to even look at anything related to school, students, or teaching. But – as most teachers will attest to, there comes a point where summer vacation weaves into professional learning or preparing for the next school year to begin. We never really turn off completely – we take classes to learn something new, or research some new technology or applications we want to try in class next year, or we revamp some lessons from the previous year. Summer vacation always ends up, at some time or other, connected back to teaching and learning – either personally for our own professional growth, or related to how we can be even better the next school year for our new group of students.

For me personally, everything I do always has me thinking of ways to create an interesting lesson for my students. It’s that pervasive idea that whenever possible, connecting the real world back to what students are learning will make the learning engaging and relevant. Just last week, sitting on the beach in Sea Isle City, NJ, watching this big machine out in the water that was dredging sand to replenish Avalon Beach, all I could think about were questions I would want my students to investigate.  Just a few of my questions, as I sat there:

• How much sand is being pulled up? Is it from the same spot (my observation, since the dredge is in a different location each day, is that no it is not)
• What happens to the sea animals and plant life that are ‘dredged’ up with the sand? Or, is there a filter that only allows sand in?
• What are the impacts on the sea life?
• How many hours a day do the dredges run? (seems like 24 hours to me!)
• How long does beach replenishment last? (if you don’t have any storms to wash it all back to sea) How long does it take to replenish a beach?
• How many pounds of sand is needed and where do they place the sand?

Lots of questions just from sitting and watching. What a great #STEM lesson this would be for students – there’s math, there’s science, there’s engineering and there’s definitely technology – it’s quite the endeavor. There is probably a ton of data out there and information about sand restoration projects, so you could have students researching, doing the math, checking out the science, investigating the machines used and the manpower needed. I did an initial search and found a couple articles already where I learned things like the grain size of the sand determines where the dredge pulls sand from (has to match the beach they are replenishing).  Pipelines are created to carry the sand from the dredge to the beach (so, how big are those pipelines? What happens after they ‘finish’ – do the pipes get removed?) Sometimes this is done to protect sea life, often times to protect commercial and residential properties, so this then begs the questions such as what’s the cost (money wise and to the environment), who benefits, what are the potential dangers and damage (to environment/sea life, etc). Here’s just a few articles I found.

• Beach Replenishment
• Beach Nourishment
• Beach Reclamation

My point here is not to give you a lesson on beach restoration. Instead, my point is that I was just sitting on the beach, enjoying my vacation, and saw the

Two clear streams in Costa Rica that when they meet, the chemicals in them react and turn the water blue. Why

machinery and started thinking. Posing questions. Realizing that there could be an amazing #STEM lesson here, which got me excited and doing research and yes – vacation or not – planning for teaching.  I think it is a natural tendency as a teacher to see a ‘lesson’ pretty much anywhere we go, which is what I want to emphasize here. Even on vacation, if you have a great idea based on something you are doing or seeing, some idea you think would be an engaging lesson, go with it. Take some pictures. Write down some ideas. Do some research. Use your own experiences and ‘time off’ to discover teaching ideas and spark your own enthusiasm for the next school year. Bring your vacation into your classroom and build relevant, real-world, multi-content lesson ideas that will spark student engagement, questioning, critical thinking and problem-solving.

Thinking Ahead – Planning for Next Year’s Classroom Culture

I was in Austin all last week training for UT Dana Center (@UTdanacenter) International Fellows
(#UTDCIFF) and Department of Education Activities (@DoDEA) College and Career Ready Initiative teacher workshops happening this summer. A major focus for the week was on classroom culture and how important this is to mathematical learning and student discourse. Everyone at this training was either a current math teacher, a supervisor, mentor, coach, professional development provider, etc., so naturally, as part of the conversation, the following questions/concerns arose:

1. What is classroom culture and why does it matter?
2. How do you get students to talk to each other and engage in productive learning?
3. How do you respond to teachers who say things like, “well, this would never work with my students” or “I can’t get my students to talk about math when we are in groups”…

You get the picture, and I am sure you have either thought these things or heard these from teachers you work with.

The short answer – it takes planning, training, and consistency. If a teacher thinks that they can just put students into groups, give them a problem, and they are going to immediately start talking and working together, they are very quickly in for a big surprise. Especially that first time, and especially if you have never done these types of collaborative learning with your students. Which brings us back to classroom culture.  What is it and why does it matter?

There are many definitions out there of classroom culture. I will give you my perspective. Classroom culture is a classroom environment where students feel safe making mistakes, they are comfortable sharing their thinking process with other students and with the teacher, and all ideas are entertained and acknowledged. Everyone’s voice is heard, everyone gets a chance to participate, and there is respectful conversations and debate about the work being done.  This matters because then students are given permission to persevere in problem solving situations where they may not know the answer, or may have a different approach then someone else or may have a question about something another student or the teacher has shared. It ties into those mathematical practices (#1 & #3, just to name a couple):

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

But, this type of engagement, discourse and collaboration with and among students doesn’t just happen. Here are what I consider the three basic elements:

1. Planning

Planning entails thinking about the structures you want to use with students (so pairs, small groups, whole class) and the types of discussions and work you want to students to engage in. There is more to it than this, but some things to think about are

• What task are students working on and what is the goal (a worksheet of 40 problems is NOT going to promote student discussion). Provide a rich task that fosters critical thinking, questioning, problem-solving.
• How do you want students to engage? Are they talking in pairs first and then sharing with the small group? Does each pair/group need to show some product (i.e. their work, their thinking, the end result).
• How will you bring the whole class together at the end? Will each group share out? Will you hang work and have a ‘gallery walk’ and come together to share?
• How will you know that students have learned or reached the goal? What should students be able to do?

You need to think of these things ahead of time, most importantly because without an engaging, rich, though provoking problem, the conversations students have won’t be productive (and can lead to all the issues mentioned previously).

2. Training

How do you get students to talk about math (or any subject?) How do you get students to work in pairs or small groups and stay focused on a task? How do you get students to listen to each other and to provide critiques without insult (i.e. no ‘that’s stupid’ or “you’re an idiot”). It takes training.  I mean that literally. You have to show and model what it is you expect of them and practice, practice, practice.  Again, there is more to this than what I am listing, but here are some ideas:

• Start those first few days/weeks of school with non-content related activities that are non-threatening, fun, and where everyone feels comfortable sharing (so talk about ‘the best horror movie’ or argue for/against a ‘beach is the best place to vacation’)
• Set up group norms – i.e. if someone is talking, everyone else is listening; everyone makes mistakes, and that’s okay, you can support them and provide alternatives, but never insult them; everyone must contribute one idea; everyone’s idea should be heard; you can disagree but must provide a reason why; etc.
• Show them how to get into small groups (so physically moving desks back and forth – it’s fun to do this a timed game); show them and practice how to talk with elbow partners, or face-partners, or the people next to them.  Practice sharing talk-time (a time works here).
• Show them and practice group ‘roles’ – i.e. timer, recorder, controller, group spokesperson, etc. Switch roles up.
• Practice different ways of calling on students (so they know they are all responsible at any time) – so person in the group/pair with the shortest hair, or the darkest colored shirt, or blue eyes….really anything works.

There are obviously lots more ways to set up these collaborative processes, but the idea behind training is that there are some expectations for talking, sharing, and working together, and if we practice these and adhere to these, then our time learning is going to be more positive and productive. Practice, practice, practice.  Which leads to consistency.

3. Consistency

I know teachers here this all the time – if you set boundaries for your classroom, you need to be consistent or students will not follow them (heck, this is true for parents as well!). Again – those first few days and weeks of school are where you set these boundaries up and start practicing with students and modeling both behaviors and actions. More importantly, follow through on any consequences. For classroom culture, this means if you have an expectation that students listen when others are talking, whether that be student or teacher, then be consistent.  If you are talking and they are not listening, stop – call it out – and then talk again. Same thing for students talking. Acknowledge when something is not adhering to expectations and call it out and then refer back to your expectations. Students very quickly learn what is expected, and if they realize that you are going to consistently hold them to these expectations, such as listening, allowing for mistakes, everyone’s ideas matter, etc., then they are going to feel comfortable speaking up and sharing their questions and their solutions/ideas. It becomes a classroom where learning is up front and center and ‘we are in this together’ becomes the norm.

CHALLENGE

I plan to do some more specific posts about classroom culture and provide some resources connected to planning and training. For now, I brought this idea of classroom culture up at the end of a school year because as teachers, you are about to embark on a summer of rest and relaxation. For most teachers I know, it is also a time where we do some personal learning and planning for next year. I would like to challenge all of you to really think about how you want your classroom culture to be next year. You need to start on day one of school creating this classroom culture, so spend some time this summer planning for that. What structures do you feel you could incorporate (i.e. pair work, small groups, etc.) and learn about those structures. What are rich tasks and go find some that would work for the content you teach. What do you want students doing when they are learning together? Go find some tips and ideas for how to create those collaborative discussions and problem-solving environments.

Only YOU can change the classroom culture in your own classroom – so think about what you want that to look like and sound like, and spend some of your summer learning and finding ways to foster this culture in your classroom when school starts in September (or August).

Fractions with a Calculator – Looking for Patterns

I have been working with teachers and using manipulatives, both physical and virtual, to help students think about fractions and develop conceptual understanding about fractional operations, versus just memorizing rules or tricks, as we so often do with students. There are fraction circles or fraction strips that work well as physical manipulatives, and there are several virtual manipulatives as well (i.e. DynamicNumber.org for any Sketchpad users out there, and the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives to give just a couple resources).

Manipulatives are a valuable resource in math class as they allow students to visually represent numbers, manipulate them, get hands-on with the math, and make some connections before moving into just the numerical representation alone. When working with fraction manipulatives, from my own experiences and those I have had with students, the manipulatives can constrain the number of possible examples we can provide students (either because a teacher might not physically have enough for all students or the manipulatives themselves only go up to certain values). As an example, most physical fraction circle manipulatives allow you to work with a limited range of fractional values – halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths and twelfths. Virtual manipulatives offer more options, which is nice because students should see more than just common fractional pieces or ‘nice’ fractions – sevenths, or elevenths or twenty-fifths as an example. Obviously, the idea of manipulatives is to provide that hands-on experience, visually see what’s happening, and then create conjectures.

Another tool that is often overlooked, particularly at the elementary level, is the calculator. Obviously, when dealing with fractions, you want a calculator that uses natural display, showing fractions in their numerator over denominator form so students recognize the fractional number. I realize many of you might be thinking that the calculator is a bad choice because it provides the answers….but that in fact is an advantage here when trying to help students recognize patterns and develop their own understanding of fractional operations.  We want students to recognize what seems to be happening – test it out on many examples before they come to a conclusion.  A calculator (like the fx-55Plus shown above) is a great way to do this.  If you don’t have manipulatives, you can actually use a calculator like the fx-55Plus to help students understand fractional operations.

Let’s take fraction addition. Obviously, we are going to start with adding fractions with like denominators.  You can put several different problems into the calculator and students can observe both the added fractions and the answers. Students can talk and share what they notice about the multitude of fractions they are adding (all with like denominators). They can make up their own addition problems and see if the pattern or things they notice hold true. Fraction and answers showing up quickly help them discern patterns because they can quickly see many examples, and use ‘funky’ fractions, not just the typical ones we tend to always rely on (i.e. halves, thirds, etc.). It’s even okay that the numerator might occasionally end up larger than the denominator – the pattern still holds true (i.e. the denominator remains the same, the numerators are added together).

With a calculator, you can use messy fractions with not your typical denominators and even numerators larger than the denominator. For addition, our focus is on what patterns do the students see with the numerator and denominator and do those patterns hold true no matter what fractions we are adding? We can get into simplifying the answers at some point, but at first, the focus is on the addition.

Once students have the idea that with a like denominator, you add the numerators, you can then switch it up. Let’s add fractions with unlike denominators.  You can encourage smaller numbers in the denominator and numerator to start, and then once students think they have the pattern, they can ‘test it out’ with some larger digits in the numerator and denominator. The thing here is the denominators are different and so how does the end result differ (if does) from when the denominators are the same? What might be happening? Test it out.

The beauty of the calculator (again, one like the fx-55plus that quickly and easily shows fractions in their natural display), is that students can create many examples to look for patterns and then quickly test their conjectures on different problems to see if it works. You are encouraging critical thinking, problem solving, and communication using a simple tool that provides much more diverse fraction examples than you can provide with manipulatives alone.

My point – when helping students develop number sense, especially with fractions, don’t rule the calculator out as a tool. You should use multiple tools with students to provide them with different ways to develop their own conceptual understanding. Calculators can be a tool, even at the elementary level.

 

 

 

Math Magic or Calculators?

I was perusing my news feed trying to find something of interest to write about, and came across an article entitled “The Common High School Tool That is Banned in College” i.e. the calculator. It’s an interesting article, worth a read,  basically comparing the high school perspective on the use of calculators to the college perspective or non-use of calculators. There is no right or wrong answer – I think it depends on the math content, what you want students to do (i.e. basic algorithms to solve problems or using mathematics to solve deeper problems).  Depending on your goals, the use of calculators and technology differs. As with any technology, calculators are a resource that needs to be used appropriately, and we need to be teaching that.  Common Core Mathematical Practice #5 – Using Appropriate Tools Strategically is all about this. Calculators have their place and are important to help explore and expand mathematical understanding, but we have to help students understand when their use is necessary and not a ‘crutch’, as stated in the article.

This was on my mind obviously, when I then ran across a tweet post by Go!Math Videos @gomathvideos that shared a TedX talk by Arthur Benjamin entitled “Faster than a Calculator”, which naturally sparked my interest and seemed related to the question of should we be using calculators. In the video, Arthur Benjamin has members of the audience use calculators while he does calculations in his head. He then goes on to wow everyone with his math ‘tricks’ (what he calls mathemagics). He ends by doing a 5-digit square calculation by thinking out loud as he ‘solves’ a problem. It’s fascinating – he changes numbers to words to help him solve – he is definitely using his own ‘algorithm’. The video does not answer the question should we be using calculators – but it definitely shows that calculators are just one way to get a solution and it may not always be the fastest. Anyway – just some fun for this last post of 2016. Enjoy!

Wishing everyone a Happy and Safe New Years!

Using Connections to Build Understanding

I am teaching a Geometry & Spatial Reasoning course for Drexel this semester for their math masters program for teachers. Absolutely love it because I am learning so much from my students/peers, but because it really is bringing home the importance of prior knowledge to help build connections and real-world connections in helping students learn versus memorize, and construct and reconstruct based on their ability to make connections.

My students, who are a mix of very new math teachers, experienced teachers, and even some career-switchers still in the early stages of teaching, are having this great discussions on the importance of using prior knowledge to help student make their own connections. Some have been doing this all along, but others, as they themselves struggle with some of the geometric concepts we are ‘learning’ (relearning in some cases), are coming to understand the value in helping students use what they know to build on and connect to new information. Makes it easier to recall, and builds a confidence in students that when faced with an unknown situation/problem, they have the skills and confidence to look at it, break it down or add in things to make the unknown familiar and then look for and make use of structure (see what I did there….Common Core Math Practice #7!) to help reach a solution or develop a new conjecture/conclusion.

As an example, we’ve been doing a lot of work with inscribed angles in circles and how do you help students use prior knowledge to build the idea that an inscribed angle is half the measure of it’s intercepted arc if you don’t want students just memorizing formulas? Basically, the conversations revolve around constantly using prior knowledge to make connections, which might mean you need to add in an auxiliary line to a given shape to ‘see’ something familiar (i.e. a linear pair or a triangle, as examples). A strategy that really helps students look for and make use of the structures they are familiar with to help them make sense of a problem.  Here’s an example of just one way to explore inscribed angles, using previously knowledge about triangles:

• In Fig 1, we have an inscribed angle and its intercepted arc a. How could you show that angle 1 (the inscribed angle) is half the measure of it’s intercepted arc? Here’s where students need to make sense of this structure – what prior knowledge can they use to help them?
• In Fig 2, they add in a radius (auxiliary line), because they know all radii in this circle (any circle are equal – doesn’t change the original inscribed angle….but now – we have a triangle and a central angle (angle 2).  What do they already know? Well, they know the central angle 2 is the same as the measure of the intercepted arc, which is the same intercepted arc as angle 1 (inscribed angle).
• In Fig 3, students are looking at the triangle created and using prior knowledge – we can mark the two radii equal, making this triangle an isosceles triangle, which they already know from prior knowledge has two base angles that measure the same (angle 1 & 3). Angle 2 is an exterior angle to the triangle, and angles 1 & 3 are remote interior, which they know from prior knowledge sum to the measure of angle 2. Since angle 1 & 2 are equal (isosceles triangle), that makes them each half of angle 2 (Sum divided by 2). Angle 2 is equal in measure to the intercepted arc, so angles 1 & 2 are each half of that, so the inscribed angle 1 is half the intercepted arc.
• Fig 4 shows that the relationship holds true even if you change the size of the inscribed angle.

This is of course just one example for an inscribed angle, but they can then use this to show that inscribed angles that are not going through the center of the circle have the same relationships – ie add in auxiliary lines, use linear pairs, or triangles or other known things to help make sense and show new things. Prior knowledge, connections – they really matter.

As teachers, it is our duty to make sure we are modeling and helping students use what they know to build these connections and see the relationships. It takes deliberateness on our part, it requires modeling, it requires setting expectations for students till it becomes a habit (habits of mind) to look for and make sense by pulling in previous knowledge.

Another thing we need to do is make connections to real-world. My students are sometimes struggling with this idea of relating prior knowledge and new ideas to real-world applications, but if you get in the habit, its not so hard to do. Since I am focused on circles and the lines that intersect them now with my class, I pulled up a ready-to-use lesson from Casio’s lesson library that is a great example of a real-world connection to circle concepts that would force the use of previous knowledge.  The lesson is briefly described below:

The Perfect Glass Dome: (here’s a link to the complete, downloadable activity)

• – Use coordinate geometry to represent and examine the properties of geometric shapes.
• – Recognize and apply geometric ideas and relationships in areas outside the mathematics classroom, such as art, science, and everyday life.

This activity uses the Prizm Graphing calculator and picture capability to help build understanding.

 The kinds of questions and connections to prior knowledge that can be asked of students just by looking at the image are pretty endless. What relationships do you see (i.e. lots of diameters, or straight angles, lots of central angles, all the angles are 360, are their auxiliary lines we could add to find the areas or relationships or angle measures, etc.).

If you look around, you can probably find a real-world example of most math concepts your are working on with your students. Show them pictures, show them real objects they can get their hands on. Start asking questions. Ask them what they recognize or think they already know. Ask them if they could add something or take away something to see a familiar object/concept. How does that help them? What relationships and connections help them get to something new or interesting?

My Drexel course and student are reemphasizing for me (and them) the importance of prior knowledge to help build connections on a continuous basis, all the time, every day. It helps students think mathematically and consistently use vocabulary and math concepts to deepen and create new understanding and relationships. It also promotes logical reasoning and problem solving – win-win!