Categories
linear functions pattern relations stations

Relation Stations

This semester I desperately wanted to improve how I taught linear relations to Grade 9 students. I had tried some interesting activities in the past, but lost patience and ended up drilling them with notation and algorithms. I wanted to find a way to show the students that equations were just explanations of patterns. I began compiling different linear patterns and dug in for the long haul. 

I stumbled upon a collection of abandoned, square tiles and decided to use them to put students in the center of the pattern making.

Categories
graphing numeracy PBL projects relations technology

YouTube Relations

My goal this semester was to continue to improve my use of formative assessment (largely through the use of whiteboarding) and expand the role of Project-Based Learning in my classroom. Up to this point, I have developed a wide-scale PBL framework for an applied stream of math we have in the province called Workplace and Apprenticeship Math. Those specific topics lend themselves very well to the methodology; they are a natural fit for PBL. I am still looking for ways to branch the intangibles from PBL into a more abstract strand of mathematics–one that includes relations, exponents, functions, trig, etc. 

Categories
investigation set theory tasks

Sorting Set(s)

Set Theory, Counting Methods, and Probability are probably my three favourite topics to teach. For the first time under our new curricular framework, I got to teach these topics to a group of seniors. I decided to build up large themes and understandings through introductory tasks; my goal was to create an “unflippable” entry point where students could work together to complete tasks and filter out necessary details such as rules, notation, etc. I began our study of Set Theory with this task.

The students were introduced to the idea of what a set is. They also were given some elementary verbiage. I wanted them to become comfortable using words like set, subset, and disjoint throughout the task. I did not introduce them to the idea of intersection and union–those were to be formalized through the task.