Author: natbanting

Project Work Scaffold

There are two schools of thought when it comes to PBL:

Start with a large-scale project and fit the specific outcomes within it, or
Build toward a larger project with smaller tasks.

I love the idea of large projects, but also aim to make my work as accessible as possible for those who want to take it and improve on it. I just don’t see option one working within my traditional classroom of 35 students for one hour a day. The existence of an overarching curriculum only further decreases its accessibility.

scale

On a Smaller Scale

I was watching Saturday morning cartoons when this commercial was aired.

High energy music and neon flashes of light are often used to sell car related toys on these stations, but this commercial caught my eye. Upon first viewing, I thought I saw them advertise speeds of

classroom structure scale tasks unit analysis whiteboards

Gummy Bear Revisited

The giant gummy bear problem has been floating around the blogosphere for a while. When I first saw it, I knew I wanted to use it. I finally have the perfect opportunity in Foundations of Mathematics 20 this year. (Saskatchewan Curriculum).

History of the Problem (As far as I know)

Originally presented by Dan Anderson here. Included original Vat19 video and driving question about scale.
Adapted by John Scammell here. Edited video and new driving question.
Dan Meyer provided a 3Act framework for the problem here.
Blair Miller adapted his own 3Act structure here.

My apologies go out to anyone else who played with or re-posted an original interpretation on the problem.

factors games numeracy primes tasks

The Guess Who Conundrum

Every so often, an idea comes out of left field. I woke up with this on my mind–must have been a dream.

Back in the day, my family had a dilapidated copy of the game “Guess Who?” My siblings and I would take turns playing this game of deduction. You essentially narrowed a search for an opponent’s person by picking out characteristics of their appearance.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/unloveable/2398625902/

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Bike Trail Task

There is two hour parking all around University of Saskatchewan. I once went to move my car (to avoid a ticket) and found that the parking attendant had marked–in chalk–the top of my tire. I wanted to erase the mark so began driving through as many puddles as possible.

I then convinced myself to find a puddle longer than the circumference of my tire–to guarantee a clean slate and a fresh two hours.

As I walked back to campus, I got thinking about the pattern left behind by my tires. For simplicity, let’s take the case of a smaller vehicle–a bike.

factors tasks unit analysis

Painting Tape

I came across the following situation while shopping for paint at a local home improvement store:

Admittedly, the three varieties were not positioned like this, but this positioning does raise an interesting question.

“We can see the packages are the same height, what is that height?”

area circles Pythagorean theorem right triangles tasks

Sprinkler Task

I am frustratingly mathematical. Ask my wife. I see the world as a combination of, in the words of David Berlinski, absolutely elementary mathematics.(AEM). The path of a yo-yo, the tiles in the mall, and the trail of wetness after a bike rides through a puddle are all dissected with simple, mathematical phenomenon. The nice part about AEM is that I can talk about it to almost anyone. People are (vaguely) familiar with graphs, geometric patterns, and circles even if they can’t decipher what practical implications they have on their city block. Unfortunately, people (and students) don’t often want to hear about them–they need to see them.

I can remember the look on my mother’s face when I broke out the silverware to show her that the restaurant table corner was not square. Without a ruler, I showed her that trigonometry allows us to rely on ratio rather than set measurements. As I was in the midst of showing her that the 3-4-5 knife-length rule was breached, the waitress came. Mom was horrified; I was thrilled.

classroom structure PBL projects reflection

Creating PBL 3.0

I have been on my project-based learning journey for a while now. This blog has served as the main receptacle for my inspirations, ideas, successes, failures, and reflections. It is now time to document my next step: wide scale revision.

This post will be divided into two main sections:

A look back at the posts that brought me to this point. (Reading them may provide some context, but not reading them will provide you with more free time…your call)
A look ahead into my revisions and their rationale. I will describe the new administrative and assessment framework around the projects and provide links to the first completed framework online.

classroom structure PBL projects technology

Project-Based Pitfalls

Those of you who follow me on twitter or read this blog regularly know I have been struggling to implement wide scale Project-based Learning (PBL) into my Workplace and Apprenticeship mathematics courses. This strand of classes is probably unfamiliar to those outside of Western Canada. I have included a link to our provincial curriculum below. You can skip to the outcomes and indicators to view which topics need to be addressed. (Page 33)

http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/CURR/workplace-apprenticeship-math-10

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Pythagorean Triples Part 2: Teacher Learning

Post author By natbanting
Post date June 9, 2012
4 Comments on Pythagorean Triples Part 2: Teacher Learning

If you are not careful, teaching can become very boring, very quickly. Most teachers of specialized areas teach the same content arranged in the same manner numerous times throughout a career. It is no wonder teachers are constantly warned of burnout. Opening up space for student initiative serves a two-fold purpose:

First, the extra freedom allows students to create significance in memorable ways.
Second, the sheer variety of student queries can raise questions for teachers.