FREE Virtual Math Ed Pro-D Event - Nov. 15-17

Here is a free, virtual Math Ed Pro-D event that may be of interest: 2024 Make Math Moments Virtual Summit. There are some high-profile math educators presenting at the event, such as Jo Boaler (Mathematical Mindset), Peter Liljedahl (Building Thinking Classroom), and Ben Orlin (Math with Bad Drawings), just to name a few. 

Make Math Moments is a popular math education podcast host by two Ontario math educators, Jon Orr and Kyle Pearce. Check out their work if you enjoy podcasts!

Dan Meyer's Three-Act Math

Last post today. There's just so much I could share when we're discussing word problems!

Saiya's good idea about using videos reminded me of Dan Meyer's Three-Act Math Tasks. I've learned over the years that if other colleagues have develop something that can be used, don't re-invent the wheels! I usually just access his spreadsheet directly. And if you do a search on "3 Act Math" you'll find many other math teachers have developed and shared their work. 

Inspired by Dan Meyer's Three-Act math tasks, I've also collected videos I could use in class. One of my favourites is this one about gummy bears. I heard about this video from another teacher at a BCAMT conference one year, and it's become an activity I'd do in Math 8 after students learn about ratios and rates. 

So the obvious question that students would come up with is: How many small gummy bear is equivalent to the world's largest gummy bear?

I'd bring a bag of gummy bears to class, show students the nutrition label which has information such as weight and calories, and ask students to do their estimates. Some groups want to use volume and would measure the size of the small gummy bears. (Remember to remind the students to measure first before eating it!) 

Math 10 Lab: Estimating Height

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on word problems through your blog entries!

As I mentioned, that Leaning Tower of Pisa word problem is still used in the trigonometry unit in Math 10. I actually had a good discussion with the students last year after watching this:

In an attempt to do something more hands-on in the trigonometry unit, I did a lab for estimating the height of a building using a simple clinometer. Here is the activity handout: Math 10 Lab Estimating Height. Feel free to use it and make it better!

For one class, it was raining, so I got the students to estimate the height of the classroom. (Always have a back-up plan in your lesson plan!)

I also challenged the students to get creative and find other ways to do the height estimate. One of my favourite solutions was from a group that took a picture of a classmate with the building and found the ratio of the student's height to the building height in the picture. Excellent use of proportional reasoning!

In a Small Town Called Mathville... The Create Your Own Business Project

I'm reflecting on my own comment in class today about making word problems more realistic. And then I was like... wait... maybe "realistic" isn't the right word, as I thought of this Math 8 project.

This blog post was originally written on April 15, 2018. 

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"In the small town called Mathville, you, the new business owners, decide to have your grand openings together at the new Wildcats Shopping Mall on Tuesday, Mar. 13. On this day, you will promote your shop to the residents, and you will offer discounts on five items from your shop to attract customers." 

It has been four years since I last gave a unit test on the percent unit in Math 8. I have been giving students the "Create Your Own Business" project as the summative assessment for the unit. I want to make math more relevant and, at the same time, to give students an opportunity to show their creativity. Students have to make advertisement posters, and on the "grand opening" day (i.e. presentation day), they have a chance to act as customers and shop owners. The presentation is done in a math fair/gallery walk format. Some students were really into it and even made coupons for their grand opening! During the presentation, I went around every shop and acted as a customer. I evaluate students' understanding of percent concepts: Do they apply the discounts and taxes correctly? Can they explain what percent means and how they do their calculations? We also had good discussions on things that weren't part of the textbook for this project. Is it better to apply a dollar-off coupon first or the percent discount first? What items are exempted from PST?

  

The students always amaze me with their creativity and imagination. My intention was to make math more practical, and what I envisioned in my mind were shops that sell sports goods, shoes, electronics, food, etc. However, not only do we have these shops, but we also have many imaginary shops. In the first year I did this project, some students asked me: Does it have to be real? Can we sell things that don't exist yet? And I didn't see why not.

So we ended up with a pet store with unicorns on sale for $150 each, and you can buy one and get a koala 25% off. We had a shop, Wizarding Wonderland, that sells the invisibility potion, magic wands, and flying broomsticks. We had a shop called "Planet N' Go" that sells different planets; their slogan is "the deal is out of this world!" 

 

Year after year, students tell me that this is one of their most memorable Math 8 assignments. The room is always buzzing on the presentation day, with great enthusiasm. The most important part for me is that I got some kids struggling in math to engage; I have had students who don't normally hand in assignments participate because they can create a shop to sell something they like. 

Why is x the unknown?

The question from Josh today reminds me of this video,  which I often show in Math 8 when introducing algebra:

Choosing to See with Dr. Pamela Seda

Here's something that might be of interest as we touch on the topic of culturally relevant pedagogy in math class. This is an interview with Dr. Pamela Seda on a popular math education podcast, Make Math Moments, which was started by two Ontario math educators. To save time, you may want to skip the intro and start at about 13:50. 

 

Additional Thoughts on Word Problems

Today's discussion on word problems reminds me of Dan Meyer's TED talk: 

My former colleague at Burnaby Central, Suzanne, did her master's research on real-world applications in secondary math classrooms. She interviewed math teachers of varied experience. It might be of interest to see what math teachers in practice say about this topic (p.35-51 of the PDF). https://summit.sfu.ca/item/16239

Long Sword Dancing

Here is more information on the long sword dancing guest lecture by Susan that I spoke about in the first class. The lesson was an extension of the unit on symmetry in Math 9 (in the old curriculum). Susan started by introducing long sword dancing and helping students make math connections. Then, students tried making different long sword locks using coffee stir sticks. Students also had a chance to  follow a dance routine and made long sword locks with meter sticks. Check out the video Mathematical Impressions: Long Sword Dancing by George Hart!

Good Morning, Mathematicians!

This blog post was originally written on March 16, 2015. I added some comments in green. 

"Good morning, mathematicians!"

"Good morning, Ms. Huang!"

This is how my Math 8 Honours class starts every morning. 

Initially, my greeting was still "Good morning, grade 8's!" like in my regular classes. However, that changed after we did the Mathematician Glogster project before Spring break last year.  

The Glogster platform is no longer available. Canva is a good, free alternative for digital poster projects, but make sure you get the necessary media consent required by the school districts. You can also use PowerPoint or Google Slides (whichever the students can access through the school district). Please see links to the project handout and list of mathematicians at the end of the post.  

As students shared their findings about the mathematician of their choice, I commented that there are more female mathematicians than the ones I listed when a group talked about Ada Lovelace. 

"Are you a mathematician?" A student asked.

I wanted to respond "YES" enthusiastically but hesitated. The stigma of mathematicians being extremely smart and unapproachable is one reason I do the Mathematicians Glogster project when I can find the time. I surprised myself when I realized I felt a bit uncomfortable calling myself a mathematician, too. 

I thought for a bit and responded with something like this:

"Yes, and all of us are mathematicians. I think I am going to start calling you mathematicians from now on."

During the year, even these bright students doubt themselves sometimes. 

"But I am not a mathematician." 

I emphasized that I am not saying we're like the famous mathematicians we researched (yet), but we will continue to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills, which are important for becoming good mathematicians!

"We are mathematicians, or if it makes you more comfortable, we are mathematicians in training."

Math should be FUN, and EVERYONE in math class should be a mathematician in training, not just the honours students. Math should not cause anxiety, a problem that educators have discussed for years. It's not something we'll be able to solve any time soon, but my hope is that one day, I will be comfortable saying "Good morning, mathematicians!" in my regular math classes, too.

Unfortunately, now almost ten years later, I still would only feel comfortable calling students mathematicians in an Honours class (now renamed an Enriched class at my previous school). Some students come to high school with a negative view of math, and it's not a mindset we can easily change. However, it's important to continue showing students the beauty of math and find ways to engage struggling students! 

(I don't know if the calculator is supposed to represent me. It's got glasses. I did dress up as a calculator for Halloween one year, too.)

Mathematicians Glogster Project

List of mathematicians

I have not done this project since we moved to the new proficiency scale. The rubric will definitely need to be updated. It would be a good idea to co-construct the evaluation criteria with the students. Think about how you can incorporate the core competencies!

Francis Su: Mathematics for Human Flourishing

Another book recommendation: Mathematics for Human Flourishing by Francis Su

Dr. Francis Su is also going to be the Opening Keynote at the Northwest Math Conference in Whistler this year. 

 

Going Beyond Group Work: Teaching Students to be Mathematical Colleagues: Tracy Zager

Teaching the history of math can teach students about collaboration, too!

 

I also highly recommend Tracy Zager's book: Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had. 

Flatland

Susan introduced me to the novel Flatland in my EDCP 342A class. I've shown this clip in Math 8 (for 3D solids) and Math 9 (for similar polygons) and discussed it with students many times. 

Also, I had the unique opportunity to teach an ELL math class one year, and I did a Reader's Theatre activity based on the novel with the students!

How many ways are there to prove the Pythagorean theorem?

Here is a TED-Ed video I've used as a lesson hook to introduce the Pythagorean Theorem in Math 8: