This is a rather simple discussion posts. I am pursuing my masters in secondary mathematics education. Anyone have any ideas (group projects, fun stuff, etc) for middle and high schoolers to do in class that would spark an interest in math?
To be honest I am not a math person and not to good at it. Here is some thing fun I did when I was in high school taking physics. We went outside and threw a football to each other and recorded the speeds and the angles. From there we extended everything to figure out how far a football could be thrown at certain angle and speed. It was a lot of fun and the kids would like being outside. Hope that helps!
I am not a math person either however, I think having some fun games to show how math is important would be useful. From remembering how I was and my peers in high school the biggest thing for us was why is math relevant. My friends were all athletes especially in baseball. My teacher showed us how statistics work in baseball such as how to find out batting averages, era, and whip. This sparked an interest for us and honestly helped me have even the slightest interest in math. I think it would be very neat as a math teacher to have different assignments to show how math can be used in many different ways that could relate to the diversity of the students in the classroom.
Ha! I agree, not really a math person. However, I also think the incorporation of games with math would spark interests. This is obviously tricky, but there's so much information on the internet pertaining to teachers, I'm sure you can get some ideas that mixes fun with math. I wish my math teachers in middle/high school tried to encourage this method, but it was strictly textbooks all the time. Surely if you can engage students from a more creative standpoint, they will appreciate your teaching capabilities to actually make math fun! Good luck!
I am not a math person either, but as the others have stated, I think finding games/fun projects to tie in and ways to connect it to everyday life for the kids (like baseball stats, as cparis said) would be some of the best ways. I, too, had a teacher who used sports references in class - and that made it much more relatable. In another class we build potato launchers and had to calculate how far we thought they would go, and made little bets on who would have the closest guess.
I can't think of any great new math ideas, but I do like the potato launcher idea! That would get any teenage boys attention. I do use graphs for grid drawings with my fifth graders, I am sure this would work with any grade level.
Thanks for all the great comments! I also had very few teachers who taught outside of the textbook in middle and high school. But I think all these ideas (especially taking the class outside of the classroom) would help make math more interesting to students. Also, great idea about relating math to athletics. That would really reach a large group of students!
One more person here who is not a math person! But one thing I remember about being in a math class and how my teachers got me thinking about math by bringing it to a day to day activity. We did experiments and a lot of drawing. We had to learn how to draw all the shapes by using a compass, a ruler and a protractor for the angles. It was fun and we were able to use our hands and really solve the problem without having to memorize any formula.
I happen to love mathand science! I think that building models or incorporating food into the curriculum energizes students. Groups and peer teaching seem to be a big hit and hands on activities to reinforce concepts always work. I specifically remember one math project on balancing equations where we had to pick household items to represent the coefficients on both sides of the equation.I used cotton balls and pennies!
One activity that I have done that the students really enjoyed was a distance versus time graphing activity. The class was divided into six groups of five (thirty students). Each of the five group members was given a role: 0m, 5m, 10m, 15m, and runner. Each of the students at Om, 5m, 10m , and 15m are given a stopwatch. The class is taken outside and each group member stands at the appropriate distance marker. As the team's runner runs by the runner's time is recorded. We do this three different times so that different students can be runners and we will get three different sets of data. Once the experimental trials are complete. The data is taken back into the classroom and used to graph three different distance vs. time lines. The students really enjoy being part of the data!
In a comment that I posted on collaborative learning, I stated that it would be a good idea to have students write a short mathematical story that focused on one concept (ex: fractions, decimals, multiplication, etc.). I think that this is a great way for the students to actually think the entire process or concept out. It will also serve as an assessment to see which students understand and which students do not understand the concept.
To be honest I am not a math person and not to good at it. Here is some thing fun I did when I was in high school taking physics. We went outside and threw a football to each other and recorded the speeds and the angles. From there we extended everything to figure out how far a football could be thrown at certain angle and speed. It was a lot of fun and the kids would like being outside. Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteI am not a math person either however, I think having some fun games to show how math is important would be useful. From remembering how I was and my peers in high school the biggest thing for us was why is math relevant. My friends were all athletes especially in baseball. My teacher showed us how statistics work in baseball such as how to find out batting averages, era, and whip. This sparked an interest for us and honestly helped me have even the slightest interest in math. I think it would be very neat as a math teacher to have different assignments to show how math can be used in many different ways that could relate to the diversity of the students in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHa! I agree, not really a math person. However, I also think the incorporation of games with math would spark interests. This is obviously tricky, but there's so much information on the internet pertaining to teachers, I'm sure you can get some ideas that mixes fun with math. I wish my math teachers in middle/high school tried to encourage this method, but it was strictly textbooks all the time. Surely if you can engage students from a more creative standpoint, they will appreciate your teaching capabilities to actually make math fun! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am not a math person either, but as the others have stated, I think finding games/fun projects to tie in and ways to connect it to everyday life for the kids (like baseball stats, as cparis said) would be some of the best ways. I, too, had a teacher who used sports references in class - and that made it much more relatable. In another class we build potato launchers and had to calculate how far we thought they would go, and made little bets on who would have the closest guess.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any great new math ideas, but I do like the potato launcher idea! That would get any teenage boys attention. I do use graphs for grid drawings with my fifth graders, I am sure this would work with any grade level.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great comments! I also had very few teachers who taught outside of the textbook in middle and high school. But I think all these ideas (especially taking the class outside of the classroom) would help make math more interesting to students. Also, great idea about relating math to athletics. That would really reach a large group of students!
ReplyDeleteOne more person here who is not a math person! But one thing I remember about being in a math class and how my teachers got me thinking about math by bringing it to a day to day activity. We did experiments and a lot of drawing. We had to learn how to draw all the shapes by using a compass, a ruler and a protractor for the angles. It was fun and we were able to use our hands and really solve the problem without having to memorize any formula.
ReplyDeleteI could use that in geometry, for sure. That would probably be a lot more interesting than just reading out of the book
ReplyDeleteI happen to love mathand science! I think that building models or incorporating food into the curriculum energizes students. Groups and peer teaching seem to be a big hit and hands on activities to reinforce concepts always work. I specifically remember one math project on balancing equations where we had to pick household items to represent the coefficients on both sides of the equation.I used cotton balls and pennies!
ReplyDeleteOne activity that I have done that the students really enjoyed was a distance versus time graphing activity. The class was divided into six groups of five (thirty students). Each of the five group members was given a role: 0m, 5m, 10m, 15m, and runner. Each of the students at Om, 5m, 10m , and 15m are given a stopwatch. The class is taken outside and each group member stands at the appropriate distance marker. As the team's runner runs by the runner's time is recorded. We do this three different times so that different students can be runners and we will get three different sets of data. Once the experimental trials are complete. The data is taken back into the classroom and used to graph three different distance vs. time lines. The students really enjoy being part of the data!
ReplyDeleteIn a comment that I posted on collaborative learning, I stated that it would be a good idea to have students write a short mathematical story that focused on one concept (ex: fractions, decimals, multiplication, etc.). I think that this is a great way for the students to actually think the entire process or concept out. It will also serve as an assessment to see which students understand and which students do not understand the concept.
ReplyDelete