This page is dedicated to math.
Math is the content area where alternative forms of assessment for learning tend to be the most distrusted. Math teachers struggle to engage students but often feel that traditional practice and problem-solving are the only way to ensure strong skills development.
These examples illustrate how using inquiry- or project-based learning and incorporating multimedia resources can deepen students’ math understanding and help them better connect to the content they have to learn. Recent and compelling findings from the cognitive neuroscience field indicate that time given to this kind of lesson prep (by teachers) and learning activity (by students) is time well spent.
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This inquiry-based unit on the Pythagoras theorem overturns the
traditional paradigm of working from the skills to the applications in favour
of having students explore underlying the mathematical relationships first.
Following the Understanding by Design (UbD) model of Wiggins and
McTigue, I have sandwiched direct teaching between layers of exploration that is meaningful to the learners.
This link will take you to a detailed resource I created on Understanding slide by Design.
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Bloom’s taxonomy can get short shrift in math classes where doing
harder problems is what often passes for critical thinking. As well, differentiation unfortunately often means simply stripping out activities which involve higher order skills in order to give students with less skill more time for practice. This RAFTT (Role,
Audience, Format, Topic, Technology) plan is designed to involve students in analytical, creative, and synthesis skills. The focus here was to develop an inclusive activity through which students' understanding and connection to the topic would grow regardless of their level of skill development. | Payday Loans on a RAFTT
For a collection of Payday Loan resources for students to use, go to my Diigo list. Other tools students can use here: Blabberize, ToonDoo, Speechable, Voki.
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It can be a challenge to show students how math can help them
make sense of their world. I believe this is partly because the big ideas and
essential questions from which math teachers work tend not to be outward
looking. Rather they are like little fish feeding bigger fish -- with little
math concepts leading for most learners only to bigger math ideas. It is my
goal to gradually to create an overarching set of big ideas and essential
questions which will do for math teachers what naturally occurs in other
subjects -- connecting school learning to what’s real and giving students a way to make more meaning out of math.
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