Week 5 Reflection
This week we looked at integers, and how we can effectively teach these concepts to students who until this point may have never even seen a negative number before. Whenever I think about integers, I'm always brought back to my grade 7 math class, where I had a teacher who in my opinion used very effective ways at helping us understand math.
With integers, my teacher would give us yellow (positive) and red (negative) chips to represent a value of plus or minus one. When doing an equation we would be told to build a combination of chips equal to the first number of the equation (ie. start with 10 yellow and 4 red chips for 6 in the equation 6 - (-2)), then remove or add yellow/red chips according to the next part of the equation (ie. take away two red chips to signify removing two negatives). Each remaining yellow and red would cancel each other out until only one colour was left, giving us the solution to the equation (final result is 10 yellow, 2 red, reduced to 8 yellow chips therefore the solution is 8). This was very helpful in helping me memorize what happens when operations are applied to two positives, two negatives, or one of each sign etc. Below is another way to use the yellow/red chip strategy to visualize integers.
I noticed again during our activities how vital the tool of visualization is in assisting students with the understanding of abstract math concepts, and how being relate able is one of the most effective/ subjectively easiest ways to encourage engagement among students. I found this during one of my classmate's planned activities, where we were flipping coins to move ourselves up or down a number line and determine our final position after a predetermined number of flips. This activity utilized not only visualization, but the use of coin flips allowed us to see integers in action in a context that is familiar to students and not overtly complicated/abstract in nature.
Something I found very useful to read through was a document called "Paying Attention to Proportional Reasoning". Specifically, I found the section that discussed the classroom implications for these types of activities useful. One suggestion it mentioned was having students connect knowledge from previous strands to the current one and I have noticed this being implemented while in my structured experience days. My associate teacher, when introducing something new, has tended to remind the students of previous lessons and asks them to find relationships between them. Having a familiar knowledge, I typically see the new lesson "click" with students much faster than trying to teach a lesson from scratch.
I think it will be important for me to keep these readings in mind when developing my own lessons and ensuring that my students are introduced to new concepts with familiar methods and keep them from feeling overwhelmed and maintain their growth mindsets. Keeping my lessons relevant/applicable to their own interests previous experiences will help me keep them engaged and make it easier to maintain their progress in the class.
With integers, my teacher would give us yellow (positive) and red (negative) chips to represent a value of plus or minus one. When doing an equation we would be told to build a combination of chips equal to the first number of the equation (ie. start with 10 yellow and 4 red chips for 6 in the equation 6 - (-2)), then remove or add yellow/red chips according to the next part of the equation (ie. take away two red chips to signify removing two negatives). Each remaining yellow and red would cancel each other out until only one colour was left, giving us the solution to the equation (final result is 10 yellow, 2 red, reduced to 8 yellow chips therefore the solution is 8). This was very helpful in helping me memorize what happens when operations are applied to two positives, two negatives, or one of each sign etc. Below is another way to use the yellow/red chip strategy to visualize integers.
 |
| SMART Exchange. (9 Sept, 2011). Integer Chips [Digital Image]. Retrieved from http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=b848a09e-4e66-41c4-adda-d3aa7fed5d86 |
I noticed again during our activities how vital the tool of visualization is in assisting students with the understanding of abstract math concepts, and how being relate able is one of the most effective/ subjectively easiest ways to encourage engagement among students. I found this during one of my classmate's planned activities, where we were flipping coins to move ourselves up or down a number line and determine our final position after a predetermined number of flips. This activity utilized not only visualization, but the use of coin flips allowed us to see integers in action in a context that is familiar to students and not overtly complicated/abstract in nature.
Something I found very useful to read through was a document called "Paying Attention to Proportional Reasoning". Specifically, I found the section that discussed the classroom implications for these types of activities useful. One suggestion it mentioned was having students connect knowledge from previous strands to the current one and I have noticed this being implemented while in my structured experience days. My associate teacher, when introducing something new, has tended to remind the students of previous lessons and asks them to find relationships between them. Having a familiar knowledge, I typically see the new lesson "click" with students much faster than trying to teach a lesson from scratch.
I think it will be important for me to keep these readings in mind when developing my own lessons and ensuring that my students are introduced to new concepts with familiar methods and keep them from feeling overwhelmed and maintain their growth mindsets. Keeping my lessons relevant/applicable to their own interests previous experiences will help me keep them engaged and make it easier to maintain their progress in the class.
Comments
Post a Comment