Howdy Folks!
I have done a lot of work to update the "Projects" page and "Project Ideas" pages. Please take a look!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Combat Fishin'!
I have had a great time developing many projects. By far, my most successful has been Combat Fishin'! I saw scores on every aspect of the project at 80% or above classwide, and I was able to teach the students about something I really enjoy, fishing! If you want more information about the project, please contact me and we can talk!
Awards for this Project:
Alaska Society for Technology in Education Winner, 2011 ($3000 stipend plus $10,000 grant)
Microsoft US Innovative Educator's Forum, First Place, Extended Learning, 2011
Project Summary:
Awards for this Project:
Alaska Society for Technology in Education Winner, 2011 ($3000 stipend plus $10,000 grant)
Microsoft US Innovative Educator's Forum, First Place, Extended Learning, 2011
Project Summary:
· Every year, salmon return
to Alaskan rivers from the ocean to spawn.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game maintains sonar weirs that count
each individual fish (and the particular subspecies it belongs to) in order to
make sure that we have sustainable numbers of fish returning. This count data is stored online, and we
accessed and analyzed it using Excel and Graphing Calculators to develop a
general mathematical model for each run over the course of several years. These general models took the form of
parabolas, and we generated quadratic equations in order to solve for the
x-intercepts and vertices of the parabolas.
This information gave us the average start and end dates of each run and
the average date that the largest number of fish enter the river. Armed with this information, we invited two
Fish and Game Biologists to our school and presented them with our conclusions.
We also discussed
many other aspects of the salmon runs as well, including the Biology behind the
spawn, having a sustainable and clean harvest of salmon, the history of the use
of salmon in Alaska (including the Native Alaskans), enhancing your diet with salmon
and wild game meat, and using the Alaska Department of Fish and Game fishing
regulations in order to legally and ethically harvest salmon on your own.
Students
were paired with a partner and were expected to maintain task lists and hold
each other accountable for not completing work using a tool called the Decision
and Action Record. The class in general
posted their positives, questions, suggested changes, and bright ideas to a
tool called the Parking Lot.
Project Based Mathematics
Mathematics at its core has always enjoyed a very rigorous and fundamental development and curricular base. People are now beginning to challenge that, BIG TIME. The question I always hear is, "When am I going to use this in my life?" Well, we may just have an answer for that in Project Based Learning. Project Based Learning is a teaching method that involves using real life situations, scenarios, and problems to enhance the learning of the students. It generally generates more motivation and interest in the curricular material of mathematics than does a traditional course.
Now, I admit to being a traditionalist. Nearly everything I do is what some call "old school." I still favor a good amount of the math curriculum to be as it has been for many, many years. Why, you may ask? Because math is not the only important piece of the curriculum. We also develop logic, reasoning, and problem solving in the traditional classroom in a very rigorous manner. So rigorous, in fact, that many students aren't even willing to try and put the work forward to learn the material. I think this is the main problem. We are seeing a decline in willingness to work to learn material, all masked by the question "When am I going to use this in my life?"
Project Based Math provides a good answer to that question. To that end, I have had students eyes opened many times as to how they can use math and why it may be beneficial to them in life. We have done projects related to construction, mini golf, fishing, guns and ammo, clothing, birth and death rates (anything with published data, really), airfare, cell phones, fundraisers, satellites, population growth, Fire (Ruben's Tube, see project ideas soon for update/video), sprinkler systems, fireworks, art, history, movies, and the list goes on. Recently, a project of mine called Combat Fishin'! won a state award from Alaska Society for Technology in Education (http://www.aste.org/) and national award for technology and extending learning from Microsoft's Innovative Educator Forum (http://www.microsoft.com/education/uspil/USIEF/default.aspx). I next head to Microsoft's WorldWide Educator Forum to compete for recognition in Washington DC Nov 7-10.
I am seeing some fantastic results integrating BOTH styles of teaching into my classroom. Our state test scores have come up nearly 20 points in my 3 years at Highland Tech Charter School in Anchorage, Alaska. We are now above and beyond the scores of many of the traditional schools. I admit that I do see a better work ethic at HTH, but you can also give a lot of credit to the projects because they help engage and motivate students.
My conclusion: If the students work hard, no matter the curriculum, good results will follow suit. But, if they are taught with PBL, they go away with a much deeper understanding of the applications of mathematics, which matters most to them.
Now, I admit to being a traditionalist. Nearly everything I do is what some call "old school." I still favor a good amount of the math curriculum to be as it has been for many, many years. Why, you may ask? Because math is not the only important piece of the curriculum. We also develop logic, reasoning, and problem solving in the traditional classroom in a very rigorous manner. So rigorous, in fact, that many students aren't even willing to try and put the work forward to learn the material. I think this is the main problem. We are seeing a decline in willingness to work to learn material, all masked by the question "When am I going to use this in my life?"
Project Based Math provides a good answer to that question. To that end, I have had students eyes opened many times as to how they can use math and why it may be beneficial to them in life. We have done projects related to construction, mini golf, fishing, guns and ammo, clothing, birth and death rates (anything with published data, really), airfare, cell phones, fundraisers, satellites, population growth, Fire (Ruben's Tube, see project ideas soon for update/video), sprinkler systems, fireworks, art, history, movies, and the list goes on. Recently, a project of mine called Combat Fishin'! won a state award from Alaska Society for Technology in Education (http://www.aste.org/) and national award for technology and extending learning from Microsoft's Innovative Educator Forum (http://www.microsoft.com/education/uspil/USIEF/default.aspx). I next head to Microsoft's WorldWide Educator Forum to compete for recognition in Washington DC Nov 7-10.
I am seeing some fantastic results integrating BOTH styles of teaching into my classroom. Our state test scores have come up nearly 20 points in my 3 years at Highland Tech Charter School in Anchorage, Alaska. We are now above and beyond the scores of many of the traditional schools. I admit that I do see a better work ethic at HTH, but you can also give a lot of credit to the projects because they help engage and motivate students.
My conclusion: If the students work hard, no matter the curriculum, good results will follow suit. But, if they are taught with PBL, they go away with a much deeper understanding of the applications of mathematics, which matters most to them.
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