During the first week of School, we watched videos in math class and investigated four problems throughout a span of five days. We did these investigations on math, to find new perspectives and simple solutions to seemingly complex problems. This mini project also helped to develop a closer sense of community and teamwork. We learned about the norms by seeing how we naturally used them.
The problems we worked on, had each table group work as a team. In the first one, called Building Shapes, we had to make shapes using a rope that was tied to it's self. With that, we needed the hands of all our table members and to put together our problem solving skills. The next one we did, Number Visual Pennies, was having to sort an equal amount of pennies into a few specific shapes simultaneously. One-cut Geometry, the third one, we had to draw geometrical shapes on some paper, then cut out the whole shape in only one single straight cut. The last one we did was called Square Mania. In that one, we had to make squares with line segments and estimate the growth of patterns in the squares.
The videos we watched all had a common theme throughout them. It was that anyone can do math with a growth mindset. If you believe you can learn it, you can! They went into the science behind why anyone can learn anything. Even if you work hard on a problem and don't get it, you still learned something new and your brain grew. For me, this message is important because it is also similar to something I live by. I would think to myself Why can't I do that? I can do that! and with that thinking I can recognize there is no real reason I wouldn't be able to learn something new. I have been doing that recently with a few different musical instruments that I've started to learn to play, because I as a human have the capacity to do really whatever I please as long as I have the patience to achieve my goals. There's no one holding me back, and I can learn anything I want.
The One Cut Geometry problem was one I found equally challenging and fun. I'll explain more about this problem because it initially stood out to be an independent project that most people tried to do on their own. We realized that team work helped immensely with this problem when we started asking each other questions. At first, I got the triangle shape almost immediately without much effort. As I continued down the list of shapes, it became a lot more difficult. Eventually I ended up asking my table mates about how to go about folding some of the shapes. When we collaborated, we got a lot more shapes done in a shorter amount of time. We used teamwork and communication to solve the rest of the difficult shapes.
I feel like this mini project helped the students to adapt and become more comfortable with each other. It was a good way to ease into the new school year. It helped introduce collaboration in learning and group work. It helped to re immerse us to the communal learning environment. We all used team work to figure everything out for the most part. I enjoyed that this mini project sort of refreshed us by easing us back into math after a long summer.
The problems we worked on, had each table group work as a team. In the first one, called Building Shapes, we had to make shapes using a rope that was tied to it's self. With that, we needed the hands of all our table members and to put together our problem solving skills. The next one we did, Number Visual Pennies, was having to sort an equal amount of pennies into a few specific shapes simultaneously. One-cut Geometry, the third one, we had to draw geometrical shapes on some paper, then cut out the whole shape in only one single straight cut. The last one we did was called Square Mania. In that one, we had to make squares with line segments and estimate the growth of patterns in the squares.
The videos we watched all had a common theme throughout them. It was that anyone can do math with a growth mindset. If you believe you can learn it, you can! They went into the science behind why anyone can learn anything. Even if you work hard on a problem and don't get it, you still learned something new and your brain grew. For me, this message is important because it is also similar to something I live by. I would think to myself Why can't I do that? I can do that! and with that thinking I can recognize there is no real reason I wouldn't be able to learn something new. I have been doing that recently with a few different musical instruments that I've started to learn to play, because I as a human have the capacity to do really whatever I please as long as I have the patience to achieve my goals. There's no one holding me back, and I can learn anything I want.
The One Cut Geometry problem was one I found equally challenging and fun. I'll explain more about this problem because it initially stood out to be an independent project that most people tried to do on their own. We realized that team work helped immensely with this problem when we started asking each other questions. At first, I got the triangle shape almost immediately without much effort. As I continued down the list of shapes, it became a lot more difficult. Eventually I ended up asking my table mates about how to go about folding some of the shapes. When we collaborated, we got a lot more shapes done in a shorter amount of time. We used teamwork and communication to solve the rest of the difficult shapes.
I feel like this mini project helped the students to adapt and become more comfortable with each other. It was a good way to ease into the new school year. It helped introduce collaboration in learning and group work. It helped to re immerse us to the communal learning environment. We all used team work to figure everything out for the most part. I enjoyed that this mini project sort of refreshed us by easing us back into math after a long summer.