Dream Houses
If I recall back on my middle school math classes, I can only remember a small mish-mash of events. The negative memories stand out. There was the time that I had a terrible math teacher at the beginning of September and by November was promptly fired. There was another time I had my fly open, with students and teacher laughing at my expense. Traumatic. Finally, there was the time I .... no that's it. Math was routine. I learned the math, often without much aid from the teacher and did my homework. I can imagine that the classes followed a basic math class formula as nothing really stands out from my memories.
Except for the one baseball math project. I loved it. At the time, I was a Toronto Blue Jays fanatic. I enjoyed looking at the statistics, figuring out who was a better player and creating my all star-team. Then one day, the math teacher asked us to do one math project on baseball statistics. Of all my math classes I've ever taken, this is the only one that stands out.
The dream house project gets at that basic idea of doing something with the math we've learned. The project comes after lessons on basic grade 8 arithmetic math including percents, fractions, decimals and ratios. Interestingly, it also comes before students learn about area and geometry. Students need to use all that they've already learned in math, preview lessons that will be coming up and create a product they can truly call their own.
Students are to create their ultimate dream house and discuss their creation using both mathematical and English language. The results are often fantastic and creative.
At the end of the project, students reflect on their learning. Often, they cite that the process was tiring (many late nights creating the best project) and interesting. In years to come, they say, they want to build their dream house, no matter how unrealistic it is. Hopefully, when some of them become math teachers too, they'll remember this project as one that stands out in what may normally be a boring math class. D
Dream House Requirements
Except for the one baseball math project. I loved it. At the time, I was a Toronto Blue Jays fanatic. I enjoyed looking at the statistics, figuring out who was a better player and creating my all star-team. Then one day, the math teacher asked us to do one math project on baseball statistics. Of all my math classes I've ever taken, this is the only one that stands out.
The dream house project gets at that basic idea of doing something with the math we've learned. The project comes after lessons on basic grade 8 arithmetic math including percents, fractions, decimals and ratios. Interestingly, it also comes before students learn about area and geometry. Students need to use all that they've already learned in math, preview lessons that will be coming up and create a product they can truly call their own.
Students are to create their ultimate dream house and discuss their creation using both mathematical and English language. The results are often fantastic and creative.
At the end of the project, students reflect on their learning. Often, they cite that the process was tiring (many late nights creating the best project) and interesting. In years to come, they say, they want to build their dream house, no matter how unrealistic it is. Hopefully, when some of them become math teachers too, they'll remember this project as one that stands out in what may normally be a boring math class. D
Dream House Requirements
math_8_unit_overview-_dream_houses.docx | |
File Size: | 26 kb |
File Type: | docx |