Monday 12 February 2018

Hands on Activities for Grade 11 College Math

Today we explored the grade 11 college math course. We looked at some statistics, and I found it very interesting that so many people take this course, which I did not realize. In the DSBN, 29% of students actually take this course in grade 11. It allows you to continue in college math, and eventually go to college, which is many students preferred path after high school.

The first activity we looked at, had to do with finding the mean, mode, and median. It had students use their 7 cards (from a regular deck of playing cards, from ace to 10), to first find the mean. This meant the students had to add up the 7 cards, and then divide by 7. This number was then recorded, and it was a game to see who got the highest mean of 3 turns. I really liked this game idea as it allowed students to have physical cards to add up. It allows them to practice adding easy numbers together, and sort them so they are less likely to miss a number. It also adds a competitive element, which always seems to get students excited, and can be adapted easily for mode and median as well. According to our teacher, some students have never seen a deck of cards before. I found this absolutely shocking as I grew up playing endless amounts of cards, as did most of my peers. However, then I thought about it, and children now grow up with ipads and so much technology, as well as in so many different cultures, that it doesn't really surprise me. I think this makes it that much more important to add aspects of cards throughout math class, so that when you really want to use them for lessons such as those on probability, the students are more used to them.


The second activity we did, was to create a box that could hold three chocolates, while leaving the least amount of wiggle room, and using the least surface area of materials. I absolutely loved this activity, and would love to use it in my classroom. It forces students to plan and initiate their ideas, and allows them time to explore options using a hands-on approach. Since there isn't always a lot of hands-on activities in math, this is one I would love to utilize. As well, I think this is a great lesson, as it shows students real life questions they may need to answer if they go into certain jobs. A lot of food packaging companies face problems like these, and answers are obtained through collaboration, which is what is occurring here. It also allows students to work in groups, and forces them to come to a group consensus on what they want to build. As well, once everyone is finished, groups could present their design and say why they chose it. I really like this idea as it allows students to see there is not always just one right answer, but instead, many different options, some of which may have never even crossed their minds. Below, is an image of the design our group created. 


What do you think of the two ideas above? Could you see yourself using them if you were teaching the grade 11 college math course? Do you have any other hands-on activities for this course? Let me know your thoughts!

That's all for today,
Miss Sydor

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