STEM - Measurement Olympics

Juda has been part of the I^2 STEM summer institute at UW-Platteville the past 2 years; its goal is to have more STEM in schools which couples extremely well for my desire for large hands-on projects.  So I wanted to post about the Measurement Olympics I ran in my Intro to Engineering Class this semester and encourage other teachers to use it (motivation came from the institute and our school's Olympic theme this year).

Instead of homework I am trying to issue challenges this year.  I am pushing students to be persistent and solve difficult problems - really trying to focus on Habits of Mind.

I created a short youtube video about the events (so that my judges could know see first hand what the students were doing  - also here is a link to the materials)

It went great.  The students were divided into teams and estimate, calculated and worked hard on solving these problems - it ended with them presenting their results to panel of judges.  It went well and taught a lot of the real world skills we want in students.  Plus first prize was cool (see facebook post).....

Grow Rural Education Winner!!

Happy to announce that our STEM initiative at Juda receive a $10,000 grant to expand our robotic equipment used within our STEM program for all 6-12 grade students.  Monsanto Grow Rural Education funded the school project (2 years now - 2015 and 2016).

The STEM program is done during homeroom time through-out the year as ungraded part of our curriculum to help develop and practice 21st Century skills like persistence, flexible thinking, problem solving and team work.  It is key part of our visions to create life long learners.

Habits of Mind are quickly becoming the skills that separate people in the work place.  I am excited because this grant helps Juda continue on its vision of changing the school culture from one problem-one solution mindset to a growth mindset - one where students attack problems with multiple solutions and refine thru multiple revisions.  Like the world the students are entering.

Watch for updates!

Maker-Space Saturday....

   Today I am at a conference on Makers-Spaces (thank you Sun Prairie HS & presenters from www.naomiharm.org).   My idea today was just to blog through-out the day as thoughts hit me.
    Maker-Spaces are about hands-on.  Using building blocks, electronics, cars - anything, so long as you create.   It is the idea that doing is learning, that doing is understanding.  I know in math that the doing is critically important - but the skill I want to deliver is problem-solving.  And that happens by solving problems -- thinking about and handling problems.
    The first activity was the question what can you do with a paper plate, the instructor used Socrative and we thought about what a paper plate can be used for, then we built something.  It was interesting to think about a problem and then how to solve it.  My gang from Juda (4 of us) designed a car to deliver candy down the ramp at our school building (the cloths pin had a Kit-Kat prior to the picture - I ate it....).    A project that was a problem where students could build, test and revise.  Again - to get "good" at problem solving you must practice problem solving.

   We then discussed room redesign - remaking learning spaces.  The question from the speaker that I grabbed was:  "Is the classroom for me and my stuff or my students?"  After a decade of teaching I need to take a couple of days and make sure my room is actually their room.    I need to continue to make the space multi-purpose, make it a place where the cost of errors is non-existent and opportunity to succeed is always present.  That is part of the maker-space mentality also.
   Finally our group talked about our school.   That was big part of the day for us.  Our school's discussion centered on our vision for students and student learning.  How do we create the environment to help our students become better problem solvers?  And for us it centers on the idea that everyone needs the chance to be hands-on (forget a particular class) and is done for practice (thus not for a grade).  And lastly, probably most importantly, there is a culture where mistakes are not discourage but embraced as a step forward.  That mistakes occur on the path to success and those mistakes along with revisions are a normal part of problem solving (not to be avoided or made fun of).
    It was a good Saturday.

Hour of Code

So there are times where you just take advantage of opportunities and this week there is the Hour of Code.  And since my school doesn't have a Computer Science Teacher I try integrate those skills into our math curriculum  - and this week makes an easy start.  In the past I have had units using Alice and it has always been a good project -- but the Hour of Code seems to be a much better way to start.

Programming is a chance to apply our problem solving skills that we continually work on in math.  I think it is great fit with Algebra through Pre-Calculus.  And curriculum-wise I am willing to trade a couple of topics for the students to have this skill.

It is not too late to be part - just go to Code.org\learn.  It is worth an hour of time from the math curriculum.

I pledge to not allow "Pump & Dump" - You should too

 So I was doing some reading on education and ran across an article on terrible learning habits (3 Terrible Learning Habits You Probably Picked Up In School)  and it discussed 3 ways that are poor ways to learn new concepts.  It discussed re-reading, cramming and catering to your "learning style."  Instead of arguing about if they are or are not "good" I found myself really thinking about why these methods are prevalent.  Why are students just rote memorizing, dotting i's and crossing t's, not really learning and understanding.

Because students do what is required.  They are trying to survive and when educators allow ways for students to "get-by" without learning material but simply by regurgitating it - that is what they typically do.  And it is not the student's fault, but the teachers'.  And the simple fact is many educators feel that is the job of teaching - making drones able to spew facts with no idea of what they mean or how to use them.  Because it is not what you say as teacher, but what your students can do.

I often talk about how when I was a student that I simply cleared the bar, as a young man I did whatever the minimum required was to make the grade.  I was not interested in knowledge or being prepared for the world, I was interested in just completing the course and moving on.

When teachers raised the bar, I raised my performance.  If I was allowed to memorize - I did - which I now affectionately call "Pump & Dump."  And I talk often about the fact that we do not "Pump & Dump" in my room, we study, learn and use.  We do not turn math into 4,000 rules to memorize but talk the language of math and its interconnections.  We do not use it once and forget it, but have recursive practice on all math concepts they have learned.

We do projects, write and struggle - not as much as I want, but it is part of what we do where I teach.  

I often joke there needs to be changes on how we teach and our expectations, that I work for the student; the 27 year old student not the 15 year old student in my room now.  And that I just talked to the student's future self and they want me to be tougher, to make them into tenacious problem solvers.   

I also joke that we are learning how to learn and problem solve, not memorize math.  Actually there are only a couple of rules in math -- all expressions must remain equivalent and that all equations need balance.  That's it.  So when I hear of students memorizing rules and formulas I wonder what bar they are hopping over, and how high is it?  Are they better problem solvers because of it?  

Unfortunately hopping over the bar sometimes makes them better students -- but rarely better problem solvers.

Homework amount? The real question is its value.

I have read many articles lately on the amount of homework students are getting today, is it more or less, etc.  Are students over-worked, under-worked?  I don't know the answer to the questions of amount - whether it is more or less, or if it is too much, but the question of the value of homework keeps popping up in my head.

A lot of what I am reading is connecting rigor and homework amount together, more homework is more rigor.  And the question I have is this: does homework make better learners, better students who are more prepared for college and career?  This is the question that I try and remember to ask with each assignment I give.

Is the homework creating a student more prepared for the future, not for the next big power test, but does it support my vision of a person who can problem solve, learn and understand/deal with situations.

I feel like when I started teaching my first instinct was to assign homework because that is what you did, how else can students learn.  But the longer I teach the less homework I assign and it is simply because now I ask myself - how does work make the student stronger, better.

Assigning the homework to be "forward-moving" for the student, making him/her more ready for the next step beyond high school is my only goal.  For me that means a blend of practice, problem solving and justifying - perhaps not every assign gets all three of those things, but when I think about what I assign over the course of month or quarter I think I am getting a decent blend of the three.

In the end - I do my best not to assign busy work, I try real hard to assign work of value.  And my plan is not to stop asking "Is this of value?" when making homework assignments.

What I control

Lately I have been doing a large amount of reflecting on what I control in a classroom (working from Whitaker's 14 things great teachers do ).  I cannot control what a student does outside my door very easily, heck, it is hard to control them within my room (from a desire to learn perspective - from a classroom management perspective I do okay).

I control myself, the relationships I make, the passion I bring to the room.  If my class is boring whose fault is that!  I know math can be dry -- but I don't have to be. I control my room, my relationships and expectations, the projects we do, and what the students find important.

I cannot control others in the building, or other schools, or in the community or in the state legislature, I can only make sure that I make an environment where my room is a sanctuary of learning the math skills the world requires of today's students.  I try and create a place where we do things the students need to know to succeed - sorry Smarter Balanced Test.   Where students don't strive for an artificial grade but for real skills, real problem solving - skills that will allow them to succeed beyond the walls of my school.  I don't teach math for students to play school but to gain the ability to be successful outside the walls of my room.

Those are the things I control.  And everyday I know I have to approach my room with a desire and fire.  What we do within my room is greatly important.  We work hard to skip merely good and go for great.

I control that.

Real Math Problems - Changing what students do.

So as I proceed on making math practice look like it is 2013 versus 1985 (Previous Post), I am working hard on a list of problems that require students to think, research, analyze, conclude and support solutions.  The funny part is the problems themselves are not long. They are open ended and usually moderately interesting.

At the Wisconsin Math Council conference I heard a great problem from Dave Ebert's presentation that sets the tone for all my problems; it was simply a video of a cheetah running down an antelope and the following question: 

A cheetah and a gazelle are on the African plain, does the cheetah catch the gazelle?

This question requires the student to do all the things we want from them.  We all realize a cheetah runs faster than antelope during a burst but for a short duration, it requires a piece-wise function in my opinion.  Otherwise all gazelle would be caught!


But students are going need to be taught that the above problem is math versus doing 1-25 odds on page 666 (and parents too).  And that will be the really hard part.  

So I am working on a list of milestones with deliverables for when I first assign problems like the cheetah problem this coming year.  Otherwise someone, a mini-Scott, will simply answer "sometimes" to the whether the cheetah catches the gazelle.   (My penetence for being a smart-a** in HS is teaching them all now.)  What we want is just too different not to guide the students at first. I am initially thinking it is a 4 week assignment, where I will guide students through stages of the projects.     

This is not set in stone and will be evolving on a Google doc, but right now I have the following milestones:

   1) In a reflection explain what the answer to the problem will look like.  
   2) Define an “entry point” on the problem (by e-mail?, combine with #1?)

   3) Define unknowns and things to research

   4) Gather knowns from research (be sure to cite and check)

   5) Create solution

   6) Test solution

   7) Revise

   8) Prepare final document

Also a sampling of problems:

A bridge is being built across the Wisconsin River, what gap should be left between sections.

You are following a car on the interstate, you pull off to use the restroom at a wayside.  How long will it take you to catch up again?

Determine whether global warming is occurring in Juda?

Determine the amount of money saved by the solar array at the school for July 2013.

Again I see these problems working in tandem with on-line practice, using every minute of every period for concepts/practice versus students "starting homework" and as integral part of a class that uses PBL to deliver the required curriculum.

I know this is not easy, I know students will "fight change,"  people always do.  But I also know that solving problems is the skill the separates people in the world - and at the least my students will have practiced that skill.