Hello, all. I am teaching 3rd grade at DEN. My object is to study some facet of number sense, and relate that to larger thinking about mathematics. Narrowing that down, however, has not been easy. My ideal question is something like: "Does improving a student's grasp of place value improve their ability to solve word problems?" or maybe something simpler like "Does X minutes a week of activity/practice in place value activity A improve correlate to an improvement in their scores at math activity B?" I just don't have the A and B yet. Concerning "math activity B:" What am I looking for them to improve in? Timed math facts? Word problems? Ability to write meaningfully about mathematics? I would like my students to have a greater grasp of both place value and more deep thinking about mathematics, and I am trying to find a way that might lead them there. I think I just need some time at the anvil to hammer out this question, but if you have thoughts to fan my flames, please share.
Journals:oops
Emotions:3.5
Time: Ah!
Have your students write about what they understand, what they don't understand yet, where they see math in real life, etc. Writing alone will make a huge impact on their number sense. Sounds like you have some concerns with place value. What's happening or not happening there? I'm curious because I am a math teacher as well. Did we meet when I came to DEN for the math survey?
ReplyDeleteAaron,
ReplyDeleteI like Tina's suggestion about having your young mathematicians do some writing. "What is place value?" is a great prompt that could give you some insights to their understanding. Maybe your question is something like... What is the impact of a daily 5 to 10 min. place value mini-lesson to student proficiency with word problems?...something like that. I think as you get more comments to your post you will get a better idea of your ultimate direction. Happy teaching! Holly
I feel the same way. I am focusing on number sense for my TIC and I am wondering what the heck it will look like. I have similar questions to yours. I wonder what I actually want my students to know (master). How are you planning on keeping data? Are you only using your 3rd grade class or will you be collecting data from other classrooms? And what kind of data are you planning on obtaining? (I don't have this answer for myself yet, so wondering what you were thinking?)
ReplyDeleteTina - I love the idea of writing about math. I just seem to not know the best way to get my students to do. How to make it effective. Any suggestions?
We actually just had a long discussion about that with our Principal. He questioned if we could even write down a definition of number sense. It is rather all encompassing...
ReplyDeleteI really don't have much to add other than I always found when I had my students write, I discovered things I didn't find out any other way. I could target misconceptions so much easier after that. Is there a way to use that? I mean, have them write, identify misconceptions, adjust your teaching...???
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!
Hey... to me timed math facts just tell you that your students can memorize somthing. I think understanding place value is very important. It is a concept that is built on and built on every year of math.. it never goes away just changes and grows.
ReplyDeleteThanks, all! I am liking more and more the idea of writing about math. I think that the connection that I see is that it opens up the questioning about numerical relationships that supports good number sense and good problem solving skills. Our new trial version of Go Math! (the up and coming HM math curriculum) has some good ideas for writing and thinking about math. I'll need to investigate those more.
ReplyDeleteOn a procedural note, how can I measure their aptitude on word problems if the number sense mini-lessons wouldn't be the only thing I'm doing to help their word problem score. They are doing Autoskill Math 3 times a week, that has to have an effect on their word problem abilities, too. How to isolate the variable with my little pack of lab rats? (He said with much fondness for the pack).
Aaron,
ReplyDeleteYou are so funny! I do not have any new ideas to offer, or any good questions right now but I met with Tina today and we talked about her TIC project and she's hoping she can get a few folks from TIC that have a question about math to work with her for her TIC question. A lot of working together this year! I love it! I hope you can take advantage of such a collaboration.
Holly