Using PDAs in teaching mathematics:

Kansas Assessment data

"With the rise in importance of No Child Left Behind, attention to data from the Kansas Assessment for mathematics becomes critical.  This data is available at www.cete.ku.edu  after May 15th each year Using the instructional planning form, mathematics teachers as well as total faculty should analyze the performance of students on the 24 assessed indicators. It is helpful to look at previous years to see how adjustments to the tested indicators changed data.  Identification of selected low indicators should result in additional attention during instruction.  Use of student data must be obtained with a password.  Examination of this data provides insights as to which students this year need additional support or structured interventions to be successful.  A school will be considered on improvement it it does not make AYP for two consecutive years in a row in the same content area for reading or mathematics."

Lunch and Future plans

Tentative calendar for face to face activities includes Saturday workshops on

• November 8

• December 6

• January 31

• March 6

• April 24

• Summer Institute in June

Additional activities will be held via online courseware (Blackboard). Finalized schedule will be  available at http://education.wichita.edu/alagic/bridges/BRIDGES.htm

Lori, Olline, Carrie: Cock-A-Doodle-Do (Probability)

1. More time to design lessons around sections of textbook content (comap)
2. More graphing calculators
3. Deeper in many concepts
4. Cabri TI-83’s
5. Using PDA’s formats
6. More uses for Excel
7. Robotics
8. Mars project – research anticipating Mars Events

Notes from BRIDGES session, Saturday, September 20, 2003
 

Groups presented the lesson plans they are preparing for middle-school classes, based on group presentations to the BRIDGES workshop in June, 2003.

 Ed & Sandy—Wildlife: Do moose reproduce too quickly?:

Web site link:  _____?

Ed has already tried this with his students.  Out of 93 students, only 4 have not submitted their final work.  He spent 4 30-minute sessions and 2 90-minute sessions on this project.

 The end product included a large graph for posting or presentation, with a data table and a conclusion statement attached.  Ed noted that the conclusions were the hardest part for most students.

Discussion included appreciation for the quality of sample student work shown by Ed.  The layout of the final submission was agreed to be a good one for linking “multiple representations”.  There was brief discussion regarding students’ lack of ability to distinguish between linear and exponential graphs (as evidenced by the sample work).  The conclusion was that they don’t have enough experience yet.  We will be coming back to this.

 Carla:

An  encouraging pep-talk was given for BRIDGES participants to attend the KATM conference on October 23-24.  More information is available at KATM.org.

 Scott, Carla, & Ken—EXCELlent Interest: Day 2:

Web site link:  EXCELlent Interest: Day 2

We had an opportunity to try the exercises on simple interest calculations, given in their worksheet, posted on the web.  We reviewed what we had learned about Excel data entry, formulas, copying formulas, and % versus decimal.

 We also tried using Excel to make a 10 x 10 multiplication table, using bold type, larger cell sizes, borders, and repeating patterns.

 Paula, Keith, & David—Crime Investigations (Problem Solving):

Web site link: Crime Investigations

They described their plan to have students collect or raise money for a party and then have the students come to class later to discover that most of the money is gone.  Then there will be ongoing clues and discussion/discovery to “solve” the crime, ranging from making a list of suspects to giving daily clues, many involving mathematics, including coordinate grids, etc.  More instructions are available at the web site.

 There was some discussion regarding what concerns might get stirred up by the “crime”.  It was agreed that the students would need to discover that the whole thing was a game.  The team expected them to catch on quickly.  Suggested variations included using play money or having something of less value stolen.

 Olline, Lori & Carrie—Cock-A-Doodle-Do (Probability):

Web site link:  Cock-A-Doodle-Do

This lesson plan is continuing to be developed.  It focuses on data collection and comparison.  The suggested question was “Did you eat breakfast this morning?”  Students could survey their own class and then compare those results with other students each one might be assigned to question.  Gender might be included for a different comparison.  The 6^th graders are currently working on “critical skills”, so this has not been implemented yet.

 Jody—Team building:

She is having her students look at the state math assessment data for her school, using the data to do some data analysis and to build group support and enthusiasm for improvement.  So far, group work and help has been encouraged, since all must improve.

 One example of the way she is using this to teach new ideas:  The students decided to select a team name and voted among 7 entries (after some less appropriate ones had been discussed and eliminated).  This led to discussion of the election results and of run-off election possibilities.  Then they had a run-off between the top two.

 Betty, Wendy, & Tonya—Imperfect Testing: Are you wearing clean socks? (Data Analysis and Probability):

Web site link:  Imperfect Testing: Are you wearing clean socks?

The group considered questions such as, “Are you wearing clean underwear?” but settled on “Are you wearing clean socks?” as a starting point.  They might also want to ask, “Are you a gang member?”  This will lead into a discussion of the Warner Model for imperfect testing, used to get accurate survey results for a question that individuals won’t (or might not) want to answer openly.

 Discussion of new district module testing:

Ideas and concerns were shared regarding the 1^st district module test.  It was thought to be difficult for students, in part because the topics may have been reordered after this test was created, so this 1^st module includes references to topics (such as percents) which will be studied later.  Other concerns related to students who were starting the school year without adequate carryover from the prior year (or with their current teacher not able to determine exactly what was covered for them the previous year).