Math Campus Trail II: The Quad

Continuing the math campus trail for one more week was necessary. AAMU has many things to offer mathematically, and PST needed another example to reference for their assignment. Preservice teachers (PST) were presented this time with the task of seeing relevance in mathematics with the Quad. The Quad was chosen because AAMU used this area to have weekly activities such as Every Sunny Wednesday. There are diverse activities during Every Sunny Wednesdays based on student services decisions. However, for this math campus trail, Every Sunny Wednesday is not the focus of this activity. The focus for this activity will be the Quad itself. Figure 1 is a picture of the Quad on campus. This is the picture I presented to PST. Figure 2 is a picture of PST responses to finding math representations on the Quad.


Figure 1

Picture of the Quad at AAMU



Figure 2

PST Math Findings on Quad




Findings:

The mathematics domain that PST came up with includes the following:

  • ·         Geometry: Recognizing circles. Finding the circumference of the inner and outer circle.
  • ·         Measurement: Finding the length of the concrete seats.
  • ·         Geometry: The hill is on a slope
  • ·         Numbers and operation base 10: The number of rooms in Chambers Hall which stands directly behind the Quad. Also, the number of floors and rooms can be estimated based on the number of windows.
  • ·         Geometry: The Quad is symmetrical. The pathways to the center are perpendicular. However, the Quad resembles a coordinate grid with x and y axis are the pathways and the middle is the point of origin.
  • ·         Measurement: There is a distance around the Quad. The distance has to be in miles.  But not sure of the total distance. However, people have known to use it to get their steps for the day or week.

 

Discussion:

PST seemed to find relevance in this particular activity to mathematics. This is especially true with geometry. Geometry was evident in the Quad with different topics that can be addressed from younger grades with recognizing circles to finding the slope of the Hill and area and circumference in the upper elementary grade and middle school. Another upper-grade example is finding the area of the concrete part of the circle.  Measurement, furthermore, was evident in a couple of instances that are relevant to this map trail of the campus.

There are so many rich mathematics topics just by observing our surroundings. This activity will allow students to appreciate the mathematics around us. Students, like my PST, will recognize the beauty in mathematics that is more than just the worksheet. We will continue looking for evidence of mathematics in our everyday lives. Hopefully, PST will become great mathematics teachers.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let’s Talk about Numbers! Embedding Number Talks into Pre-service Teachers Mathematics Methods Course As a classroom teacher, I saw the essential benefits of including mathematical discourse in my mathematics classroom. My elementary students were engaged with solving problems and having discussions about their approaches. As a faculty member, allowing my preservice teachers to have conversations about numbers is even more essential. Preservice teachers come with diverse experience and preconceived feelings about mathematics. They bring their feelings into college and into their teaching practices. These feelings include the following: ·          I can’t stand math! I don’t want to teach it. ·          I love math. It was my favorite subject in school! ·          There is only one way to do math!   My goal is to help develop mathematical thinkers, and, in turn, give them the necessary pedagogy to build mathematically thinkers. Hopefully, my preservice teache
Read more

My Answer is Five!

Several times a week I offer study sessions to my pre-service teachers for Praxis Multiple Subject Mathematics, one of five tests elementary teacher candidates have to pass to teach.   My preservice teacher came across the following practice problem from Math Made Easy:   Jan ran 30 blocks in 6 minutes. Assuming that she ran at a constant speed, how long did it take Jan to run one block? My student commenced to solving the problem. She said so I divide 30 by 6 to find out how much time it will take to run 1 block and the answer is 5. After reading the problem again. I ask her to notice the problem. Remember if the speed is constant, should it take her 5 minutes to run 1 block?   She thought about and decided it did not make sense. I am writing this in support of one of the Standards for Mathematical Practices from the Common Core State Standards . Reason abstractly and quantitatively.   Students proficient in mathematics make sense of the relationship of quantities in p
Read more

Number Talks with Fraction

Image
This post is based on the last class session for this semester. We went out with a bang. We tackled NT with fractions. We actually started our talk about fractions the previous class session. Today was more of a review for the final. After much practice order fractions without determining alike denominators and operations with fractions using models, my PST (Pre-service Teachers) engaged in a NT involving fractions. The following is a conversation with adding fractions:   1/4 +1/2 Teacher: How did you get 3/4/ ? PST 1: I know that 1/2   is equal to 1/4 + 1/4which is 2/4.  So I used 1 /4  + 1/4 + 1/4. Therefore   it equals to 3/4.   PST 2: I just found that common denominator which is fourths. Since the first fraction already has fourth, I don’t have to change that fraction. But the second fraction is ½. The second fraction has to be changed to the new fractions that is equivalent. The equivalent fraction is 2/4 . So 1/4 + 2/4   is 3/4  .   Both student used equivalenc
Read more