Writing Meets Math: lesson plan

The following is a lesson plan I wrote, which has teachers of composition classes showing students some of the basics of writing a math journal. Any reader of this blog is welcome to use this lesson or to pass it along. The only thing I would ask is that if you make adaptations, or have suggestions about adaptions I might make, you post them to the "comments" section of this blog.


Name:
Date:
Room #______
Class:
Grade(s):

Objectives:

1) Students will understand what the words variable, integer, and operation mean with regards to solving mathematical equations.

2) Students will be able to verbally describe the steps involved in solving one of three different simple algebraic problems in their own words.

3) Students will be able to write, using only words not numbers, to describe how to perform one of three simple algebraic problems.

Content:

Students must be able to understand how and when to use certain mathematical procedures in solving an equation.

Students must have some basic understanding of how to solve algebraic equations.

Students will know, or will need to learn, how to work productively as a class, independently, and in small groups.

Procedure:

Anticipatory Set:
When the students come in the problem 3x + 9 = 36 will be written on the board.
Next to the problem the following questions will be written out:

1) What is the variable in this problem?

2) List 2 integers which appear in this problem?

3) What operations are required to solve this problem?

Class:

1) Go over the solutions to the warm-up exercise.

2) Explain the objective of the lesson to the students: the ability to write out mathematical processes in words will improve both their writing skills and their ability to understand mathematical processes.

3) Divide the class into three groups.

4) Give each person in each one of the groups a copy of the problem they will be working on. (Each group will have a different problem.)

5) The students will be given 5 minutes to discuss with their group how they would describe this problem in words. During this discussion none of the students may take any notes.

6) The students will be given 5-10 minutes to write out, in their own words, without the help of the other members of their group, how they would go about solving the equation they have been given

7) The students will be set up in groups of 3 so that there is one student with each one of the problems in each group. The students will then read each other their descriptions and see if the other two students in the group can recreate the problem.
If a student is really struggling in describing his/her problem then they may show the problem to the other people in the group and ask for their help. (10 min)

8) The class will come back together and discuss how the lesson went.

9) Give the students a separate problem from the ones they have seen and have them write that one out in their own words. Collect this exercise to use as a measure of how the students are coming along.

10) Assign homework. Worksheet with several more problems which are slightly more complicated. The final question on the homework asks the students to come up with their own problem and write it out. They will each present these in their small groups the next day.

11) If time allows, let the students begin their homework.

Teaching the Content:

1) Independent Pracice: Students will complete warm up. This will be assessed based on going over the problems.

2) Direct Instruction: Teacher explaining any knowledge or points the students may have missed in the warm up.

3) Student Led: Students will work together to find words to describe problems.

4) Independent Practice: Students will work alone on describing problem.
This will be assessed the first time by them going over it with their group and the second time it will be collected.

Guided Practice:

1) Identify elements in an equation

2) Work in groups to describe an equation

3) Write out an equation in their own words (they will do this on two separate occasions)

4) Read and explain their explanations to a small group.

Independant Practice:

1) Homework.

Closure:

What the students learned through the activity will be measured based on their individual practice which will be handed in at the end of class.

Materials and resources:

1) Chalk

2) Chalk Board

3) Worksheets with problems on them for class

4) Worksheets with homework on it

5) Which students will make up each small group

Self Evaluation:

Did the students meet the objectives?

What did I do that helped the students learn?

How could I improve student learning?



© 2008 BRIAN FELDER

The Search for Empirical Evidence

Last week, I received an email from my Cousin Kenny, a math teacher in Raleigh, North Carolina. The first line of his email read, The question of overlap between Gardner's multiple intelligences is an empirical one: it's not something to debate or have opinions about, but to do experiments on.". A subsequent email suggested that these experiments have, most likely, already been conducted, and the trick is to find the people who have conducted them.

To that end, I emailed a dozen graduate students here at East Stroudsburg University to find out if any of them were aware of any such experiments.

The following is a response I got from a student working on his M.Ed, by the name of Mich Scheilfer. (Mitch, has agreed to help me gather research on my hypothasis and so I am posting his response as a separate blog, rather then simply as a "comment".)

Brian,

Before, I get into any empirical evidence I am aware of, I want to clarify what Gardner said on this subject,

Certainly, he does talk about the connection between solving mathematical equations and choosing words in one’s writing. However, his example of a writer whose style shows this is T.S. Elliot (specifically his poetry). If I am not mistaken, your hypotheses applies to the writing of compositions. So while, I believe, Gardner’s theory may still be applicable, I think it is important to make it clear that you are extending what his original theory says. If I am mistaken and you intend to apply your hypothesis to creative writing as well as to compositions then that is something you might want to make clear.

As far as collecting empirical evidence, I think that in order to effectively do this you need to break your original hypothesis down into more manageable parts. I think that your entry on “math journals” is a good place to start.

Empirical Evidence:

There was an article published in 2001, by David K. Pugalee, entitled, Writing, Mathematics, and Metacognition: Looking for connections in students’ work through mathematical problem solving.

This article is based on a study of how writing about the mathematical processes they used in solving equations affected/changed the way 20 ninth grade students approached mathematics.

I am also aware of a number of books which discuss different methods of using math journals in the classroom. However, I don’t know if these are based on studies or untested hypothisys similar to yours (I will send you another email with the titles of these books).

I am sure that if you can find a couple more articles, like the one I have mentioned above, you will also be to track down the sources of those articles who will be able to give you still more sources and ideas.

© 2008 MITCHELL SCHEILFER