Inspired by Shawn Cornally's Inquiry style of teaching and the idea I first heard from Google of 20% Time for employees, I decided to try out our own version of 20% Time in class:
In a recent survey I did with the pupils, most were happy with the pace of our classes, about 6 felt it was too slow and a couple felt it was too fast. I didn't want to leave that majority out of this, which is why I give them the option to revise topics. I will provide materials for this and it should hopefully help those less confident students.
To start with, my guess is that pupils will not have any idea where to go with this, so I have a few suggested project ideas:
Though I'm dangling these in front of them in the hope that someone will bite, I made it clear that they can really choose any topic they want. There are only two constraints:
- It must be mathematical and include maths which is currently beyond their knowledge/ability.
- Success or failure in the project is not so important, but you must aim for the project to be awesome (no powerpoints based heavily on wikipedia, etc. I want outrageous 6ft models and flashing, dancing lights!)
When they have picked a project and started working on it, I will drop a few words like 'game theory' as hints to the directions they could go, and vet their projects for mathematical content and awesomeness. Apart from that though, I hope to sit back and let them explore.
What do you reckon? Do you have any other intriguing/inspiring project ideas I could offer up as bait?
I like your angle here. I think getting students to ask the question "What do I want to learn?" is harder than most people think. I'm not sure what it's like outside the States, but here it's like pulling teeth, but it can be done.
ReplyDeleteMy first inkling is to change your list over to a bunch of questions, what would would a Sherlock story be like if he could time travel? or, Does Andy Murray stand where he should in the court?
Have fun! Let us all know what they do!
Really liking your take on Google's 20%. I always tried to do at least one 'work day' a fortnight (such an underused word) where the kids were working problem sets w/ me roving an poking questions at them, but I like your version and freedom much more. Would love to see a list of the things they end up playing with. I would have been that kid making pictures on Desmos (etch-a-sketch for geeks) :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, that 3D project takes a few days. The first day is almost entirely getting students to wrap their brains around what they're doing and sometimes they don't quite get it until they start assembling.
Good luck with this!
@Shawn: I guess I wrote that list with the initial sell in mind. I wanted pupils to be excited by the potential of these projects, so I wrote down the finished products. However, having questions like you suggested should really help the process feel more autonomous, which is really what I'm trying to achieve here (that and getting across the idea that maths is actually applicable to things!).
ReplyDeleteI am anticipated a lot of struggle with this style of lesson at first. I'm hoping that those few super-motivated pupils will jump right in, though, and inspire the others with the possibilities.
@mythagon: Thanks for the support, I will definitely keep the updates about this coming. I wish I'd set aside more time for the 3D project. Never seen Desmos before, looks great! May well include it in the suggested projects (if I can get a few laptops in the room).