This week is about inspiring students through open, beautiful and creative math. We have chosen the different tasks so that students see math as a broad, interesting and visual subject that involves deep thinking. Students will learn important growth mindset messages that will help them feel confident, try harder all year, persist with open and difficult problems and embrace mistakes and challenge. All tasks are low floor and high ceiling – they are accessible to all students and they extend to high levels. - You Cubed
The purpose of us watching the videos was to show us that we have a mind that can do more than we think it can. Also that we may not be the smartest but we can still do the work.
Two messages that I like from the video are 1. that even if you are slow at math you can still be smart and that most mathematicians are slow while doing math. 2. That every time that you fail you have 2 synapses that go in your mind so your brain grows faster when you fail. For this week we did four different activities. I will explain each.
The purpose of us watching the videos was to show us that we have a mind that can do more than we think it can. Also that we may not be the smartest but we can still do the work.
Two messages that I like from the video are 1. that even if you are slow at math you can still be smart and that most mathematicians are slow while doing math. 2. That every time that you fail you have 2 synapses that go in your mind so your brain grows faster when you fail. For this week we did four different activities. I will explain each.
Video Assessment
Strategies for Learning Math:
This video is showing different ways students can learn most efficiently. They gave examples of visual, kinesthitic, and audible learners. |
Depth is greater than Speed:
This video is portraying the message that doing a problem quickly doesn't make you "smart," and it is better to take it slow and really understand the problems. |
Brains grow and change:
This video proved that anyone can do math to the highest level. It showed how math may be natural to others because the use it more in life, but with practice everyone can learn how to do math at the highest level. |
Believe in Yourself:
This video was about confidence, if you think you are capable of doing it, you can do anything you put your mind to. Brains have more growth if you believe in yourself. |
Mistakes are Valuable:
This video focused on believing in yourself because if you do a problem and make mistakes, but still challenge yourself, synapses will happen in your brain and make you smarter. |
For the first activity we took a rope that was tied to the other end to make a circle. We had to make many different shapes with that. This activity took about an hour for me to master and realize the pattern going on.
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Next we did an activity where we were given 100 pennies and we had to put them in certain groups with each stack in each group having the same amount of pennies. Then we had to figure out if they there were other ways to solve.
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Then we did an activity where we had to find how many squares were inside a box or rectangle. They had to be perfect squares like 1x1 2x2 or 33 etc
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For the last activity we had pieces of paper and with these papers we had to make different shapes with only one strait cut. To do this it took an approach that I found at the very end. I found it when I made the Rhombus. What we did was started with a simple triangle then worked up our way up to more sophisticated shapes.
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Habits Of a Mathematician:
Describe and Articulate: This is a great way to share your work with your peers and ultimately gain a deeper understanding of the problem and different methods of solving.
Be Confident, Patient, and Persistent: Often having the courage and persistence to solve an intimidating problem is a key to finding success in any form of math or problem-solving.
Reflection: This was a really fun week where we were able to watch videos and use the skills that we saw in different activities. This allowed us to have time to improve on our outlook on brain growth, and also practice our group work. Overall this was a great warm-up to the year, and a good way to settle in at the beginning of the school year.
Describe and Articulate: This is a great way to share your work with your peers and ultimately gain a deeper understanding of the problem and different methods of solving.
Be Confident, Patient, and Persistent: Often having the courage and persistence to solve an intimidating problem is a key to finding success in any form of math or problem-solving.
Reflection: This was a really fun week where we were able to watch videos and use the skills that we saw in different activities. This allowed us to have time to improve on our outlook on brain growth, and also practice our group work. Overall this was a great warm-up to the year, and a good way to settle in at the beginning of the school year.