ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

At the beginning of each school year I spend a great deal of time thinking about my students’ needs. I look at what I want them to achieve as students in my class and what I what them to achieve as young adults in society. My philosophy of teaching has always been that students learn from their experiences and it is my job to create those experiences in the classroom.
I think the experiences I create in the classroom help my students become better thinkers, which in return has a whole realm of positive affects on their lives as young adults. In thinking about the gap between “what is and what needs to be” for this project I have been looking at the goals I set for my students, I have been listening to their questions and I have also talked to our school counselor about our students’ performances in math on the CTBS test.
After pondering all these questions and answers, I have decided to focus on the need for improved problem solving and reasoning (34% of our 8th graders and 47% of our seniors are moderately proficient in this area of mathematic according to our CTBS test) and a question my senior math students ask everyday – “Where will I ever use this in real life?” In discussing this question with my students, I noticed a low comfort level in their ability to apply the skills we have learned and I have decided I need to develop a new approach in teaching and create a new learning experience for them.
This unit of instruction can be applied to any of the ND Content Standards for Mathematics at any grade level. I am going to encourage my students to focus their work on the problem solving aspect of the skills presented in ND Content Standards for Mathematics Standard #5: Students use algebraic concepts, function, patterns, and relationships to solve problems. They will research the use of these concepts in the real world and create a multimedia presentation that they can share with other math students. The presentation will need to be informative, but also entertaining as the audience will be other math students who need to be encouraged that math is a usefully course of study at all levels and in all areas of their lives.

Understandings & Goals

Students will understand that math is an essential tool necessary in all areas of their lives beyond the classroom. Goal(s): To apply math concepts in the real world; students will understand the importance of learning math for uses in all areas of their lives today and in the future.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1.Where do I use math in my life and in my home? 2.Where do I see math used in the environment around me? 3.In my future plans (college, job, career) what math do I need to obtain a degree and what math will I use in my work?
Objectives: Through research (Internet, interview, textbook), the students will be able to identify the role of math in at least 20 real world skills or careers and they will be able to defend their information during class discussion with peers. When given pictures of real world experiences, problems and/or situations, students will be able to identify and explain in detail what math concepts were applied in solving the problem or completing the task in the picture with an accuracy of 80% Using the information they gathered during their research, students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of the importance of a solid math background in a multimedia presentation for other students to view, receiving at least a B 

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? Section quizzes and chapter tests will be used to assess the students’ proficiency and understanding of the math concepts studied. Example questions #1 - Describe the transformation in the equation: f(x)=3(x-2)+4 used by a local business to determine the quantity of Christmas decorations they need to stock this year. Example question #2 – The area of a flower garden is f(x)=x2+15xy-3250y2 . Find the algebraic expression for the length and width. Explain how a landscape tech might use this information.
What academic prompts e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding? 1.This unit will start with the students asking themselves where they use math. a.Where did I use math this morning? b.Last week, how did I use my math background to help me solve a problem I encountered during football practice? 2.Then they will expand on those ideas to the bigger picture of how math is used in the community and world around them. a.Where did my parents have to use math to complete a task this week? b.When I was out driving around, where did I see math being used?
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding? 1.Students will research math in careers and they will observe the math around them. 2.Using a digital camera, the students will take pictures of math in action as the walk around the community. They will use various software programs to organize, analyze and display the information found from the pictures taken by the students. 3.When given a real life task, students will be able to describe in detail the math concepts needed for solving the problem or completing the task.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?  1. Observation of group work 2. Student created rubrics 3. Class discussion participation (use of multimedia presentation hardware) 4. Portfolio containing all data collected throughout the unit (rubric) 5. Multimedia presentation

Instructional Strategies

Students will use a combination of Inquiry-based, Problem-based, and Project-based activities in this unit as they seek information about the wide variety of mathematic used in the world around them. Through the inquiry-based activities students will use the Internet, their textbook and/or interviewing to research the answer to the question: “Where will I ever use this in real-life?” They will make a list of math concepts and their uses as they see them in the environment they live in.
In the Problem-based activities, students will take digital pictures of problems and tasks in the real world. From their pictures they will describe in detail the math concepts used. They will be allowed to use the Internet, data from interviews, their textbook, etc. to complete this activity.
In the Project-based activities the students will work in cooperative groups and take all the information they have gathered in the unit activities to create a multimedia presentation. This presentation will be shared with other math students to encourage and motivate them to take their study of math seriously. The presentation will be graded on the student-graded rubric and it must summarize all the students’ findings and contain several examples of the uses of math in the world around them.