Activities:Day:
1. Building Shapes In this first activity we were given the task to create shapes with a tied rope made into a loop. We worked on this activity with our table groups (3-4 people). The rules were one had had to be holding the rope at all times. The rope cannot be untied. Lastly, the whole rope had to be used in order to create each shape. The shapes we were given to create were: - Square - Cube - 5 pointed star - Square Pyramid - Tetrahedron - Octahedron Before moving onto the next shape we had to be sure that we were correct. In addition, we had to convince a skeptic. Our skeptic in this case was our teacher Dr. Drew. 2. Number Visual Pennies In this activity we were given a worksheet that had five figures made of circles. The figures were of 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9 made of circles. Along with the worksheets we had 100 pennies. The main goal was to use all of the pennies. Each figure group had to the same amount of pennies. The rules: - Each number visual tacks of pennies, no number visual has zero pennies - The stacks of pennies within each unique number visual are equal - Each unique number visual can have a different size stacks of pennies that the other number visuals 3. One-Cut Geometry In this activity we were given patty paper and a pair of scissors. Hence the title of the activity we had to one cut and a triangle had to be the product. The triangle had to be scalene and made with a straight cut. Before starting it was important to draw the triangle to know where it would be best to make the cut. 4. Square Mania: On the fourth math problem sheet we worked on a problem called Square Mania. The first problem asked if we agreed with the statement presented. There was a diagram which was a rectangle and was separated into 12 squares. However, the problem was stating that there were 17 squares when 12 squares were visible. We were asked to explain why or why not we agreed with the statement. |
In class with each activity that we performed we also watched a video along with it. The videos were brought to us by youcube from Stanford.
Video 1: The first video we watched was about strategies to become a better mathematician. The message I was able to get from the video was that is is really important to understand what the problem is asking. Another message I was able to capture was how important it is to work with other classmates. Doing so it will expose me to other perspectives on the problem and ideas that classmates could have. Video 2: The message I was able to understand from this video is speed is not important. Slow deep thinking is what matters. We may take more time to solve a problem and it doesn't mean that we aren't smart. It means that we are trying to deeply understand the problem. Video 3: No one is born is as a "math person" everyone can learn to their highest potential. There is a myth that some people are naturally better at math. It is not true at all we can all learn and be successful in a subject if we put all of our effort. Video 4: Believing that one can do a certain task, will, but if not then they won't. If a problem is too challenging we may often want to give up becuase we believe we can't solve it. However, if we believe we can solve it, we will. It all depends if we believe in ourselves. Video 5: Mistakes causes our brain to grow. This video was emphasizing how it important it is to celebrate our mistakes becuase it is what makes our brain grow. Every time we make a mistakes synapses fire in our brain. It cause our brain to grow and creates new pathways. It is important to always celebrate our mistakes and know that we can learn to highest potential. |
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