My students need tissue paper, origami paper, straws, card stock, tagboard, and two Sphero balls to use to integrate the arts and geometry concepts.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Cook's classroom raised $443
This project is fully funded
My Students
Years from now, my students will not remember worksheets, but rather the projects that engage their imagination. Classrooms have become more directed and focused recently, with less room for learning by exploring and experimenting. Yet there is evidence that this is how many students learn best.
My students are a very diverse group.
They come from numerous countries, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds. About one fourth of them are first or second generation Americans, and about a third have families that struggle with poverty. Reading levels range from first to tenth grade. With their different learning styles, I am challenged to meet all students' needs while still addressing curriculum guidelines. A one-size-fits-all program cannot meet their needs.
By adding projects to mathematics that involve art, building, and programming, my students will be able to learn and apply concepts in ways that address their individual learning styles and needs. Geometry, as visual mathematics, will be the perfect area to begin with. I envision projects having to do with two- and three-dimensional shapes, angles, similarity, fractals, tessellations, and programming. However, I anticipate that once students begin, they will likely take these projects in directions I have not considered.
My Project
Students will work in small learning groups to focus in on a project they choose. Some projects will use the group to support individual products, and some will create one group product. I am ordering supplies that I think students will use to engage in these projects. I can envision tissue paper and straws being designed into fractal 3-dimensional kites. Card stock and tag board may be used for tessellating designs or building 3-dimensional polyhedral figures. Tessellations also might be generated using online programs. Origami paper may be transformed into unit origami polyhedra or movable geometric forms such as a flexahedron. The Sphero will be a physical and tangible way of programming to engage students in another way with angles and shapes. We do this onscreen using Code.org and Logo, but some students need to interact with it kinesthetically. Students can use paper to draw geometrically similar designs, or programming to explore similarity and congruence of shapes.
Actively engaging students in their learning is most likely to result in learning they will remember.
My students look forward to project work because it integrates their learning with a purpose and is a more authentic way of learning. By integrating art, programming, and building into geometry, students will be applying and reinforcing content knowledge they are learning. And by engaging students, we also build their understanding of themselves as learners.
More than a third of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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