My middle school science classroom is a place of challenge and discovery, which also integrates the arts. Students spend the year learning the science knowledge and skills that they will need as they move forward to high school, while also exploring their creativity in a variety of forms. Their desire to learn something new, and the final projects and presentations they create never cease to amaze me!
Our school is a school for the arts, so my students investigate all areas of science, including life science, earth science, physical science and STEM tasks, in a project-based form.
Throughout their study, the students produce work and assessments which also integrate various art mediums. They are excited to explore, learn and expand their capacity for critical thinking. They take pride in their efforts and are willing to challenge their minds for the sake of learning.
My Project
Our school has set a goal of improving our students' math skills. As part of this goal, for the first forty-five minutes every day, students are arranged in smaller groups based on their math skills and needs. Each group has a teacher or teacher leader, who is their instructor, and works with them on math goals, collecting data, and raising their math scores. Since I am a science teacher and not a math teacher, my math group is in need of basic math equipment, such as calculators, stopwatches, dice, and spinners.
Many of our students find math difficult, but by incorporating hands-on learning, such as games, activities, and contests, they will be engaged and more likely to learn and retain the information.
The dice, stopwatches, and spinners will be used by the students and "hook" them--they'll be doing math without even realizing it!
Students will work individually and with team members on activities, such as math games, as well as contests involving probability and percentages. As their math skills improve, their overall feeling about math will be more positive, and they will become better math students. Their improved self-esteem will hopefully show in other areas, and they will become better overall students.
These supplies will help the students like math, learn math, and realize that math is not a problem!
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