Keywords: Equity, ,
Ref: Friese1
Author(s): Karp, Karen; Miemi, Rhonda
Date: 2000
Title: The Math Club for Girls
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics; Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO. 7 p. 426-430
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: 03-19-00
As the title suggests, this article talked about prorams like girl only math clubs that are being started to help girls in math. Studies have shown that before girls enter 1st grade they are ahead of their male counterparts. Yet, by graduation time the boys have outdistanced the ladies on important tests and in level of interest in math related careers. Math clubs for girls hopes to encourage more girls to become engaged in math and have them reach their potential of being equal with men. The math clubs help the girls tackle their present math problems, but even more so shows the girls the possibility of math related college majors and careers that before many girls never even considered. The club also brought in older women who had achieved success in careers using math to help inspire the young students. Parental support so far has been encouraging, and teachers and school districts also have been receptive.
I think that this is a
wonderful
program nad anything that helps studnets become interested or more
interested in math is fabulous. Hopefully many clubs will pop up around the
country and help our nations girls get the support they need.
Keywords: Curriculum, ,
Ref: Friese2
Author(s): Ridlon, Candice L.
Date: 2000
Title: Christi Makes Sense of 6th Grade Mathematics
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO. 6, p.367-373
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
Ms. Ridlon was given permission to try a new curriculum after the school district recieved very poor scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The new curriculum she tried was called Problem Centered Learning. Research suggested that this approach aided individual constructions and fostered meaningful communication. The teacher's role is to (1) select appropriate tasks on the basis of their knowledge of the students, (2) organize the groups and listen carefully as they worked, asking appropriate questions, (3) facilitate class discussions. At the begining of a class day the small groups would be given problems and then allowed to work together to find a solution. Problem Centerd Learning was chosen to focus on meaning-making as a replacement for rote memorization in math. The article tracks on student in particualr, Christi, and shows how this curriculum not only made Christi more interested and more comfortable with math, but invariably a better math student. Christi test scores doubled.
I think that this approach has many benefits, the first being that it
appears to make the students
much more comfortable in learning math. Student's used words and phrases
like "fun", "not boring",
"each problem is exciting" to describe their math class. I think we'd all
be very happy to hear that
in our class. However, I think there is a chance for students to fall
through the cracks when they are
evaluated in small groups, not individually.
Keywords: Assessment, ,
Ref: Friese3
Author(s): Smith, Margaret Schwan
Date: 2000
Title: Redefining Success in Mathematics Teaching and
Learning
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO. 6, 378-386
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
This article focused on Elaine Henderson (name changed, not by me but
by the article) and her
participation in the project QUASAR, which stands for Quantitative
Understanding: Amplifying
Student Achievement and Reasoning. QUASAR is a national project funded by
the Ford Foundation
to improve mathematics instruction for students attending middle schools
in economically
disadvantaged communities. Before Henderson's involovemsnt in QUASAR, her
goal in teaching math
was to ensure that her students would successfully learn the algorthms
that they needed. QUASAR
emphasized thinking and reasoning and encouraged collaboration among small
groups of students, not
a teacher standing in front of the class going over an endless list of
examples. Hendoerson tried
many unique lessons that fit the QUASAR mold. She found trouble when
students couldn't get the
answer right away, and in turn would give up. However, when she broke
down the thinking and reasoning
process into smaller steps, she found a much more receptive audience. By
the end of the term, Henderson
thought a combination of these new techniques and old are the best way to
teach. Each has value, but they
in a way need each other. I agree with her conclusion, that while old
techniques need to be reviewed and
changed, there still is a place for them. Finding a good balance that
works for your classroom would be the
ideal situation, and I hopefully will find a way to do just that.
Keywords: Activities, ,
Ref: Friese4
Author(s): Owens, Katherine; Sanders, Richard
Date: 2000
Title: Travel the World-an Addition Game
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO. 6, p.392-396
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
This article talks about a fun game that can be used in a middle school
class to review place-value concepts,
practice compuataion of whole numbers, and explore large-number values and
number names. The objective of the game
is to earn as much money as you can by correctly adding the miles between
cities on your planes odometer. The game
can be played in groups of three; one being the pilot, one co-pilot, and
the navigator. The pilot and the co-pilot
are the one competing, the navigator is the one who has the answers and
check the addition of the players. Basicallt,
if the player adds correctly, he gets "money", incorrectly, gets nothing.
The games ends when the running total of the
planes odometer reaches 1,000,000. This is a fun game because it is
intersting to see how far it is from place to place,
like from Paris to San Francisco. I think and middle school kid would
like to play this game and have fun and learn to add
th big numbers. I could see myself using this one. I think I'll save the
magazine.
Keywords: Algebra, ,
Ref: Friese5
Author(s): Iovinelli, Robert C.
Date: 2000
Title: Chaotic Behavior in the Classroom
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teacher
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 93, NO. 2 p.148-153
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
This article came about after Mr. Iovinelli's Mu Alpha Theta chapter at
his school
were discussing chaos theory. He encouraged some student research, and
the students
found that chaos can be defined as the property of a matheatical system
where "a small
diference in the initial condition of the system could result in radicall
different
predictions". His student's, great kids they are, of course asked to see
examples
of such models. The rest fo the article is the class putting equations to
work and
proving the idea of chaos theory. The article did use graphing
calculator's was a
vehicle to truly show chaos theory, through graphs and easily putting in
different inputs
to get the dramatically different outputs. I think this article was good
in the fact that
it showed the tremendous use a graphing calculator can be in the
classroom. Without it,
Mr. Iovinelli's student's would not have learned as much and probably
would not have really
been able to appreciate the theory.
Keywords: Activities, ,
Ref: Friese6
Author(s): Szydlik, Jennifer Earles;
Date: 2000
Title: Photographs and Committees: Activites That Help
Students Discover Permutations and Combinations
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teacher
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 93, NO 2, p 93-100
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
Being in Probability class right now, this article was pretty
interesting. It was about how
you can teach permutations and combinations in a unique way using
photographs. The teacher
can use these photos, lets say of 4 people standing in a row, as a great
visual tool as to
ask questions such as "How many different ways can you arrange the group
of 4 people in a
straight line" of "How many committees of size 3 can you make up using the
four members of
the picture". The teacher used this activity as an exploration into
probability so the students
would see the reason for the eventual formula thy can use. I thought this
was a great idea, I
know that I will use it my class someday, and I wish Vessey would have
used it too! It is a
good idea.
Keywords: Activities, ,
Ref: Friese7
Author(s): Johnson, Art
Date: 2000
Title: The Jurassic Classroom
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teacher
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 93 NO. 2 p.102-105
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
Proportional reasoning is a crucial part of any comprehensive mathematics program. A full understanding of proportionality opens the doors to many interesting applications of mathematics. A major componet of proportional reasoning is the study of similarity. Similarity includes the concepts of expansions and dilations as a means of internalizing the relationships of similar figures and linking similarity to proportional reasoning. Proportional relationships between solid figures are particularly difficult for students in that three ratios must be considered; the ratio between corresponing lengths, areas, and volumes. To sort all this mess out, Mr. Johnson came up with a class actvity that helps show it all. Growable dinsaurs, when placed in water, will grow about 6 times their original size. This growth allows students to discover what this 6-fold increase in length means in relation to its area and volume.
I think that the activity is not only appropriate but also fun and
interesting. Any kid would
enjoy doing it and I think in turn would have a better chance to learn. I
may save this article,
it looks like fun.
Keywords: Algebra, ,
Ref: Friese8
Author(s): Crawford, Ann R.; Scott, William E.
Date: 2000
Title: Making Sense of Slope
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teacher
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 93, NO.2 p.114-118.
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
According to the article, first-year algebra has shifted from a course
that focused
primarily on formal procedures for simplifying symbolic expressions and
solving equations
to a course that emphasizes applications in which students encounter a
wide variety of
situations structured by patterns. When students are asked "What is the
slope of a line?"
a typical response is "Isn't that when you use the formula
m=(y2-y1)/(x2-x1)? They may know
the formula, but do they really understand the concept of slope as a rate
of change. The article
found that student's first encounters with slope can be presented within
real-world applications
to give meanins to the concepts. The article went on to give a few
examples that develope the
concept of slope as a rate of change using three modes of learning:
visualization, verbalization,
and symbolization. I agree with everything this article talked about. I
think it is imperative that
we use real-world wxamples in math to not only peak interest of our
students, but also to show them
that math can and is used in the real world.
Keywords: Teaching Strategies, ,
Ref: Friese9
Author(s): Tent, Margaret W.
Date: 2000
Title: Inequalities: Part of Every Child's Life
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL.5, NO.5, p.292-295
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
While this article mainly talks about inequalities, its heart and soul
is about
using real-world examples in mathematics. When Ms. Tent first introduced
the
topic to her classroom, her students assumed it was a concept they had
no
knowledge. Ms. Tent showed them they were wrong. She, with eventual help
from
her class, come up with many real-life examples such as a grocery line
that says
"10 items or less use this line", a roller coaster ride that says "You
have to be
4 ft tall to ride", a cereal box that says "You must collect AT LEAST 15
bottle
caps to win" to your paretns saying you have to be in bed by 9:15pm. They
are so many
real-world examples about math that I think it is a shame when teachers
don't use
them to connect the concepts and make the class understand and comprehend.
I know
that I am going to use as many real-world problems as poosible. Ms. Tent
showed in her
class that they are revelant and can lead to kids discussing and getting
excited about math.
Keywords: Teaching Strategies, ,
Ref: Friese10
Author(s): Sweeney, Elizabeth; Quinn, Robert
Date: 2000
Title: Concentration: Connecting Fraction, Decimals, &
Percents
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL.5, NO.5, p.324-328
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 27, 2000
Fractions, decimals, and percents are often included in discussions
about middle
school mathematics. Sadly, these discussions also include groans of
dissatisfaction,
stemming from the lack of success that teachers often have in teaching
these
concepts. Many student's simply fail to see the relationship among
fractions,
decimals, and percents. This article describes a series of lessons to
develop fluency
with these concepts. The lessons can be broken down into the 5 following
phrases:
(1) preassessment
(2) instruction and connection with past knowledge
(3) creation of, and participation in, a game of Concentration by the
whole class
(4) creation of, and participation in, a game of Concentration in groups
of four
(5) postassessment, closure
discussion.
Concentration is game in which conversions between the group
are used. This
lesson looks like something I would use if my kids were stuggling. I
wonder if it would take up too
much time, butI guess if they can't get it, then you need to use the time.
Keywords: Technology, ,
Ref: Friese11
Author(s): Beigie, Darin
Date: 2000
Title: Zooming in on Slope in Curved Graphs
Journal or Publisher: Teaching Mathematics in the Middel
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. %, NO. 5, p.330-334
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 28, 2000
Students in the articles middle school math club used the zooming
technology of Green Globs and
Graphing Equations to study slope in curved graphs. The seventh and eigth
grade students investigated
some elementary curved graphs by zooming in on evenly spaced points along
a graph until the graph
appeared linear and slope could be calculated. The zooming technology
gave the students a concrete,
visual context in which to learn about the idea of slope in a curved graph
and to study how slope
varies along a curved graph. The zooming technoloy of graphing
calculators and certain graphing
software offers an ideal environment for middle schoolers to extend their
understanding of slope to
curved graphs. Scuh technology allows a student to explicitly see a
curved graph becoming essentially
straight as one zooms closer and closer to the point. This article is
just another great example of
how technology is being used to help students and teachers. Graphing
calculators should absolutely be
in every classroom.
Keywords: Activities, ,
Ref: Friese12
Author(s): Quinn, Robert J.; Wiest, Lynda R.
Date: 1999
Title: Reinventing Scrabble with Middle School Students
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO. 4, p.210-214
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 28, 2000
This article discusses a lesson that explores important mathematical
topics
in the context of this popular boardgame. The lesson involves the
following
5 phases:
(1) you the teacher have to explain the basci rules of Scrabble
(2) each pair of students cuts out and letters 100 one-inch squares from
sturdy paper
(3) each pair of students plays a game of Scrabble using the cutout
squares
(4) each pair of students determines frequencies for the letters of the
alphabet as
used in standard English, which are then totaled as a class
(5) the
teacher then
facilitates a discussion in which the students are asked to consider how
they
might create a better Scrabble letter distrobution using the data
collected.
The
lesson offers an oppertunity for the kids to work together collecting,
analyzing,
and interpreting data. (ex. find out how many E's occured...make into
percentage,
then ratio, then decimal...find out how many tiles with 'E' on you
need....). I think
this may be a good activity, but it seems maybe a little too long (article
said 2 hours)
for the benefits recieved.
Keywords: Probability, ,
Ref: Friese13
Author(s): Brahier, Daniel J.
Date: 1999
Title: Genetics as a Context for the Study of Probability
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO. 4, p.214-220
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 28, 2000
Mr. Brahier had a great idea here in combining the study of genetics
with the
study of probability. They really do go hand in hand, as is shown by Mr.
Brahier's
lesson. Given the students know, or after the teacher teaches them, about
the
ideas of dominant gene and the recessive gene and the terms homezygous and
the
gene pair hetrozygous, the student then has the knowledge to many differnt
and
exciting probability problems. Setting up a simple Punnet square is
useful
for the students to be able to learn and compute the gene pairs.
Questions
like "What is the probability the child will be a girl?" or "What is the
probability
the flower will be white?" or "Will his eyes be green or brown?" are all
not only
relevant probability questions but also fun and interesting for the
student. Mr. Brahier
found that almost every studnet enjoyed the activities and I think this is
something
that could definetly be part of my class. It is a fun and interesting way
to learn
probability, no doubt about it.
Keywords: Measurement, ,
Ref: Friese14
Author(s): Smith, Lyle R.
Date: 1999
Title: Dragon Curves to Learn About Length and Area
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL.5, NO. 4, p.222-223
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 28, 2000
This very short article shows hoe "Dragon Curves" can be used to learn
about area.
Dragon curves are generated by algorithims that create fractal images.
The curves are
made with three tiles, one a single arc, one a double arc, and last blank.
It si difficult
explain without the pictures, but the curves are used to compute the
length of an arc
on a tile. The tiles are usually 2-by-2inch. The arcs intersects the
edge of the tile at
the midpoint of the edge, so the distance from the corner to the point at
which the arc
intersects the edge is the radius. (cofusing without the pictures).
Putting the arc tiles together gives us a radius. This is a very
interesting way
to use art and math together. It may be a great way to involve students
who like art but not
math. I would recommend taking a quick look at the article to be clear on
what the Dragon Curves
are supposed to look like. Don't discard this idea until you have seen
it, then it makes more sense.
Keywords: Standards, ,
Ref: Friese15
Author(s): Menon, Ramakrishnan
Date: 2000
Title: Should the U.S Emulate Singapore's Education System
to Achieve Singapore's Success in the TIMSS?
Journal or Publisher: Teaching Mathematics in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO.6, p.345-348
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 30, 2000
The United States in the latest TIMSS did very poorly in math. A country that did very well was Singapore. If your like me, your firt thought is "We got beat by Singapore?" "Where is Singapore". Anyway, not only did we get beat, they blew us out of the water. The author of this article makes a seemingly obvious connection "If we teach like Singapore, we will do better!". The author points out some reasons for Singapore's success. First, they really want their kids to do well on these specific tests. Classes go over past tests and take many practice test to prepare. Another issue is that their government thinks education is very important, important enough that big money goes to the schools who do well on the tests. The schools are publically ranked, so it is kind of like the Associated Press football rankings; every school is trying to get a higher rank and beat the other schools. This competiveness seems to drive the schools and the kids to the higher scores. Singapore's teachers alos spend much more time preparing to be teachers than their U.S. counterparts.
Should we be more like Singapore? I think yes in some areas. I think we
need a government that somehow
really shows interest in education and shows it in a meaningful way
($$$$). I think pre-service should get
more practice, and that maybe some competiveness, but not on the level of
Singapore, is good for our schools.
Overall, I think that we need to not dismiss other country's ideas on
education simply because we are the U.S.
and we rule and everybody else does not. We do not rule in the TIMSS, and
we need to do something about it.
Keywords: Algebra, ,
Ref: Friese16
Author(s): Star, Jon; Herbel-Eisenmann, Beth; Smith III,
John
Date: 2000
Title: Algebraic Concepts: What's really new in curricula?
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL. 5, NO. 7, p.446-450
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 30, 2000
CMP stands for Connected Math Projects and it is a new form of math
curriculum that
is being used, mainly in the middle schools. In CMP, functional
relationships are presented
in contextual problems that describe some realistic situation. Often, the
situation itself
contains a table of numerical values of the quatities, a graph of the
relationship, or an
expression symbolizing the relationship. Another way to look at this is
what kids who use CMP
should know after the 8th grade year: (1) recognize situations in which
imporatant problems and
decisions involve relations among quanatative variable, (2) use numerical
tables, graphs, and
symbolic expressions, and verbal descriptions to describe and predict the
patterns of change
in variables (3) use numeric, graphic, and symbolic strategies to solve
common problems involving
linear, exponential, and quadratic functions. CMP tries to incorporate
technology as much as possible.
CMP invloves less direct instruction and is more student centered with
more exploration and analysis.
I think that CMP might be the wave of the future for middle school math,
and that if one wants to teach
Algebra, it might be wise to check CMP out and see if they like it. It
seems to me to be a good way to teach
math.
Keywords: Issues, ,
Ref: Friese17
Author(s): Farrel, Jim
Date: 2000
Title: Salary Squeeze
Journal or Publisher: NEA Today
Volume, Issue, Pages: April 2000, pp8-14
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 30, 2000
This is just a short article that has nothing to do with math.
It is about cold, hard, cash....OR THE LACK OF IT!!
It talks about a teacher in North Carolina that drives the bus after
schoolt o make more money. After six years of
teaching, Mr. Chris Johnson's salary is only 30,000. The articel goes
on
to say that based on education and skill
level, teachers are underpaid by about 5 grand, and that's even after
you
figure they get the summers off. It was very
interesting when they listed the average teacher salaries for 98-99 from
state to state. Coming in at #1 was........
Connecticut, with an average of 51,584. Roundign out the top 5 were New
Jersey, New York, Pennsylania, and Michigan.
Around the midwest, Illionois was 9, Indiana 15, Wisconsin 16, Minnesota
20, and Iowa 35. Also, the bottom two states
were North Dakota and South Dakota, at around 28,800.
Conneticut, here I come.
Keywords: Curriculum, ,
Ref: Friese19
Author(s): Kouba, Vicky
Date: 1999
Title: Multiple Interpretations = More Challenges
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL.5, NO.4, p.232-235
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 30, 2000
As the emphasis in curricula and assessment shifts toward activities
that are embedded
in contexts, challenges and oppertunities for thoughtful reflection on
teaching arise.
This article looks at how kids can interpret questions differently, and in
turn have
many different answers for the same question. The challenge for the
teacher is finding
out if your student just doesn't get the math part of the problem, or
maybe the question
itself, for one reason or another, allowed the student some other sort of
interpretation
that may seem incorrect, but in hsi thinking is perfectly fine. I think
an example is needed
to understand. A 2nd grade boy was asked if you have 18 apples and you
want to share the apples
fairly among 3 horses, how many apples does each horse get? The
straight-A kid answered "One".
Was he wrong. Yes and No. While the teacher was looking for 6, the boy,
who grew up on a farm
and knew that a horse would get sick if he ate more than one apple,
answered one.
This article's main goal, I think, was to show teachers that you need to
have fair assessment and
always be on the lookout for multiple interpretations.
Keywords: Activities, ,
Ref: Friese18
Author(s): Georgakis, Pauline
Date: 1999
Title: Oh Good, It's Tuesday!
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: Vol.5, NO.4, pp224-226
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 30, 2000
This article talks about how in Ms. Georgakis's class every
Tuesday her class
gets together in small groups to solve problems. It is a great itme for
the kids
to think independantly, creatively, and do some discovery learning. Ms.
Georgakis
has 5rules for the groups (1) talk softly (2) criticize ideas, noe
people
(3) work
as a group on only on eproblem at a time (4) ask the teacher a question
only if the whole
group agrees (5) stay on task. Students are encouraged to find
alternative ways to solve
a problem. They are not graded on if they solve every problem, but by
the
following criteria:
(1) all work is shown, any mistakes corrected (2) the work includes a
written explanation that
shows how the problem was solved (3) the work and writing are neat. I
think that the small
group idea looks great, but I have the continuing concern that when in
small groups kids will
get left out byt he smarty pants kids. I think if you can make those
groups work whereas everyone
is involved, or at least eveyone is explained how to do the problem,
then
I would be in favor
of the small groups.
Keywords: Activities, ,
Ref: Friese20
Author(s): Bradley, Elizabeth
Date: 1999
Title: Finding Common Ground
Journal or Publisher: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School
Volume, Issue, Pages: VOL.5, NO.4, p.236-237
Reviewer: Friese
Date of Review: March 30, 2000
This short article teaches a different way for kids to distinguish between Greatest Common Factor (GCF) and Least Common Multiple (LCM). Ms. Bradley uses Venn diagrams to help the students get the hang of GCF and LCM. GCF, remember, is the greates factor that is shared between two numbers. LCM is the smallest positive number that is a multiple of both the given numbers. If you ahd two numbers say, 12 and 18, you could use the two circles to show a shared region, the prime factorization of GCF (for 12, 18 its 2 and 3) The Venn diagrams with LCM shows us which numbers to multiply in order to get the correct answer of 36. This is a great way for visual students to learn, and I reccommend taking a look at this article so to see what is going on. Ms. Bradley has a vey good idea here, one worth a shot in my class.