Week 16 - Grade 12 Advanced Functions

I didn't fully understand logarithms until I was in post-secondary. It was only touched on briefly in my advanced functions class because there was a lot of other concepts in the curriculum that needed to be addressed. So during this class when the log loop was introduced, I was quite intrigued. A helpful hint such as that for inverting logarithms would be incredibly handy for the advanced functions class, and any other class that uses logarithms. The "log war" game introduced after the log loop is also a great way to get students to practice inverting logarithms without it seeming like work that they have to do. Our group soon came up with tricks to find out which logarithm is the biggest by seeing which ones would be negative, 0, or positive.Our group was highly energized (maybe it was the cookies that were handed out just before) and motivated to find out who was the winner for each round.

Games like log war help to make math class and learning more fun for the students, which can help them to retain information better. They don't feel that they have to do the work because the game helps them to want to do the work, and they are still fulfilling the curriculum requirements. I know I have said this before, but when I have a math class, or any class for that matter, I would like to try to incorporate games as much as possible with the curriculum because I believe that the students learn best when they are motivated to learn and games, such as log war, help to increase student motivation. They are a great tool for student learning.

Week 15 - Grade 11 College Math

This week we had the opportunity to see math, specifically mean, median, and mode, transformed into a game. I found the game to be an interesting look on this specific math concept that is usually seen to be more of a tedious activity instead of the fun game that it was. In groups we were competing to see who could get the highest average over 3 rounds of drawing cards from the deck. A little bit of healthy competition can make any work more enjoyable for students because it gives the students a reason to do the work.

This activity lets the teacher know that the students know what they are doing, while letting the students have fun in the classroom. It can also be modified for median and mode as well if there is extra time. This activity and the use of cards can also be modified for graphing. pick out cards and graph their numbers as you pick each card. Then the students would find the slope height(s) of their line(s). Giving something ordinary (like math) even a little bit of a twist can make learning more interesting for the students and there would be a higher chance of their knowledge staying with them for longer. For example, one of the few things that I still remember from grade 10 math was when the teacher brought in a wii fit; we each took a turn playing ski jump and took the first half of the graph of our jump and had to recreate the second half of the parabola. The task could have easily been menial, but the teacher took extra initiative to make the activity fun for us and that made it a memorable experience. When I have a math classroom, I would like to try to have a fun activity to go along with each unit to make the students' learning more memorable.

Week 14 - Grade 11 Functions and Applications

I was intrigued for this week's class because I was curious to see how close the mixed course would be to the university course. In high school I only took the university level courses so this year I have been interested in looking at the other courses in order to get a more rounded view of the math curriculum. The graphing activity was particularly interesting because it physically involved the students in their own learning. This activity is a good assessment as learning activity because the students are able to see what they are doing right and what needs to be improved right away and are given the chance to correct their mistakes.

Even though this activity is geared towards the mixed course, I believe it would also be useful in the university course. The more the students are involved in their own learning, the more they learn. This activity challenges the students' knowledge of domain and range through graphical representations of data. Student involvement in learning also helps with creating a growth mindset in the classroom. This activity shows the students that it is okay to make mistakes because we can correct them and learn from them. I believe students learn more from making a mistake than they do from getting it right the first time. When I have a math classroom (hopefully) I would like to involve the students as much as possible in their own learning.