10 Effective Approaches for Teaching Math: Instructional Strategies for Variation - Prof. , Assignments of History of Education

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Lindsey Bakewell EDU 654 McCoy Assignment 4

10 Instructional Strategies for Variation in Teaching:

1. Group Work : Group work is an excellent way for students to interact with their peers and communicate about mathematics. Groups can be organized heterogeneously or homogeneously according to ability level. They can be in pairs or in groups of three or four. Example: Group work can be a simple activity such as homework check at the beginning of class, or it can be where students are given assigned roles in completing a specific task. In my lesson plan for group work, students worked in groups of four, but each student had to look at a specific scenario and decide what type of graph to model the data. The groups then discussed each individual scenario and discussed if the student’s choice was appropriate.
2. Manipulatives : Manipulatives are resources for relating concrete ideas to abstract concepts. Example: Algeblocks are a commonly used manipulative for introductory lessons in grouping and factoring. Other manipulatives include: colored chips for representing positive and negative integers and geoboards for modeling geometric figures and finding area or perimeter.
3. Technology : Technology in the classroom is important for making education applicable and relevant to the 21 st^ Century. In math, technology can be a tool in the problem solving process, or it can be means for representing information. Example: Microsoft Excel is a program that can be used to construct spreadsheets and create graphs to model data. An activity incorporating this technology is having students find information on the Internet about the number of medals (gold, silver, bronze) that countries received in the 2008 Olympics and then creating spreadsheets and graphs with the data.
4. Real-World Application : Technology lends itself to this next instructional strategy of creating a context for learning with authentic activities. If students find that the topic relates to real-life, they may be more likely to “buy in” to the value of learning it. They more be more motivated and interested in the material. Example: Students could create a budget based on a particular salary. This activity would help students develop financial awareness and skills in money management.
5. Inquiry/Discovery Learning Opportunities : An important strategy for variety is shifting classroom instruction for being teacher-centered to being student-centered. Discovery learning allows the student to direct his or her learning. Example: In a geometry class, suppose students are studying the theorem that states: The sum of the lengths of the two smallest sides must be greater than the length of the third side. Students could use straws or hard spaghetti to explore what the requirements are for the sides of a triangle. Rather than revealing the theorem at the beginning of the lesson, students have the experience of discovering for themselves that there is a

relationship between the lengths of the sides. (This activity follows from the textbook Heath Algebra 2: An Integrated Approach, by Larson, Kanold, and Stiff).

6. Writing : Writing can be used in a variety of capacities. It can be an assessment tool, a reflective outlet, or a means for understanding the material more thoroughly. Example: Writing can be in journals or on tests. It can be short responses to a given prompt, or it can be a creative assignment, in which the student must produce a written product for publication.
7. Reading : Many students may not feel that math is one of their strengths, but they may enjoy reading. This follows from Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences: students may demonstrate high performance in one domain but not in another. If teachers can draw students in with content related literature, the student will be engulfed in math but in a subtle way. Example: There are many novels written on math topics, such as Al the Gebra and Flatland. If there is a piece of literature that lends itself to the concept that is being covered, the teacher can make use of that work to appeal to a specific population of students.
8. Bridging of other disciplines : Another way to vary instruction is to find opportunities to bring other related topics into the math curriculum. Example: Students can compare graphically and verbally the population of Europe in the years before, during, and after the Black Plague. Another activity would be to design a probability unit about March Madness and the different basketball teams.
9. Culture : The American population is becoming more and more diverse, and likewise, so are America’s students. Cultural activities are an excellent way of validating one student’s culture while exposing other students who may be unfamiliar. Example: As we have discussed in class, there are many games, such as Mancala and Native American gambling games, which can be used in discussing probability. Students can play the games while also learning about the odds of winning and the different strategies for winning.
10. Physical Movement : Teenagers have a propensity for activity. If students can be engaged through movement, then the learning experience satisfies this desire to be active. Example: Some kinesthetic activities include: forming the unit circle with students representing different angle measures, “plotting points” on a large coordinate plane (students stand at the point), or the “around the world” review activity where students move around the room from question to question, similar to a scavenger hunt.