Day 9, 10, 11 (and maybe 12?)

Due to the lack of attendance, (and my not being here resulting in little work actually getting done!), I have booked some days in the lab to finish their surveys and to finish their research for the Statistical Literacy project. Students finally did work on their surveys and I was able to give constant feedback. It worked out well. I printed and photocopied the surveys and students had them filled out. Some work is getting done!

Before I decide whether I need four days in the lab, we will see how today and tomorrow go. Students are working well on their surveys and the graphs for their surveys.

Day 8 - Causal Relations vs Correlation

After a weekend and after having been gone for 2 days, my students needed a refresher! So we spent some time going over 1-var vs. 2-var and the analyses for both. We then started in on the difference between cause and effect, and correlation:

Students understood this very well. They struggled at times determining the common variable that affects two other variables. We did the examples together and a few of the questions on page 2 together. The rest they did on their own. They had a bit more practice:

The first sheet of this gets at how intuition isn't always correct. The last sheet is more practice with the correlation coefficient. Hopefully at the end of this, they will have a better understanding of statistics!!

Day 6 & 7 - Lab Days (Survey Assignment and Statistical Literacy)

I was away last week for two days because of the Provincial OAME conference. I learned all about how to run an e-conference! Yay! (That's good as I have to help run it next year.... ahem.)

While I was away, attendance was *poor*. However, for the students who were present:

Thursday they worked on their surveys and got them mostly done. Because I was using Google Drive and Google Docs, I was able to make comments and edit them as they came in. Ha! I bet they were not expecting that!!

Friday, students worked on a Statistical Literacy Assignment:

Again, I had poor attendance. The students who were there, the supply teacher told me that they found their articles but did little else. So the next week, we have some lab days to tie up some of these loose ends.

The modification I am making to the above assignment is that instead of presenting to the class, students will be presenting using Explain Everything on the iPads.

Day 5 - One and Two Variable Analysis

Students are working on their surveys, but once they finish and administer their surveys, students have to analyze the results. We have discussed a little bit but it has been a bit scattered so today we pulled things together and discussed it as a whole. We made connections to try to consolidate understanding of all the different terms. (For example, the standard deviation tells us how meaningful the "mean" value actually is - how closely packed the data is; this is similar to the correlation coefficient when doing a linear regression.)

I am starting to have problems with attendance. Students aren't really skipping, but they are away a lot for sports, class trips, camp etc. This means that I may teach a lesson but have to re-teach it later. I thought this was a really good one - and it was for the students who were there. However, I had to go over all this again the next week. Anyway, the students did do some work to practice:

Day 4 - Percentiles and Indices

Students have learned a great deal about mean, median and mode. Today we expanded on their ability to analyze 1-Variable statistics by looking at percentiles, and quartiles (measures of spread) and also by looking at indices.

I started the class by spending time recalling what they already knew about mean, median and mode as well as when they might use these tools. Something I have learned over my years of teaching is that students can easily find the mean or the median or the mode, but have no idea when it might be useful to do so. I think that this is just as important, so we spent some time discussing that. I also spent time asking them to recall the difference between discrete and continuous data, as well as the kind of graphs that would be most appropriate for each. We then got into the above lesson and it went very smoothly. Students then had to complete the attached practice work.

Day 3 - Sneaky Graphs

We are working on statistical literacy in this cycle so we looked at how graphs can be misleading today. We worked through the questions about the first graph together and students worked through the rest on their own.

Students did well on this activity. Their critical thinking with respect to graphs and diagrams is pretty good!

Day 2 - Survey Assignment

Today students are designing a survey to survey the class with. It is a small class so they may survey other classes as well. We talked again about what makes a good survey. They need 5 graphs, so we talked about how many questions that will be.

I will be in Kingston at the OAME conference later this week and so students will have another lab day to do analysis. Next time I think I might give an exemplar and maybe give some topic ideas. It was so wide open, students had some trouble deciding what to survey about and how to ask questions so that they might have more than one type of graph.

Cycle 3 Day 1 - Surveys and Bias

We spent two days on the Cycle Project. I have yet to mark it. Students did not work well in class and so are finishing it on their own time during their MSIP.  However, onwards we go!

Today we started the Reporter Project (premise - the student is a reporter and they have to do some analysis of statistics and also make graphs etc.). We started this unit with talking about surveys and bias.

I had a powerpoint that went through the definitions and from that, students filled out page one and two.

Students then had questions to answer:

Students seemed to understand this well. They easily answered questions in class. I am noticing that students are starting to lose attention. We have over a month left! I need to find a way to keep them motivated. Anyone have any ideas? Activities have so far worked with this group but I only have so many.

Day 20/21 Cycle Project - Research Technician

This project uses the premise that the student is a Research Technician in a start-up pharmaceutical company. They have to help build the lab and they have to do some of the analysis. It uses Trigonometry, optimization, unit conversion, annuities (loans and investments), scatter plots, regressions and solving exponential equations. So a little bit of everything!

The drug I chose (Bacta) is from Star Wars. If you have a better "drug" for the project, let me know! I wanted something that they might recognize. I did not have time to add pictures and make it look pretty. Something for the future!

Day 19 - Cycle Review

Today I went through a PowerPoint review of all that we covered in preparation for tomorrow's cycle project. The questions were done on white boards and I selected students at random to present their answers. It worked well! I hope that they are ready for the project!

Day 18 - Solving Exponential Equations

And we have reached the last day of Cycle 2! Another cycle that is longer than I expected but when I look at the course expectations, I have covered so much!

We started this by working through the questions without context:

It didn't take too long for students to understand what was going on. We only used "guess and check" because the course does not talk about logarithms. There is a strong benefit to this. I find that if students have done questions like this using guess and check, then their ability to understand and manipulate logarithms later is much better. So I urge you out there to NOT teach logarithms too early!

The first page went surprisingly well. We then moved into context and that also went quite well. I started slowly by breaking down given equations and what each part means. This related to the previous day's work and so students got this quite easily. We then built equations with information and that also went well.

Lastly, we solved full problems:

I worked through the first one with them and they need to complete the second.  I guess I will find out soon whether or not they did! And I am caught up! Whew! That took a few days! Hopefully I will be able to better stay on top of the blog for the rest of the semester. Happy last quarter of the school year everyone!

Day 17 - Exponential Models

Today students explored the graphs of exponential functions some more. They worked through the following mostly on their own:

The first 4 pages went very quickly and very well. Students got more practice with the Ti-NSpire calculators. They became more comfortable with graphing and with how the machine actually works.

I should have started this the day before when students were done the Eli"M&M"ination activity. While most students at least got through a chunk of the second booklet, they did not finish and the second booklet I want to mark.Theoretically they should work on it at home or during their MSIP, but for much of it they need calculators and many have co-ops that don't let them work on it outside of class. Again, oops!

Yet, it went well. Students remembered how to use the calculator and were able to work through this with just some guidance here and there as I walked around the room.

Day 16 - Eli "m&m" ination

After fighting with exponent laws, kids needed some candy!

I have used versions of this activity in other classes and it always goes well. It is a little bit expensive but I do it whenever I can find an excuse. Students completed the whole activity, with time to spare (I should have started the next day's work maybe?). It was well done overall and students were engaged from start to finish. (Whoever first cooked up this idea - I thank you many times over! Was it you, Elizabeth Pattison? I know I got it from you the first time!) It was a great way to re-introduce exponential function graphs.

Day 15 - Exponent Laws

Back to paper and pencil math!

I need to get students solving exponential equations by the end of the cycle and so I started with reviewing exponent laws. I won't spend too long here this cycle, but I will come back to it.

I started with a true/false to see what students remembered:

Unsurprisingly, they did not remember all that much! Some were able to work their way through a couple but it was definitely an area of weakness for them.

I gave them about 15 mins to fight with the true/false on their own and then took it up as a class. I have popsicle sticks, each with a student's name on it and was able to randomly select students to answer questions. This went very well. Once they had a chance to fight on their own and realize they didn't know it, and once they understood that their name could be the next one called on, they paid attention and did their best to understand. I did about half the questions with the class and the other half was left for them to do.

Day 14 - Exploring Non-Linear Models

Again, I am tired of teacher based lessons, so I pulled it back to an activity.  Students worked through Fold-it mostly on their own:

I did need to guide them a little bit about what was expected in the table. And even though they thought they understood the pattern, *many* filled out column 2 of the table incorrectly until they actually folded paper. So note to self (and anyone else doing this activity): make sure that students actually pull out paper and work through the folding.

Either at the start of the class or at the end, there is a great video that relates to this activity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRAEBbotuIE

It is a Mythbusters piece that discusses the myth of only being able to fold a piece of paper 7 times. It is just shy of 4 mins.

The lesson went well, and got kids minds into exponential relations and how they work.

Day 13 - Linear Regression and Correlation Coefficient

While students had done a linear regression in the past, they did not remember it and they did not do it on the Ti-Nspires. So today we worked through completing a regression, what all the variables mean and what the correlation coefficient was and how it worked:

They worked through it well, but it is lucky I have a small class and could wander while they were working. I don't have an emulator on my computer, which doesn't help, but also, I find that even with an emulator, if students miss a step, they get lost. It is easiest for me to walk around and physically see that they are following along.

Students did follow the steps and the practice went well. I know that it stuck because students needed to do it later in the cycle and remembered how to use the calculator. The work on the correlation coefficient was also well done. The first part of the practice is shown above, but the rest is:

Students were a little nervous at first, but it went well. I am finally getting better at lessons involving graphing calculators! Yay!

Day 12 - Scatterplots, rates of change and interpretation

Today I wasn't here, so students worked through this on their own:

According to the supply teacher, they worked through it really quickly and so next time, I will leave more for them to do. Perhaps the next day's lesson?  They also seemed to understand well what was going on so it really was too easy. Oops! Live and learn!

Day 11 - Answering Questions using Scatterplots

Again we continued to describe relationships. For the first page, we did the first graph together and the students finished up to graph 5.

I then stopped the class and we discussed when linear models may be unreliable:

We talked about reasons and then students finished the booklet. This was a very discussion style class and it went well. These students do well when working on their own or discussing topics, and less well when lessons are more lecture style.

Day 10 - Scatter Plots and Lines of Best Fit

We continued on today with the same kind of work from before Easter:

We worked through the first one together and the rest were for them to work through on their own. They finished it without trouble and I did mark it. I just gave a rough level. It was really well done. Next time, I will push forward. There were a few lessons I feel I could have combined to get through the material more quickly.

Day 09 - Introduction to Mathematical Models

I'm a little tired of boring teacher-centred lessons now, aren't you? So today we did Ball Bounce!

This activity was right before the Easter weekend and students had a lot of fun:

In the first bit, students were doing the measurements and had a couple strategies. One group took a video and tried to get the measurements that way, and others estimated just by watching. Once the measurements were done, all students did some good math:

For a day before a long weekend, I got a lot out of them. Marks for this were really good, so I was happy with the activity and the math that came with it.

Day 08 - Acute Triangle Assignment

I was actually away on this day, and so I needed something I could quickly pull together that was meaningful for students to do. So I actually pulled a grade 10 test from a long time ago on acute triangle Trigonometry and made it an assignment for this class! Sweet! (Yay being experienced means having lots of stuff you've made already!)

Writing about this late means that I can actually talk about how kids did, so that's beneficial! I of course had some students who did not submit it, but of those who did, they did very well. I would say the biggest area of struggle was doing all the work for page 3. Some solved only one part, instead of the whole triangle. I was happy that they were easily able to decide when to use the Sine Law and when to use the Cosine Law. I would have liked to play "Whose Law is it Anyway?" but due to many days where much of the class is missing for one thing or another, time is running short. I will have to be happy with what I am able to do!

Day 07 - The Cosine Law

What comes after the Sine Law? The Cosine Law!!

I started the class discussing the last question of the Sine Law homework where students had to decide whether or not they could use the Sine Law for a particular question. Then we discussed what you need to use the Sine Law. Then we were ready to get into the Cosine Law.

When I started this, I told them that if they only wanted to memorize one equation, they could memorize only the top equation. However, when I showed finding an angle both ways, most students decided that memorizing the second equation was worth it. (Though, I would like to point out, not all, so it was worth going through more than one solution).

I left students to work on the problems as their homework. Now that they know I am going to collect more, they did more. We did do problem #2 together. I wanted to talk about the angles and how the directions work.

Day 06 - The Sine Law

After Right triangles and unit conversion, it was time to review the Sine Law:

We did spend some time reviewing how to label the sides, why we could not use SOH-CAH-TOA or the Pythagorean Theorem and then just reviewed. They needed to practice it again.

This went smoothly. However, we are getting into the time of the year where students are getting lazy. So even though they had lots of time to work on this, they did not finish it. I am going to have to collect more! Sigh.

Day 05 - Converting Units

Sorry it has been a while folks! It turns out that midterm marks + badminton + 2 little kids at home = not much time left over! I don't know how Mary Bourassa does it! Anyway, let's start where I left off:

Students did very well on the right-angled triangle Trigonometry assignment. So today we changed directions a little bit before getting into non-right triangles, and did unit conversion:

This went very well as most of my students are in an SHSM program related to technology. The lesson went quickly and the students finished the work before leaving class. They were good at identifying when their answers were wrong because they had a good estimate in their heads what the answer *should* be. We will do more of this but for this cycle, this was all I needed.

Day 04 - Right Angled Triangle Trigonometry Assignment

Today students worked through an assignment:

Well, we discovered that students are not keeping up with work (which is not a surprise) and that now they needed some help to work through it. However, it wasn't so bad. It was good to stop here and do an assignment.