This is an old activity that was created by some folks at OAME. I especially liked the first table where students had to decide which situations were describing annuities and which were not. Most could do this without trouble but there were a couple sticking points. If you search "annuity" in Google, the definition that comes up is "a fixed sum of money paid to someone each year, typically the rest of their life". This definition is not a very good one when students are trying to understand an annuity in a mathematical context. The table that follows on page one allowed students to see examples and non-examples, in a borrowing and investing context. If students needed to look up the definition, this table allowed them to deepen their understanding and be able to understand beyond the Google definition.
The challenge is getting students to write more. I want them to give me complete answers. I think that I need to be more creative in that. Maybe I need to have them take their answers and make a video on Explain Everything that will allow them to expand on their answers and show me what they really know instead of the one word answers that they are giving me. Either way, students definitely need more time. I had to leave early but because of discussion that we, as a class, had at the start of the period, students did not get through this. I will give them an extra period to work on this. I think it is worth my time! So stay tuned for how day 2 of this activity goes!
No comments:
Post a Comment