Traveling Teddy Bears Show Me The Math - Part 1 - An Introduction
Written on March 14, 2008 – 7:02 pm | by admin
Mathematics is one of the core subject areas in any school curriculum, be it the regular classroom setting or the home schooling environment. Regardless of the learning situation, incorporating traveling teddy bears into the mathematics curriculum is something that is easy to do, captures the attention of the student, and engages them in their own learning.
Differences among countries exist, but basically there are 5 areas of the mathematics curriculum that are covered during the academic year. They are: Numeration and Number Sense, Measurement, Patterning and Algebra, Data Management and Probability, and Geometry and Spatial Sense.
Numeration and Number Sense deals with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals and percentage. Measurement concepts include: distance, length, area, perimeter, volume, time, and temperature; while Patterning and Algebra looks at identifying and creating increasing or decreasing patterns and understanding relationships between pairs of expressions. Of course, with each grade level there is a corresponding increase in the complexity of the content and level of skills and knowledge expected of the student. The Data Management and Probability area of the math curriculum deals with collecting, organizing, and representing data in a variety of modalities as well as the reading, describing and the interpretation of the data being represented. In the probability content area of this math strand, students are required to predict the outcomes of experiments and then conduct the experiment and compare the two results. Towards the upper levels of elementary school, students would be required to make predictions about real-life events using probability models. Geometry and Spatial Sense looks at identifying 2D shapes and 3D figures and classify them according to a variety of characteristics. And again, the complexity of the math skills expected would be greater with each subsequent school year. Lastly, in this math strand, students would be expected to understand the grid/co-ordinate system and be able to apply that knowledge in various situations.
In addition to these aspects of the math curriculum, there are a number of categories that the instructor uses to ensure student learning and facilitate continued student-specific instruction. Knowledge and understanding of the content is basic to any part of the math curriculum under study. In addition to understanding the content, the teachers look at student thinking skills. Namely, critical thinking, creative thinking and the process students use to solve problems. Communication is another big component of this category section, since students need to be able to provide the rationale for their answers either orally, visually, or in written form. Having these different venues accommodates the various student learning styles, while at the same time providing the teacher with the information needed to assess student learning and make the necessary modifications. Student application of the skills and knowledge is the fourth critical category. Students need to be able to extrapolate their understanding of their results and make connections between various contexts.
By incorporating the travels of the teddy bear into the math curriculum, the instructor is able to make the material relevant to the math concepts being taught. For example, a simple math problem related to distance and time might look something like this: Sam takes his bear, Teddy, to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. They leave at 10:00AM in the morning and arrive one and a half hours later at their destination. What time is it when they arrive? [primary] They travel at 50mph/80kph. How far did the family have to travel to grandma’s home? Or, a bit more complicated: The family leaves early in the morning and it takes 3.25 hours to get there. They arrive at 11:30AM. They travel, on average, about 60mph/100kph. What distance did they travel?
Whether or not the traveling teddy bear is used in this problem, students still need to be able to compute these answers. By incorporating the teddy bear into the question, it becomes more relevant and more engaging for the student. To follow up: the student now records this information in his math journal.
Check back for Traveling Teddy Bears - Show Me The Math - Part 2: Literacy and Math
Liz Vanderwater is a teacher of 14 years experience and incorporates teddy bear travels into her curriculum. The Teddy Bears On The Go website chronicles the travels of these bears and includes the travel updates authored by the students.
Tags: curriculum based learning, homeschooling, math curriculum, math skills, teddy bears and math