Connecting Measurement and Architecture: Building an Inflatable

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 144-149
Author(s):  
Elizabeth D. Gray ◽  
Denise Tullier-Holly
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Real World ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Classroom Experiences ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Real ◽  
Mathematical Connections ◽  
Principles And Standards

Middle school students need to see connections between mathematics and the real world. However, they often learn mathematics as a set of distinct topics or separate strands, because a majority of the available textbooks tends to present it that way, and teachers tend to follow the textbooks. According to Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 2000), our students should be made aware of mathematical connections explicitly so that the manner in which topics are connected is obvious. McClain (1996) suggests that if teachers offer classroom experiences in which students can see connections, then “the vibrant discipline of mathematics actively engages students in their own learning” (p. 682).

Integrating Mathematics and Social Issues

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 270-276
Author(s):  
Gregory K. Harrell
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Real World ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Real ◽  
Community Issues ◽  
Principles And Standards

The Connections Standard in grades 6–8 in Principles and Standards for School Mathematics recommends that middle school students “recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics” (NCTM 2000, p. 274). This goal can be reached by providing students with rich problem contexts that involve connections to the real world (NCTM 2000). To find such contexts, mathematics teachers can look to the local community, because our culture influences the mathematics we do and influences the issues that are important to us. If teachers present students with interdisciplinary experiences within the context of local community issues, students will understand the usefulness of mathematics and it will help them develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become active participants in their communities (Zaslavsky 1996).

The Arcs of Archaeology

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 688-693
Author(s):  
Bonnie S. Spence
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Real World ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hands On ◽  
New Ideas

For the past several years, i have sought out opportunities outside mathematics for personal enrichment and enjoyment. These experiences have caused me to become more aware of the connections between mathematics and other areas. As a result, I have begun developing lessons to show my students how mathematics is used in the real world. One summer I joined another teacher and twelve middle school students and decided to brave the eighteen-hour drive from Oklahoma to the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Co1tez, Colorado. The mathematical lesson discussed in this article emerged from one week of learning about the Anasazi culture and experiencing hands-on archaeology. Throughout the years, this lesson has been revised and expanded as both students and experience have given me new ideas.

Take Time For Action: The Number of Trials Does Matter

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-108
Author(s):  
Leslie Aspinwall ◽  
James Tarr
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
School Students ◽  
Principles And Standards

PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL Mathematics (NCTM 2000) calls for middle school students to develop and evaluate inferences that are based on data. Combining or “pooling” data from simulations reduces the likelihood of drawing incorrect inferences. But are your students aware that more accurate inferences can be drawn from larger sets of data and that smaller samples are more likely to produce unusual results?

Fermi Questions

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-167
Author(s):  
Germaine L. Taggart ◽  
Paul E. Adams ◽  
Ervin Eltze ◽  
John Heinrichs ◽  
James Hohman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Real World ◽  
Real Life ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Real ◽  
Life Problems

How middle school students view mathematics is a function of what they learn and how they learn it. Evidence from actual classrooms shows that a serious disconnection sometimes occurs between what students think mathematics can deliver and the real world (Burrill 1997). Students must have the opportunity to discover multiple ways to solve real-life problems through problem solving, using estimation and conjecture, and developing critical communication skills in the classroom.

Short Takes: Another Good Idea: Pasta Symmetry

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 516-517
Author(s):  
Tara Windle
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Middle Grades ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Rotational Symmetry ◽  
Authentic Assessment ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
School Students ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
Principles And Standards

Students enjoy the chance to be creative, especially those in the middle grades. Teachers can channel that creative energy into an authentic assessment tool that students will love. Principles and Standards for School Mathematics states that students in middle school are expected to “apply transformations and use symmetry to analyze mathematical situations” (p. 232). Our students have also been challenged to “recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics” (p. 274) and to “create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas” (p. 280). Using card-stock paper, glue, gold spray paint (optional), and as many varieties of pasta as I could find, I gave my sixthgrade middle school students the opportunity to convince me that they understood the concepts of reflectional and/or rotational symmetry while creating a unique piece of art.

Spotlight on the Principles/Standards: Measurement in the Middle Grades

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-156
Author(s):  
Robert Berry ◽  
Joyce Wiggins
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Real World ◽  
Middle Grades ◽  
Angle Measurement ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Real

People use measurement ideas everyday because the ideas arise out of the need to compare attributes of the real world and because humans are naturally inclined to make comparisons. Comparison is the basis for measurement. We make simple comparisons, such as that “the width of the desk is about an arms length,” and complex comparisons expressed in terms of precise numerical measurements. Although measurement encompasses such topics as time, temperature, length, perimeter, and volume, this article specifically focuses on how middle school students learn about angle measurement.

Lollipop Statistics

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-15
Author(s):  
Dianne S. Goldsby
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Middle School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
School Students ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Principles And Standards

AS NCTM'S Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000) points out, students should work directly with data to understand the fundamentals of statistical ideas. Teachers should also introduce statistics in a way that will capture the attention of students of varying abilities and interests. The constructivist approach to teaching emphasizes the idea that students work better when presented with tasks that are meaningful and relevant; in other words, they expend energy on topics that interest them (Brahier 2000). One way to harness that energy in the classroom is to teach with music, an area of interest for most middle school and high school students. This article describes the use of the 1950s hit “Lollipop” (Ross and Dixon 1986), heard in the movie Stand by Me, as a launching point to introduce ideas of counting, working with frequency tables, and graphing data.

The SOAR Strategies for Online Academic Research

2016 ◽  
pp. 68-104
Author(s):  
Carolyn Harper Knox ◽  
Lynne Anderson-Inman ◽  
Fatima E. Terrazas-Arellanes ◽  
Emily Deanne Walden ◽  
Bridget Hildreth
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Real World ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Students With Learning Disabilities ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Real ◽  
Instructional Needs ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
The University

Students often struggle when conducting research online, an essential skill for meeting the Common Core State Standards and for success in the real world. To meet this instructional challenge, researchers at the University of Oregon's Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE) developed, tested, and refined nine SOAR Strategies for Online Academic Research. These strategies are aligned with well-established, research-based principles for teaching all students, with particular attention to the instructional needs of students with learning disabilities. To support effective instruction of the SOAR Strategies, researchers at CATE developed a multimedia website of instructional modules called the SOAR Toolkit. This chapter highlights the real world importance of teaching middle school students to conduct effective online research. In addition, it describes the theoretical and historical foundations of the SOAR Strategies, instructional features of the SOAR Toolkit, and research results from classroom implementations at the middle school level.

Birthdays and the Binary System: A Magical Mixture

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
Karen S. Karp ◽  
Robert N. Ronau
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Binary System ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
School Level ◽  
Birth Date ◽  
School Students ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
System A ◽  
Middle School Level

Middle school students rank their birthday as being the most important day of the year for them and one that they eagerly anticipate, according to an informal poll. Teachers can capitalize on this interest by engaging them in the mathematical birth-date activities described in this article. Applications and tasks that are relevant to students' lives have been shown to motivate students at the middle school level, according to the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989).

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