Math Connections

Overview

Lesson 1: Becoming a Researcher

Grade Level: 8th
Time: 50-60 minutes

Objective:

Discussing information on communication technology, students will learn the steps a researcher takes in creating questions for a survey. Students will in turn, create and administer a survey to develop a sense of the information they would like to obtain while also distinguishing between effective and ineffective survey questions.

Reading Objective:

After learning about surveying, students will make predictions and inferences about what the responses to their survey questions.
Types of Literacy involved: prediction, inference, and prior knowledge

Standards:

Mathematics
8.RP.2 Use mathematical strategies to reach a conclusion
8.CN.6 Recognize and provide examples of mathematics in their everyday lives.
8.CN.7 Apply mathematical ideas to problem situations that develop outside of mathematics
8.CN.8 Investigate the presence of mathematics in careers and areas of interest
English/ Language Arts
Standard 3
Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.
As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will present, in oral and written language and from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Materials:

- Access to Google Documents (a Gmail Email Account)
- Computers for a Whole Classroom
- Blog Account (Bloggster)

Procedure:

1) I will start by asking the students what types of information they would like to find out about communication technology related to their peers. The information can be either about a specific mode or use of communication technology or very general.
2) The students will Think-Pair-Share about this topic and I will record the information on a whiteboard/SMART board.
3) I will tell the students that mathematicians turn their interests about a topic into a survey to obtain information. The students will start to be like researchers in this unit.
4) I will model for the students how to turn their inquiries into survey questions.
5) Students will break into groups of 4-5 students.
6) Students will, together, develop survey questions based on their inquiries from the “Think-Pair-Share”
7) Students will use Google Doc to add their survey questions
8) Students will upload their survey questions onto the Unit Blog so that other’s can see the class results.
9) The questions will all upload to the same spot so students can answer the questions after they have finished.
10) Lastly, the students will make predictions about what the outcomes of the survey may be.

Accommodation:

Students will work in differentiated teams to create survey questions. They can work together to create at least 5 survey questions that they would like to find the answer to. In working together, the students will monitor one another’s effort and input into the questions.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the effectiveness, creativeness, and relevance of their teamwork and the survey questions they develop. Students will be able to gage whether or not their questions are good research questions in the next lesson.

Lesson 2: Analyzing Data like a Researcher

Grade Level: 8th
Time: 50-60 minutes

Objective:

After completing survey questions and learning about analysis of data, students will in turn analyze and interpret the data they have collected. Students will also use their prior experiences to discuss how they will display their data to others.

Reading Objective:

In analyzing the collected data, students will either confirm or reject their previous predictions and inferences they have made.
Types of Literacy involved: confirming/disconfirming predictions and making connections

Standards:

Mathematics
8. PS.15 Choose methods for obtaining required information
8.CN.6 Recognize and provide examples of mathematics in their everyday lives.
8.CN.7 Apply mathematical ideas to problem situations that develop outside of mathematics
8.CN.8 Investigate the presence of mathematics in careers and areas of interest
8.R.10 Use mathematics to show and understand social phenomena (e.g., determine profit from sale of yearbooks)
English/ Language Arts
Standard 1
Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas, discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Materials:

- Access to Google Documents (a Gmail Email Account)
- Computers for a Whole Classroom
- Microsoft Word/ Excel (Access to Creating a table and a Word Processor)

Procedure:

1) I will start by asking the students what they should do now that they have the information they were looking for. What does this information mean?
2) The students will Think-Pair-Share about this topic and I will record the information on a whiteboard/SMART board.
3) I will tell the students that mathematicians analyze their survey results to determine whether or not the questions were effective. The students will start to be like researchers in this unit.
4) I will model for the students how to determine a good/ bad survey question.
5) Students will break into groups of 4-5 students then eliminate “bad” (misleading) survey questions.
6) After the students will talk about the findings their questions have shown them. I will demonstrate, on Google Documents, how to hide and view certain information
7) Students will then compare their current findings to the predictions they made from the class before.
8) Students will think about how these findings can be expressed to other viewers in a friendlier version.

Accommodation:

Students will work in differentiated teams to discuss the findings and compare predictions. They can work together to analyze the information and judge the questions. In working together, the students will monitor one another’s effort and input into the analysis.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the effectiveness, creativeness, and relevance of their teamwork and the findings they develop. Students will hand in a copy of their predictions page that will confirm or disconfirm them. Students will also record their findings of the survey questions.

Lesson 3: Presenting the Data

Grade Level: 8th
Time: 50-60 minutes

Objective:

After creating and implementing a survey and analyzing the data, students will discuss the different ways to display and present data. Students will develop graphs and other forms of representation to present their data. Students will also make connections across graphs and generalize information, as researchers do.

Reading Objective:

After interpreting data, students will synthesize the information and record information learned in both graphical and written representations. Students will also make connections amongst the graphs and generalize to real world situations.
Types of Literacy involved: making connections (for comprehension)

Standards:

Mathematics
8.PS.4 Observe patterns and formulate generalizations
8.PS.5 Make conjectures from generalizations
8.PS.6 Represent problem situations verbally, numerically, algebraically, and graphically
8.PS.7 Understand that there is no one right way to solve mathematical problems but that different methods have both advantages and disadvantages.
8.CM.4 Share organized mathematical ideas through the manipulation of objects, numerical
tables, drawings, pictures, charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, models and symbols in written and verbal form
8.CM.5 Answer clarifying questions from others
8.R.1 Use physical objects, drawings, charts, tables, graphs, symbols, equations, or objects
created using technology as representations
8.R.11 Use mathematics to show and understand mathematical phenomena (e.g., use tables, graphs, and equations to show a pattern underlying a function)
English/ Language Arts
Standard 3
Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.
As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will present, in oral and written language and from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Materials:

- Access to Google Documents (a Gmail Email Account)
- Computers for a Whole Classroom
- Microsoft Word/ Excel / PowerPoint (Access to Creating tables, graphs and a Word Processor)

Procedure:

1) I will start by asking the students how we can represent the information we obtained? How can we show others what we have learned?
2) The students will Think-Pair-Share about this topic and I will record the information on a whiteboard/SMART board.
3) I will tell the students that mathematicians represent their data in graphical and table forms.
4) I will model one type of graph and students will decide, in their groups, which graphs they could make.
5) After the students will talk about the choices they have made and discuss how they would explain the data to an observer.
6) Students will make connections from the findings to their everyday lives, what they have learned in other classes, and the “real-world.”
7) The connections will be written, individually, and handed in.

Accommodation:

Students will work in differentiated teams to discuss the findings and compare predictions. They can work together to analyze the information and discuss findings. In working together, the students will monitor one another’s effort and input into the analysis.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the effectiveness, creativeness, and relevance of their teamwork and the connections they develop. Students will also hand in a discussion of their findings and the connections they have made to the research.