Sunday, March 22, 2015
Meaning to Mathematics
I attended the CUE conference this weekend and decided to focus my energies on becoming more familiar with coding for elementary students. I found that there is a great deal programs of varying levels of sophistication as I expected there would be. The engineering design process is a critical part of getting kids comfortable with coding. Coding relies so heavily on mathematics that I plan to begin to bring it into my classroom. Across the spectrum language, math, and engineering work well together with a bit of planning and an acceptance that lessons fail and can be revised. I continue to look forward to acquiring additional lessons and ideas for bringing real life data and math principles into my instruction across the subject matter. It is through these practices that I believe students will make the greatest discoveries that are meaningful. Not a packaged up curriculum that is supposed to support all learners. If I have learned anything through this process of immersing myself into STEM education, it is that one size fits all is a myth and will never be possible. It is only through students taking the information and applying in ways that are meaningful to them will they find math applicable to them now and in their future endeavors. In summary what I have retained from this experience is that all our efforts are lost if students are not curious when they leave our classes looking for real world application for what they have learned. It is our responsibility to spark that interest by facilitating that connection.
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I agree with Andrew's view of not relying on the "packaged up curriculum" that hopefully supports all learners. Instruction is meaningful when teachers think "outside the box" of traditional planning for meaningful instruction. We can all follow the mediocre way of going about our planning by using the state approved texts to guide our planning. But is this really authentic? My understanding of the "STEM" perspective is that there has to be an integration of disciplines that allow for the weaving and overlapping that enhances student learning by connecting to "real life application". This is what becomes powerful and meaningful to student learning. "How is what I am learning, applicable to something that I can create and has an impact in the world I live in?" Engineering is about understanding a problem that exists in our world and figuring out "how can I figure out a possible solution?" This type of thinking has been the creativity in the human spirit that has propelled us through the generations.
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