Monday, September 21, 2009
Geometry in the Olympics
Geometry students chose an Olympic sport and applied the concepts from our intro unit to their projects. Students had to label any lines, rays, segments, points, the plane, and angles. They were to dipict their sport in a three dimensional scene. Here are the 10 finished projects from both class periods.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
It's Here!
Yesterday, my document camera arrived! It's an amazing device that will save so much of my time (spent printing overhead sheets) and resources (sheets and toner). It also does not heat up like the regular projector and allows me to zoom in on one problem at a time, and allows students to check their entire paper without erasing.
I purchased this Elmo EV-400AF document camera on eBay for $150, which is quite a deal considering a new one can cost anywhere from $700-900. It is an older model, but the camera and lights are in excellent shape.
Students were quite amazed by all of the things it could do. If you aren't familair with this item, it basically streams live video of whatever you put on the surface beneath the camera. I can demonstrate examples and guide the students through their notes without overhead sheets or dry erase marker. They will now be able to take turns showing the class how they solved a problem, without messing with markers and sheets as well.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Multiple Intelligences
On Friday, all of my students took a assessment, identifying their learning strenghts in multiple intelligences. There are said to be eight ways in which students best learn or process new information, a concept that was introduced by Howard Gardner in 1983.
Here are the results across all of my classes and students. The percentages indicate what percent of students identified themselves as having that particular learning style/intelligence on their assessment.
As you can see, the majority of students learn best when physical body movement (kinesthetics) are included in a learning activity. Interpersonal learning (working with others) and visual/spatial learning were also indicated.
I then compared the male and female populations of my students to see which styles were more often designated by each group.
It is evident that the male students posses more logical, kinesthetic, and natural learning styles than the female students in my classes, and that the female students are stronger in the areas of verbal, visual, musical, and interpersonal learning.
I believe this data is a fairly accurate picture of most high school students, though there are many exceptions. This information helps me in planning lessons and creating activities that will add relevance and true learning for my students.
Here are the results across all of my classes and students. The percentages indicate what percent of students identified themselves as having that particular learning style/intelligence on their assessment.
As you can see, the majority of students learn best when physical body movement (kinesthetics) are included in a learning activity. Interpersonal learning (working with others) and visual/spatial learning were also indicated.
I then compared the male and female populations of my students to see which styles were more often designated by each group.
It is evident that the male students posses more logical, kinesthetic, and natural learning styles than the female students in my classes, and that the female students are stronger in the areas of verbal, visual, musical, and interpersonal learning.
I believe this data is a fairly accurate picture of most high school students, though there are many exceptions. This information helps me in planning lessons and creating activities that will add relevance and true learning for my students.
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