Math Projects to Build Connections Across Subjects

1. Math Projects to Build Connections Across Subjects Grades 6-8 Lurline Sweet @sweetmath.rocks https://sweetmath.rocks

2. Project Based Learning with authentic audience. • Integrations: art, architecture, history, contemporary world statistics. • How often? Three times a year. What?

3. PowerPoint partner presentation comparing two countries (contemporary stats from the CIA World Factbook): • Connection: Social Sciences • Audience: classmates • Graphing in Excel • Math: • Choosing between a bar graph and a pie chart • Analyzing statistics • Student choices: • which country to compare to the USA • some of the categories (population, geographic area, religions, ethnic populations, etc.) Examples

4. Individual project creating architectural plans and models for a dream house (handout provided) • Connection: Architecture • Audience: classmates • Math: • Scale • Fraction operations • Area & perimeter • Measurement • Student choice: their own creative house design Partner presentation on the history of a math concept and its applications • Connection: World History (6th grade) • Audience: classmates • Math: varies • Student choice: math concept from a list Examples

5. Go ahead to the process of creating a project? (Small group work time.) • Keep looking at example projects? Audience vote Or

6. Individual project creating a picture book or comic book of a mathematician’s life • Connection: language arts, art & history • Audience: classmates, younger children, family • Math: • Math concepts “discovered” by the student’s mathematician • Graphic design, measurements, grids • Student choice: one mathematician from a very long list, picture book or comic book format Examples

7. Smallgroupdiscussiontime We will walk through the process. Or if you’d rather, group brainstorm.

8. One: Connection Tip #1: Ask colleagues at lunch. Unrelated Tip #2: Trimester course for the win. Two: Audience • Younger students • Classmates • Parents • Visiting expert in the field • Letter to someone (gov’t?) Process

9. Three: The Math • Which skills? • How to integrate? Yoga. Four: End Product Once you have an idea, think about an end product you could create for a real audience. Process

10. Five: Student Choices • How will students feel agency? • What decisions will they make? Process

11. Recommendation: Make the product yourself. As you make the product: • Write down the questions you are asking yourself. • What are the phases of the project? Write these down for students on the master assignment. • How long does each phase take you (and then adjust for a student)? Write this into your lesson plans. • What do you do to structure your own work? Take those structures and make them into graphic organizers. Six: Scaffolding & Support • What do students need? • How many lessons? Process

12. Seven: Feedback • Think about feedback during student’s work time, not after the project is over. Process

13. During the first iteration: • Your students will find errors. You will find errors. Take a lot of notes. • Don’t give up after only one iteration. Really. • Earlier, Tip #2 was trimester course because it’s an iterative process… Process

14. Process summary

15. “Not Just White Dude Mathematicians” by Annie Perkins at arbitrarilyclose.com (presented at NCTM Chicago 2017 ) • Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance by Grant Wiggins • Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe AdditionalResources

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