Monthly Archives: November 2014

Group Process Paper – Grading Criteria

Project, , ,

Hi everyone,

I am sure you are all working hard on your Group Papers (due Tuesday!).  As you know the paper is worth 35 points, and I wanted to give you some idea of how these points will be assigned (this list of grading criteria will be developed into a more formal rubric in future semesters).  I will be filling out the sheet below for each paper submitted.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Prof. Reitz

 

Semester Project – Puzzle Process Paper
Grading Criteria

_____ points (3 possible).  Basics/formatting.  Length (1500 words required).  Group members names.  Semester/Date/Course.

_____ points (2 possible).  Puzzle description. Description given in own words, demonstrates understanding of puzzle mechanics.

_____ points (16 possible).  Proof process narrative.

_____ points (4 possible).  Shows progress across various stages of the project.  

_____ points (4 possible).  Includes all participating members of the group.  

_____ points (4 possible).  Includes objective facts (“what we did”) as well as experience (“how it felt, what it was like”).  

_____ points (4 possible).  Tells a story.

_____ points (5 possible).  Conjecture.

_____ points (3 possible).  State your group’s conjecture.

_____ points (2 possible).  Proof or disproof of conjecture. If no proof or disproof was obtained, these points can be earned by clear explanation of proof process in the preceding account.

_____ points (9 possible).  Images (3 points each).  Original or clearly attributed.  Includes caption.  Connection to puzzle/process is evident.  

 

____ points TOTAL (35 possible)

 

 

Videos- Latina

OpenLab Assignments

“Fruit by the Foot”- Shows the math potential of the candy and how it relates to a mobius stripe.

“Snowflake Symmetry” – This video shows the different geographical ways to make a snowflake depending on the number of symmetry.

“Fractal Fractions”- This video shows an infinite possibilities to add a number by turning it into a fraction and then turning these fraction even smaller fraction, and when added together it equals the same number.

Part 2- I must say all these videos are pretty interesting.  When I first watched the (Fractal Fractions video I was pretty confused. I didn’t know what she was talking about, but then after watching it a couple times I thought that it was a cool trick. I never thought to breakup numbers that way or that it was possible to do it that way.

Part 3- This video showed me that math isn’t just about learning procedures you can have fun with it. As a teacher it is important to show your students that they can come up with their own ideas and think outside the box. When they do they can find new and interesting ways to look at a problem. This is very relevant to what we are learning in the classroom, because in the class we are learning and proving why things are the way they are. To do this you must be able to think outside the box and not be so rigid in our thinking. Both Lockhart’s Lament and Vi Hart are showing new ways of looking and teaching math. Math is a creative subject and should to taught that way.

 

Videos – Farjana Shati

OpenLab Assignments, , , ,

Part 1:

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahXIMUkSXX0&feature=youtu.be


“Doodling in Math: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant [1 of 3]”  this video talks about how spirals and Fibonacci are used in nature like in plants.

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIVIegSt81k&list=UUOGeU-1Fig3rrDjhm9Zs_wg


“Hexaflexagons” this video is based on a true story and shows when you flex a hexagon it turns to hexaflexagon.

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK5Z709J2eo&list=UUOGeU-1Fig3rrDjhm9Zs_wg


“Doodling in Math Class: Infinity Elephants” this video talks about infinite series and explains with pretty nicely examples.

Part 2 &3:

These videos were very interesting to watch even though she talks really fast. After watching these videos i felt very inspired and excited because i always knew that math is creative and did not thought that it can be taught in a creative way like this. One thing i learned after watching her videos was that math can be expressed and taught in more fun ways than i thought even though i knew that but seeing her as an example opened my eyes.

Watching her videos inspired more in teaching than math because it made curious of how she came up this idea of doodling in math can made you understand math more creatively and it inspires me to think that it will be my responsibilities to teach students math in a more fun and creative way when i became a teacher. I think there is a connection to last week’s assignment  Lockhart’s Lament because math is an art and these videos shows as an example how math can be taught creatively.

 

 

 

 

 

Want a paid position blogging for the OpenLab?

Announcements, ,

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to make you aware of some paid positions that are available writing for the OpenLab.  I know from reading your OpenLab assignments this semester that many of you are great writers, with unique and interesting perspectives and lots to say.  You can get paid for doing just that!  Check out the link for application details, but heads up – the application is due DECEMBER 1st.

OpenLab blogger and photoblogger positions

Best,
Prof. Reitz

 

Videos – Marina Felamon

  1. “Doodling in Math class: stars “

 this video is about drawing stars by putting any numbers of Points and trying to connect these points together to get a star, and that the more points you put, the more different ways you can draw a star. And the way she did that was by drawing “p” points in a circle evenly spaced and then picking a number “ q” and starting at one point and go around the circle to connect the points until you get your star.

“Doodling in math class: Squiggle Inception” 
. This video is about making squiggles out of squiggle until she filled out the whole page and it can be extended infinitely.

“Doodling in Math Class: Triangle Party”
. This video is about drawing triangles and that everything is made of triangle. The essence of two dimensionality, the three points that define a plane, they are just made up of triangles.

“Doodling in Math class Infinity elephants”
  This video is about drawing any shape you like and start filling it with circles all over until the whole shape if filled.

 

2. These videos are wonderful. The video ““Doodling in Math class Infinity elephants” was very interesting to watch.  I was totally confused watching this video because she talked really fast but ,  I was also so surprised of how can she make this great connection between her doodles and math. I was really inspired of how creative and smart she is . I learned a lot of things from watching this video, but one of the most important things that I learned is that math isn’t about memorizing formulas and following steps. we could be very creative in math by inventing new ideas that will make it more fun and more easy. the question that I have after watching the video is how did she come up with all these ideas because this was inspiring to me.

3. I think this video was inspiring to me. It had a great connection with math from the way she draws the shapes to filling them with circles. I think it is also very relevant to the work that I do in some of my classes. Sometimes when I do not understand something in any of my classes I start doodling by drawing flowers or hearts all over the page but I never thought that some of these drawing could have a connection to math. I also think there is a huge connection between Vi-Hart and Lockhart’s Lament because they both have the same ideas in different ways. Lament thinks math is not about memorizing and following formulas , it is about creating your own formula , which is the same idea as Vi- Hart, she created her own way of math by doodling .