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Activity 3: Fostering curiosity by building problem solving knowledge
Welcome back for our third activity!
For this activity, we'll be exploring ways to foster curiosity by building students' problem solving knowledge with technology-rich tools.
From the video in the first activity, we learned that we have many different opportunities to design technology-rich student work that fosters curiosity. Some of the most powerful, and often overlooked, opportunities use technology-rich tools to scaffold the process of learning. During learning, we can use technology to scaffold the process in three ways:
Procedural or Rote Knowledge - This is the knowledge of steps in a process to solve a mathematics problem, facts about the periodic table of elements, etc.
Conceptual Knowledge - This is the underlying understanding of a concept. Typically this is taught using models and students can draw the models, interact with physical models or digital models.
Problem solving or application knowledge - This is the knowledge of what skills and concepts to use to solve problems in novel settings. Many times, these novel settings are real world situations.
Last activity we explored conceptual knowledge building tools. This activity, we will be learning about how to foster curiosity with problem solving knowledge building work.
At the end of this activity, participants will:
Understand how to foster curiosity with problem solving knowledge building tools for STEMx
Gain insight into students' perceptions of technology-rich, conceptual knowledge building tools for STEMx
Mathcasts are screencasts that capture students' written work and voice as they solve math problems. The concept was coined by Tim Fahlberg. In a nutshell, Mathcasts make students' thinking visible (or audible!) in a way that is much more aligned with the way their natural tendencies. Some students really want to show their work for the teacher, but most find it a waste of their time. However, showing their work is not just a way for math teachers to torture their students! It is a way for teachers to understand students' thinking and expose the gaps in their knowledge. By recording their thinking, I have found that students give me much more depth than I could ever get by asking them to write out their thinking. The other tremendous benefit I have found to mathcasts is that students really want to listen to themselves after they complete their mathcast. This desire opens the door for them to self-evaluate even before the teacher views the video. Many times, students will want to add to their work, re-record or otherwise edit their thinking as a result of their self-evaluation. In other words, students are identifying the gaps in their knowledge, seeking to close those gaps, and wanting their finished mathcast to be something of which they are proud. What better measure of curiosity?!? :)
You can see and hear some of my students' early mathcasts here.
Structure of the Work:
Technology Tools Needed:
Depending on the tools you have available, the following might help to get you started:
Computer - You can use tools such as Screencast-o-matic or Jing to record the mathcast. You will likely need a microphone as well. SMART boards also have a recording feature but this will likely be one student or group at a time.
Tablet - If you have access to one or more tablet devices (iPad, Kindle Fire, Google Nexus, etc.), you can use apps such as ShowMe, Educreations, or Explain Everything. Students will likely want a stylus but can just take a picture of the problem and start working similarly to when they write on paper.
LiveScribe Pen - If neither of the above options work for you, you can purchase a LiveScribe pen that writes on special paper and also records audio.
Math Out Loud is a way to bring vocabulary to life and have students apply it to their knowledge. While we don't typically think of vocabulary work as problem solving, I found that this structure brings a real world aspect to vocabulary and also pushes students to think about it in novel ways. We know how important vocabulary is to students' learning and their ability to apply what they have learned. It is also one of those concepts that is best learned in context. Particularly for the students I taught, many of whom were learning English as a second language, vocabulary was crucial!
Math Out Loud is a podcasted math dictionary. It was modeled after the work from a local radio station called Wondrous Words. I modified Wondrous Words, mainly to include aspects of learning vocabulary that research has shown has tremendous merit. I also posted the podcasts online to give students a wide and authentic audience. By doing so, I have found that students naturally create very high standards for themselves and their work.
Structure of the Work:
Technology Tools Needed:
Depending on the tools you have available, the following might help to get you started:
Make sure you save your audio files as .mp3 if you plan to upload them to the Internet!
Computer - Audacity is free audio recording software. You can also use a tool such as Recordmp3.org if you can't download software. You will also need a microphone.
Tablet/Smartphone - If you have access to one or more tablet devices (iPad, Kindle Fire, Google Nexus, etc.) or a smartphone, you can use an app such as WavePad to record audio. Many tablet or smartphone based recording apps use a file format that is not .mp3 which might not play properly on the Internet. So make sure you can save the file as .mp3!
Consider:
1. Select either Mathcasts or Math Out Loud to integrate into student work this week.
2.Reflect on your experience. What was successful and what were the challenges? How did you see curiosity from your students?
3. Ask students about their opportunities to explore, what challenged them, who they persevered during those challenges.
Once you have completed all deliverables above, be sure to click below to take the survey through HP Catalyst Academy and get credit!
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