Project Based Learning
Students learn more when they are engaged. Project Based Learning encourages strong student engagement by allowing students choice, responsibility, and autonomy to solve real-world problems! This project allows students to utilize trigonometry by calculating the heights of various buildings in town. Students will then develop a study guide presentation to share with juniors preparing for the SAT and Mountain Valley families at the upcoming Family Math Night.
From Trig to Towers
From Trig to Towers Hyperdoc that will be utilized by each student throughout the project.
Reflection
Project Based Learning is fundamental to creating enriching and engaging math lessons. In the past, I have relied on project ideas from Robert Kaplinsky, Dan Meyer, and Mathalicious. I am so excited that I now have the skills to develop my own PBL activities! Now I can create very relevant learning opportunities for my students that will directly address issues or needs facing my students!
I am most excited about sharing PBL with my team! Our small high school has four core teachers (math, social studies, English, and science). It is exciting when we develop cross-curricular activities for our students. We already have a great idea to have our students learn about and bring awareness to our community and state about the dangerous decline of native worm species in the Colorado mountains. Fishermen buy worms to fish and turn unused worms out when they are done. These non-native worms do not provide the same nutrients to our soil as our native species and as a result, the quality of our soil is being depleted.
The more engaging opportunities we provide to our students, the more likely they are to find a hidden passion. Helping students develop their own passions could be a huge step in helping them break the cycle of poverty in which many of our students find themselves trapped! In the next year, student agency is going to continue to improve in my class as I continue to improve by providing more relevant and engaging learning opportunities to my students through the use project based learning!