Before I give this assignment, I want to comment on the insightful posts on comparison of the math & science standards. It is a bit lengthy, but I wanted to share important ideas!
History of math: is it important to the teaching.
Well, I would say it is! The invention of zero changed the way we write numbers!
The Roman Numerals just didn’t get it!
Historical figures are important in both math and science. I agree with those that mentioned bringing in this information to elementary school. Context and connections make a huge difference for students. Someone mentioned learning about π (pi), and the history: connections and applications are important in true conceptual understanding!
One person commented the breakdown of standards may be due to different level of thinking by grade level? Well, I would contend that the teaching of ANY new concept should be done in a concrete manner. Abstract thinking doesn’t develop too much until later in elementary school.
Does the administration know if you miss a standard? GREAT question! I would say most administrators are interested in meeting AYP (annual yearly progress). They are not necessarily interested in meeting standards UNLESS they are tested. Testing is a huge component and important to think about.
Do math standards develop or change over time?
YES. NCTM was the first organization to set forth standards in the late 80’s, revised them in 2000 and now have targeted Three Focal Points for each grade level.
Priorities in teaching standards: I would say address the focal points, but also know what is being tested in the grade you are teaching.
Are standards fair with different learning styles?
I think some are confusing standards with teaching strategies. To meet the teaching on number sense, one can Stand and Deliver or teach student-centered. I don’t think any math standard sets forth HOW to teach, that is up to the teacher.
WEEK # 4 Assignment
You have seen how integrated math and science are with the SAE curriculum (Jet Toy). Now compare with AIMS or GEMS. Please make sure you find mathematics integrated more than just graphing data. That is a fault of some programs "integrating" mathematics. There is so much more than just making a graph. Please research these ways.
When looking in the TRC, please find a different AIMS or GEMS topic than already posted! There are numerous titles from which to choose!
Click on the grade level to see these same questions to post by grade levels in which you are placed!
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5 comments:
After exploring one example of the GEMS program, I found that GEMS offers a different, though equally engaging science and math experience for students! I chose Schoolyard Ecology, a 3rd-6th grade GEMS teacher’s guide. Schoolyard Ecology offered five wonderful activities, all revolving around the exploration of life within the school grounds.
The primary difference that I’ve found between the SAE and GEM program so far (given my little experience with them) is that the SAE curriculum has thus far, dealt exclusively with physical science, where as the GEM curriculum extends its reach into multiple sub-disciplines. For example, in activity 1 :Exploring the Schoolyard Study Area within Schoolyard Ecology, students closely observe and interact with a particular area of the schoolyard’s plants and animals, create maps of the area in which they are observing and monitor the changing whether and temperature at their school daily.
There are a number of ways that you could use the suggestions outlined in this book to successfully integrate math into this lesson. One example is to introduce scale to your students, prior to them mapping out their observed portion of the schoolyard. This covers Montana Math Content Standards 4 and 5 (measurement, shape, geometry).
In the trc I found a great AIMS activities book named Popping With Power. This 3-4 grade activities book was filled with some real awesome lessons. There were over a dozen related lessons with a very helpful "Index of Skills." In this were all of the math skills and science processes which are in this group of activities. I thought this was pretty cool, it would probably save some time while searching for the lesson which will best fit the skill your trying to get your students to master. Each lesson also comes with it's own, different, activity page for students to collect data, predict, and to graph.
I found these two different types of programs very similar, like keven said, with very little experience in either case. The one main difference was how we collected the data and what was given to us to do so. In AIMS the procedure is more set out for you, rather than having the students choose the experiement depending on what kind of data they wanted to collect (like we did with the jet toy). Another difference,like i mentioned before, was how the index has written out for you what math skills you are intergrating. For example; Averaging, Counting, Estimating, Geometry, Graphs, Measurement... and more!
I explored the GEMS program, and I also agree with Kevin that it offers well written and diverse lessons. It uses many hands on activities to get the students envolved and learning the material at their best potential.
I chose the lesson # 1 The Honeybee,on Buzzing A Hive. This lesson looked at what a bee is made up of and what different kinds of parts a bee has. The children learn these different parts and then have the chance to create thier own bee. Unlike the SAE program GEMS is very structured and the lessons are all planned out for you with no room left for integration of other ideas.
There are many ways to integrate math with this lesson. This lesson if for K-3 grade levels. When making their bees the children would have to know how many of each body part was needed to make the bee correctly. For example the bee has five eyes, six legs, three body sections. The students could also compare their bee model to an actual size of a bee by first measuring their own model and then researching how big a real bee is. This would cover the math content standard for measurement.
I chose a lesson called "Bees and Flowers, Pollen and Nectar" from the "Buzzing A Hive" teacher's guide. The lesson is intended for grades K-3, but also includes modifications for Preschool students. The purpose of this lesson is to teach students how bees collect pollen, carry it, and use it. There are a few activities that aid the students in exploring this process. For example, the students pretend that cotton balls are bees and roll them around in real flowers. By doing this, the students discover what pollen is and where it comes from.
After reading through this lesson and others found in the GEMS teacher guide I compared it with the SAE program. I noticed that the GEMS program was very teacher oriented. With each lesson, a time frame was provided and step-by-step instructions were given on the materials needed, preparation requirements and directions for what the students would be doing. In contrast, the SAE program seemed to be far more student-oriented and less structured.The Jet Toy lesson, for example, was an open activity that encouraged the students to experiment, collect data, and form their own opinions/hypothesis.
The "Bees and Flowers, Pollen and Nectar" lesson integrates math in several ways. First, the students must count out and collect a certain number of flower "components"(eg. 1 stem, 1 leaf, 1 stamen, 4 pollen, etc) in order to create their own flower. This lesson also covers shape, for example the stem of the flower is a rectangle and the petals on the flower are triangles.
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