Traveling Teddy Bears Show Me the Math – Part 2 – Literacy and Math
The area of mathematics does not function in isolation. The use of literacy skills in the form of the written word, oral communication and media allow for active conundrum solving within the context of the mathematics curriculum. Traveling teddy bears is a means by which students are actively engaged in their own learning. The reason for this is since the class set of teddy bears is traveling around the world and the various mathematical concepts are adapted within the class background, to the information that arrives in the classroom, as a result of the teddy bear travels.
Before delving into the integration of literacy and math, the word, literacy, needs to be defined. There are 4 areas within the Foreign language curriculum: Reading, Prose, Oral Foreign language and Media. According to Glossary.com, literacy makes direct reference to the state of being literate [having knowledge and skill] in the areas of reading and prose. Literacy also refer to ones knowledge in a particular area. For model: media literacy. The oral foreign Foreign language form refers to a apprentice's ability to converse and express thoughts and thoughts using the spoken word. These 4 areas, defined in the foreign Foreign language curriculum, are easily integrated into the mathematics curriculum.
What further facilitates the combination of literacy and math is the incorporation of the information expected from the traveling teddy bears: as the teddy bears experience the world, their traveling companions send back adventure tales to the classroom, or back to the apprentice via email.
This is best illustrated using the following model. [Note: the teddy bear's name is real, the destinations are real and creative license has been used for elucidatory purposes].
Iggy, the teddy bear was excited about his new journey. The traveling companion packed up his journal, bought him a warm sweater, and collectively with his travel bag, Iggy and the first traveling companion set off for California. There they loved the sunsets and the beaches. After staying a couple of days, Iggy met a couple of other travelers who were going on a cruise to the Antarctic, so he was invited to tag along. What an adventure this was going to be for Iggy. One of their stops was in Buenos Aires, South America. Iggy could hardly contain his excitement when he had his picture taken with a number of dolls and toys that he befriended at one of the stores. Later, after having arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, Iggy had his photo taken on a mail box and with a member of the cruise ship. They cruised across Cape Horn, saw icebergs, traveled in a zodiac to see the whales, and landed on Antarctica to visit with Gentoo penguins, sea lions and other inhabitants. Iggy wanted to travel the penguin highways, but the traveling companions thought it best not to ride those slippery slopes.
Using the information in Iggy's tale, possible math questions for the apprentice to answer might look something like this. How long did it take for Iggy to travel from Point A to Point B? What was the space traveled by Iggy the teddy bear? What temperatures did Iggy experience at his various destinations? [this might involve further research if the traveling companion did not record it in the teddy bear's journal] What are penguin highways and what is the average space of a penguin highway? What is the space linking Ushuaia and Antarctica? How cold is the water where Iggy traveled? How does that compare with the temperatures experienced where you live? Gather data of dates, locations, times, and temperatures during Iggy's travels. Graph results using bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs. Do you notice patterns with your results?
During the course of answering the math related questions, the apprentice would be using reading [reading the conundrum, research as required by the conundrum], prose [using the written word to record information], and oral foreign Foreign language to converse the results of the conundrum. As a possible additional room to this math conundrum, a media presentation place collectively to converse this information into a math tale would round out the literacy and math connection.
Teddy bears and their travels not only benefit the students, but their ownership of the bears makes a sense of stanchness to the scheme and enthusiasm to want to work with information about their teddy bears. Teachers benefit since their students are motivated. Another benefit to teachers is the reduction in the number of evaluative skill required to assess the apprentice: a multi-step mathematics conundrum integrates literacy concepts and math concepts thereby reducing the need for separate assessment vehicles. By following this deal with, aspects of reading, prose, oral communication and media literacy can be evaluated at the same time assessment is being made of the math concepts being taught.
Mathematics is often viewed as a separate entity in the curriculum. By incorporating tales and adventures of teddy bear travels into the math curriculum, a number of benefits accrue: apprentice communication of the results integrates the literacy element of the curriculum, it enhances and motivates apprentice learning, and the integration reduces the number of assessment vehicles required by teachers in the evaluation of their students.
Check back for Traveling Teddy Bears Show Me The Math - Part 3 - Thought and Math
Author: Liz Vanderwater
Condition Source: EzineArticles.com
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