Learning Activities: Week 5

Prior to taking this course on Teaching Mathematics in the Intermediate/Senior Classroom, I thought that it would be a lot harder to incorporate fun and engaging activities within the senior grades as opposed to the younger grades.  However, some of the activities that were explored this week in class proved that even in grade 12 there are plenty of exciting things you can do with your students to keep them engaged in their learning.

Logarithm Dominoes

One of my colleagues made use of personalized dominoes to help solidify students’ understanding of logarithms.  Students played a classic game of dominoes; the only difference was that instead of a certain number of dots on each domino, there were different logarithms.  Throughout this entire game, students were able to practice their skills at solving logarithms.  Each student took turns solving the logarithms and playing one of their dominoes (if possible).  Students were told that each turn should last no longer than 45 seconds.  If a student could not play any of their dominoes, played an incorrect domino, or they took longer than 45 seconds, that student would need to pick up an extra tile.  The person to play all their tiles first wins.

I think that this is a very clever activity to do with your math class.  One thing I like about this activity is that it can be used for many different topics in almost any grade.  For example, this game could be used to help students practice understanding equivalent fractions.  In addition, I thought that this activity was a very engaging way to practice a mathematical concept.  Often, teachers simply assign textbook questions or worksheets with many practice questions on it.  Having students engage in this alternate version of dominoes allows students to practice the same skills that they would if they answered textbook questions but in a more fun and exciting way.  When students are engaged in their learning, students are more likely to better remember and understand different concepts.

If I were to use this in my classroom, one of the things I might eliminate is the timer.  Although I understand that this is so students do not take forever on their turn, I believe that it discourages students who may not be as fast at solving problems.  Students should be told that they should take a “reasonable amount of time” on their turn (encouraging them not to take too long), however, I would not restrict them to a specific amount of time.  Another thing I might do if I were to use this activity in my classroom is create the groups myself.  I believe that creating the groups for this activity could help students learn and practice better.  There are a couple different ways that I would like to try splitting up the groups.  The first way would be to split students up into groups with similar abilities (i.e. students with high skills in one group, students with lower skills in another, etc.).  Splitting the groups up this way would make the game fair because everyone would be on the same level.  In addition, students could help each other throughout the game.  The other way that I would maybe split up the groups would be with a range of abilities in each group (i.e. low, average, and high level students in each group).  I believe that splitting the groups up in this way would allow students to help each other more efficiently.  Higher level students could practice their skills and understanding by assisting the lower level students; whereas lower level students would receive this assistance and therefore better their own understanding.  How I would split up the class would be completely dependent on my specific class and the students within it.

I hope to find ways to use this activity within my classroom, as it is a fun and engaging way for students to solidify their learning. 

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