Tuesday, 17 November 2015

SNAP Math Fair Response

Ted Lewis, the author of the Math Fair Booklet, poses some very interesting and realistic key points on learning math. Some people fear mathematics because they think that they are incapable of solving problems successfully, so that discourages them to continually pursue math questions. I know a fact that I, for one, feared doing math when I was a younger, especially when I was faced with more abstract math problems. For this reason, problem solving is a great focus to counter the fear of math, especially in Math Fair events because these skill sets can give everyone an opportunity to think and reason beyond the abstract level, into a more concrete and practical area of their lives. Now that the math fair is not been "graded" or awarded, students and visitors will feel less overwhelmed by failures as they are given the chance to perfect their learning continually and gradually.

If I want to incorporate SNAP Math Fair in my practicum high school at Point Grey S.S., I would first start with the younger grades, perhaps the Gr. 8 math classes because students at this age and grade are beginning to step into a more advanced level of math learning, and they are beginning to grasp math even in a more abstract sense. But of course, I should align complexity of math problems that is appropriate for students in Gr. 8 or 9.

The puzzles or brain-teaser math activities such as the ones proposed in the booklet would be a great starting point for those students to work on, and they should be easy enough for students to teach the visitors, such as families and friends, so they can understand the materials as well. I am also a firm believer that math learning should not be dealt alone. Students can think alone first to process the information and try independently, but ultimately, for more difficult questions they are best solved when students work/collaborate with each other. Perhaps, I can mix the Gr. 8s and 9s math together in groups of 3-4 members. For older grades, I can let Gr. 10s and 11s work together on solving the problems and presenting them to others. Finally, the Gr. 12s will have a chance to solve too, maybe with people within their own grade. Students from the mini schools can work independently within themselves too.

Because this school runs on a tight schedule, with each block of class being only 75 minutes long, time can be a constraint that may not work so well in a SNAP math fair (which can run as long as a day!) Because of the time constraint, I may need to simplify problems and puzzles or reduce the numbers of problems given and making them into groups of 3-5 to solve so problems can be solved quicker as students all pour their skills together. Another way to go about doing this is to combine all the students (from all grades) who have a math block at period 1 day 1, for example, together within this 75 min, then divide them based on their grade levels to avoid unfair math competencies. Once that is done, we move on to the next block. For presentations, students can continue to work and perfect their work on a day 1 again so visitors can come and solve themselves with guidance from the students.

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