The Glorious Aftermath of a Design Project (3/3/15)

posted Mar 3, 2015, 10:17 AM by Ellen Crews   [ updated Mar 3, 2015, 3:10 PM ]

I have nothing to do. I am sitting in my morning math class doing nothing. My students are selecting a gym for me in a problem that requires them to solve a system of equations. Aside from occasional humorous remarks about the likelihood of me ever going to a gym, they are not interacting with me at all. They are discussing the problem and figuring it out for themselves. Cool! To be fair, I need to admit that last week was a struggle. We completed a design challenge on buying a car which ended up being much more complicated than I had ever imagined. I spent so much time filling in gaps in their background knowledge, I began to seriously doubt whether the intended content was coming through. The whole experience proved very frustrating. Did they actually learn what I had hoped they would learn? The problem I handed out today is one that I created three years ago. In the past, students have struggled and needed me to push them in the right direction to get started. Today was different. Without prompting, at each table the students started discussing the problem and determining the appropriate steps to reach a solution. The only questions for me so far have been asking about the location of the stapler (I found it in the back of the room) and whether they could move on to the second problem when their group is done. I have heard some amazing questions including: “Which of these numbers represents the growth?” “How should we space the numbers on the y axis?” “Which variable should we graph on the x axis?” “Does this answer make any sense?” Great questions, however none of them have been directed at me. They are actually discussing math and trying to figure things out for themselves. Wow!             I spent the last two weeks tearing my hair out over a seemingly endless design project, wondering if I was wasting my time. This week, my students are barreling through complex systems without any help from me. They are explaining, arguing, erasing, demonstrating, and celebrating when they figure out the answers, all without me. I can sit back and watch them learn without intervening.             Next week we move on to geometric transformations, another design project, and probably a little hair tearing. My scalp and I are enjoying this week.