Looking to Spark Curiosity and Fuel Sense Making with Angle Relationships?
You’re not alone!
For many mathematics educators, there are certain topics like proportional relationships and algebra that tend to ‘hog’ all of our creative time. In our case, we largely ignored creating curious opportunities for our students to explore Geometry concepts like angle relationships such as parallel lines and transversal lines. We would tend to pre-teach the “rules” and then let them work on problems.
Well, in this video, we’ll unpack one of our Geometry problem based math lessons involving shelves that is sure to not only spark curiosity, but fuel student sense making, too!
Let’s not waste any time… click play!
Resources Related To The Video
- Sliding Shelves Problem Based Angle Relationships Lesson
- Explore all of our real world problem based math lessons
- Become a member of the Make Math Moments Academy [Free for 30 Days]
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LESSONS TO MAKE MATH MOMENTS
Each lesson consists of:
- TEACHER GUIDE
- SPARK
- SENSE MAKING
- REVEAL
- REFLECT
- MATH TALK
Each Make Math Moments Problem Based Lesson consists of a Teacher Guide to lead you step-by-step through the planning process to ensure your lesson runs without a hitch!
Each Teacher Guide consists of:
- Intentionality of the lesson;
- A step-by-step walk through of each phase of the lesson;
- Visuals, animations, and videos unpacking big ideas, strategies, and models we intend to emerge during the lesson;
- Sample student approaches to assist in anticipating what your students might do;
- Resources and downloads including Keynote, Powerpoint, Media Files, and Teacher Guide printable PDF; and,
- Much more!
Each Make Math Moments Problem Based Lesson begins with a story, visual, video, or other method to Spark Curiosity through context.
Students will often Notice and Wonder before making an estimate to draw them in and invest in the problem.
After student voice has been heard and acknowledged, we will set students off on a Productive Struggle via a prompt related to the Spark context.
These prompts are given each lesson with the following conditions:
- No calculators are to be used; and,
- Students are to focus on how they can convince their math community that their solution is valid.
Students are left to engage in a productive struggle as the facilitator circulates to observe and engage in conversation as a means of assessing formatively.
The facilitator is instructed through the Teacher Guide on what specific strategies and models could be used to make connections and consolidate the learning from the lesson.
Often times, animations and walk through videos are provided in the Teacher Guide to assist with planning and delivering the consolidation.
A review image, video, or animation is provided as a conclusion to the task from the lesson.
While this might feel like a natural ending to the context students have been exploring, it is just the beginning as we look to leverage this context via extensions and additional lessons to dig deeper.
At the end of each lesson, consolidation prompts and/or extensions are crafted for students to purposefully practice and demonstrate their current understanding.
Facilitators are encouraged to collect these consolidation prompts as a means to engage in the assessment process and inform next moves for instruction.
In multi-day units of study, Math Talks are crafted to help build on the thinking from the previous day and build towards the next step in the developmental progression of the concept(s) we are exploring.
Each Math Talk is constructed as a string of related problems that build with intentionality to emerge specific big ideas, strategies, and mathematical models.
Make Math MomentsProblem Based Lessonsand Day 1 Teacher Guides are openly available for you to leverage and use with your students withoutbecoming a Make Math Moments AcademyMember.
Use our OPEN ACCESS multi-day problem based units!
Make Math MomentsProblem Based Lessonsand Day 1 Teacher Guides are openly available for you to leverage and use with your students withoutbecoming a Make Math Moments AcademyMember.
SNACK TIME!
Partitive Division Resulting in a Fraction
SHOT PUT
Equivalence and Algebraic Substitution
WOOLY WORM RACE
Fractions and Metric Units
SCAVENGER HUNT
Represent Categorical Data & Explore Mean
VIEW ALL OF OUR PROBLEM BASED LESSONS
Downloadable resourcesincludingblackline masters,handouts, printable Tips Sheets,slide shows, andmedia filesdo requirea Make Math Moments Academy Membership.
Use our OPEN ACCESS multi-day problem based units!
Name * Luísa Costaon June 14, 2021 at 11:50 am
I loved this! Congratulations again for your work.
Since I first discovered you all, I have been using your work (distributive property, areas, volumes, mean, circles – loved the pizza!), and, believe me, they do understand better. I am very grateful.
As for your shelves, that’s a magnificent idea! Last year, and this year, I tried something similar (5th graders) with an eighth of a A4 sheet; marking two parallel creases and a transversal, measuring and coming to the conclusions. I was far more directive than you were, though. Than two non parallel creases.
It kind of worked… but not as much as I had hoped.Still, it took me a long time and we are so pressed over here (Portugal) with too many things to teach, very few studentes that know the basics (generally less than half the class can subtact, sometimes as little as 4 out of twenty odd) that, many times, I hesitate to do this kind of activities.
I’ll use your work whenever I can. You’ve been a great help.Reply
on June 15, 2021 at 9:26 am
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the lesson!
Yes, it can take some time to work out the finer pedagogical moves in order to draw out the learning vs. simply instructing. Despite having too many standards to “cover” (North America is like this, too), keep with it and you’ll make lots of progress!Reply