Under Construction, POST NO BILLS

          One of my favorite things about teaching mathematics is how often it is used in different aspects of our lives.  Using mathematics to determine the chances of a player winning a game to organizing data to be analyzed in finance are great ways to represent information clearly and concisely.  In this week’s resources, we read about Mrs. Omar’s assignment for her students where they made hypothesizes about possible investment strategies, entered formulas onto a spreadsheet, and graphed the exponential curves to determine which investments give the most return (Pitler, Hubbell & Kuhn, 2012).  Students doing a project like this are making educated guesses about different investments, then organize the data to be analyzed and determine whether or not they were correct.  A Constructionist learner uses trial and error to gain knowledge through distinguishing similarities and differences.  I really liked Mrs. Omar’s practical use of Excel Spreadsheet to teach her students how to use formulas, applications of finance and graphing exponential graphs.  The graphs that represent the different investment can clearly show the students as to which investment strategy would be best suited for them, which can be discussed between peers. 
                    In my classes, I have my students make posters by hand where they title the topic, display an example, and writing verbal steps that describe the mathematical concepts.  Viewing this week's resources, I can implement a constructionist project that we observed in Lynda Donovan's class that create poems based on the book they were reading.  I can have my students take a lesson they have already learned and make a poster on a word processor, power point or other graphic software.  Giving students the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned, critically think about the solution, and learning to format the poster on their own.  I can also have my students take turns in groups to come up with lessons that they can teach to the class to reinforce new material.  Students can make slides and choose problems that will point out possible misconceptions.  
                

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist learning
              theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved
              from https://class.waldenu.edu

 Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works

(2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD