Math Practices and Science

Great description on how to incorporate mathematic practices into science inquiry learning. I like the fact that this article's description can support STEM inclusion. I am recommending th... See More

Great description on how to incorporate mathematic practices into science inquiry learning. I like the fact that this article's description can support STEM inclusion. I am recommending that my campus leaders disseminate to their departments.

summary and application about this article

Summary At the beginning of the article, the author tells us that asking teachers to ask students to discuss the relationship between arm span and height is a common activity in the upper gr... See More

Summary At the beginning of the article, the author tells us that asking teachers to ask students to discuss the relationship between arm span and height is a common activity in the upper grades of primary school and the lower grades of middle school. Through this seemingly simple activity, students can quickly learn some basic scientific skills such as measurement and drawing, which will help students lay a foundation for their later study. So in the following article, the author describes exactly how she carried out this activity. On the first day, the author asked students to think about the relationship between arm span and height and the relationship between them. Then the author divided students into several groups and asked them to measure the data and consider what tools should be used to measure the data, and then recorded the data. The author will ask students to collect data from other groups on the second day, and then analyze the collected data with mathematical methods, such as drawing charts. Then each group of students was asked to report their research findings to the class. On the third day, the author will ask the whole class to discuss and express their opinions, support or oppose the opinions of other students, and come to the final conclusion. Meanwhile, at the end of the article, the author puts forward that the activity can be changed according to different students, so as to adapt to different students and make the activity more universal. In addition, this course allows students to engage in hands-on practice, which is also in line with the requirements of improving students' practical ability. Application For me, the biggest harvest of this article is that it provides me with an activity that can be applied in future teaching. At the same time, as the author said, we can make some changes to this activity, so that it can be adapted to students of different ages and cultural backgrounds. This activity also has obvious advantages. It not only enables students to learn a variety of basic scientific skills, such as measurement, drawing charts and so on, but also enables students to participate in practice, which is the biggest advantage of this activity. It is an important teaching goal to cultivate students' practical ability.

Science and Math Always Hold Hands

Depending upon the content level of the class and the skills that a teacher wishes to build, this activity may be modified to be shorter or expanded into an interesting open-inquiry activity... See More

Depending upon the content level of the class and the skills that a teacher wishes to build, this activity may be modified to be shorter or expanded into an interesting open-inquiry activity. Some students shy away from using anthropomorphic data that reflect personal physical measurements but if presented with sensitivity, most students enjoy applying skills in measuring and recording data and making comparisons among science friends to discover relationships between hand, arm, and foot dimensions. As a classroom implementer, I would encourage measurement and discovery in one day and what-if and explorations in a second day. Early in the year, I also would involve the students in designing a rubric so that they feel more empowered to extend their analysis and to look ‘out of the box’ for innovative ideas. The article merits consideration since it takes a traditional data measurement approach and develops it at another point in time when educators are re-examining how science and math hold hands together.

Meaningful Measurements

This is a fun lesson to begin the year with to help students understand the process of gathering, recording and interpreting data. Students are always genuinely surprised to find there is a... See More

This is a fun lesson to begin the year with to help students understand the process of gathering, recording and interpreting data. Students are always genuinely surprised to find there is a relationship between so many body parts. It’s fun to watch them take off and explore on their own to find other relationships I have not presented them with. The rubric given is okay, I wish it were more in depth for middle school. I realize this is the beginning of the year, but I like to have a more rigorous standard to measure what students know. To remedy this, I use the rubric I hand out in class that is used throughout the year to measure student understanding of any written lab. By doing this, I am introducing students to my expectations for written labs as well as allowing me to see what students know in terms of accuracy in measurement, recording and interpreting data.

Science & Math Go Together

In this article the author presents a lesson incorporating both math and science. Students measure various parts of their bodies like arm length, hand span, foot length, and height to make ... See More

In this article the author presents a lesson incorporating both math and science. Students measure various parts of their bodies like arm length, hand span, foot length, and height to make comparisons. An example data chart would have been helpful to the article.