One of
the things I really love about teaching is getting to know my students. Not
just how they learn math, but who they are as people. I have found that
students tend to do better when they feel valued as a person by their instructor.
(I know there are studies about this, and I will post those in the near
future.) One way I have found to get to know my students, while helping them
feel less intimidated about math is by assigning a final project in lieu of a
comprehensive final. I knew professors who would assign projects in Math
for Liberal Arts Majors type classes, but it took me awhile to figure out how I
could apply this idea to my classes.
When I taught Basic Math Skills I
would have students stick to finding the subjects we are covering in class out
in the 'real world:' whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents. In all
of the other developmental classes I allow the students more freedom in
choosing what their project will consist of. I have also included intermediate
deadlines to, ho
At the beginning of the semester I
give my students the following:
One of the hardest things for
Math Students to do is to feel that there is a connection between what they are
doing in class and what they do in the “real world” outside of the classroom. What this final project is getting you
to think about more than the computations that you do in math class. You have a lot of leeway in the
subject that you can choose, and the way you choose to present the material. A rubric of how I will grade your
project is attached. If you
have any questions about how to make sure that you meet all of the
requirements, please make sure to ask.
Possible Projects:
·
A history of your
mathematical journey, including your history and your progression this
semester.
·
An examination of how
mathematics is used in the career that you are planning to go into, or the
career you have now, or the career you had before coming back to school.
·
Research a
mathematician. Include some discussion of what about them makes them so
interesting to you as well as, as best you can, some stuff about their
mathematics.
·
Research a different
number system.
·
Research the history
of mathematics. Not all of it, but some area of the history that grabs your
interest.
These are just possible
projects, but it is in no way an exhaustive list. If you have an idea on what you want
to do that is not on this list, feel free to propose that as a topic.
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In the
future I would like to team up with an English Instructor, but right now I tell
students that I would rather not have them turn in a research paper, but to
think more creatively. I get a lot of poster boards, and this semester I got
three PowerPoint presentations – I really like those, they can just email them
to me.
Three students in my class this
semester are on the basketball team, so they did different projects on
basketball and mathematics. With one of them figuring out the physics of his
jump shot.
Because
our community college offers both a certificate and a degree in welding I
usually get at least one project on math in welding, which has given rise to
some interesting builds from my students, from a pseudo-dagger to a bench made
from two metal barrels.
Last
spring one student’s project was based on a paper for one of her honors class
about the benefits of nuclear energy, and the dire ecological circumstances if
current energy policies continue.
One
student this semester chose to make a short story about her ‘Mathematical
Journey,’ complete with stick figure illustrations, and some hashtags based on
silly things I have said in class.
#MyBrainistoast
#Mybookwentintoanotherdimension
(that one I will have to explain later)
A few
times I have had students who are very artistic: a painting of a skyline,
a pagoda with Chinese numbers.
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