Math Blog 3

1.  What did I learn?

In class today, our groups finished our GapMinder data tables and placed them on display for the class to see.  GapMinder is a virtual program that contains data on various things from around the world.   As a group, we each choose data to represent a story and then worked to compile a visual that would represent that story.  The purpose of this assignment was made very clear at the end of class when we debriefed about what we gained from this activity.  The end result was as follows: people construct data differently and people present information differently.  The lesson learned is that as a teacher it is very important to clearly present; just because it makes sense to you does not mean that it makes sense to everyone else.   

2.  What do I still have questions about?

When group members have completely different outlooks for presenting something visual, how do you help to facilitate the situation so that both views are included? Or can they?

3.  What are the implications for classroom practice?

The implication for the classroom is that required knowledge can be learned and taught in fun, interactive ways.  As a class we were given the lesson of producing a story through a data table; what the story was was left to our own interests.  This gave us, the students the ability to take our own interests and incorporate it into what the teacher wanted us to know.  Giving the student choice in their learning can be a very powerful tool.