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Being in the dual degree program I was excited about this course for some time. I was finally going to learn all the magical curriculum and nitty gritty teacher things that everyone else seemed to know. However this is not what happened and I am so glad I was wrong. 

Throughout this course we were able to learn so much more than the BC ministries requirements. We were able to explore different ways a math class could look like and how to incorporate different elements into a math class. Its very reassuring to know that our future math classes do not have to be boring, sad places but rather fun places with activities and diverse styles of learning. I particularly enjoyed learning about how to incorporate other disciplines (art and dance for example) into math and as a way to learn math and demonstrate mathematical learning. 

Another interesting and unexpected element were the weekly problems. Although they were something I occasionally struggled with, it was refreshing to see the creativity and diversity of other people's solutions.

Overall, this course was a delightful way to expand my idea of what a math class could be and I am excited to see what will come next.

WURZELSCHNECKE

Being able to learn about the wurzelschnecke was really fun and exciting. It is a good way of showcasing how beautiful math can be. I particularly liked the idea of having the wurzelschnecke learning on different scales. The individual scale allowed me to have some time to get familiar with the idea and some experience with it one-on-one. Moving into smaller groups, I got to learn about some of the observations others had made while also getting some 3D experience. The large scale was very fun because we got to interact together as a class and collaborate in order to get all the pieces where we needed them. This was of particular interest because math is usually so isolating and consists of still work.

Off The Grid

This first stop I had was related to applying mathematics concepts, particularly grids, to real life situations. Although grids may appear to be a logic and systematic way in theory, they may not be the best fit for what we are trying to do. Especially with real life situations where the landscape can be challenging, it does not make sense to force the environment to change in order to adapt to the math. When in the classroom, I would not change the questions so that I could use my preferred method/concept. I would use the method best suited to the problem in order to solve it efficiently. 

This relates to the other stop I had which was in terms of scale. Just because an idea works really well on a small scale does not mean that it will work equally well at a larger scale. For example, if a method resonates well for one student, it might not have the same effect for the entire class. We need to be flexible as educators and able to adapt to the situations we are presented. Our unique landscape in Canada, varying from province to province and region to region should be the main factor in deciding how to live within that space. 

The last idea from the article I enjoyed was the notion of going back to old ideas rather than using technology to incorporate activities and bring life back into learning. Having this implies that our timeline is cyclic rather than linear. Being able to bring back older ideas rather than using new age technology to solve our problems could prove to be much more effective. It also opens up our education to more diverse cultural practices. Students will get a broader sense of what the world is and can be rather than a narrow view focused on one culture's perspective.

SNAP Math Fair Reflection

During our class on Monday Dec. 3 we had a visit from a grade 10 math class from Richmond. They shared their math projects done on a variety of subjects. I was very impressed by the some of the conflicting stories they created and enjoyed visiting the different projects and talking to the students about their processes. Being able to animate math into something fun and exciting rather than just stale questions is definitely a skill. The SNAP math fair really advocates for accessibility. Students were able to express their learning in a variety of ways (pictorial, orally, written, kinesthetic) while also being able to showcase their talents and interests. It allowed students to personalize these math concepts in ways that made sense to them.

One surprise I had was during a conversation with one of the students who expressed that they preferred word problems to rote exercise because it gave context to the problem and offered a reason to do the math (we want to figure something out rather than just practicing techniques). This is the complete opposite to what I normally hear students say. What I found interesting is that many of the problems presented were unrealistic, typical math word problems that would never actually happen in real life. I wonder if the SNAP math fairs could move towards students solving problems that they would actually have.

Unit Plan Draft - Take 2

Here is the link to my second draft unit plan.

10 Rats, 1000 Bottles of Wine

Assumptions:
1. Rats can and will drink a lot
2. This particular poison is also lethal to rats
3. Rats can be used more than once if needed and still alive
4. The poison is very strong and will not dilute when mixed with non-poisonous liquids

Phase 1: Picking the Best Half of Bottles
Pick 500 bottles to open and pour a tiny amount of each into a small vessel.
Allow the rat to drink from this and wait for it to possibly die (sorry rats :( ).


Phase 2: Narrowing down the Bottles
If the rat died:
    -One of the 500 bottles is poisoned so the other 500 can chill
    -Take 250 from the original 500 and mix it into a different small vessel
    -Allow a different rat to drink from this and wait for it to possibly die

If the rat did not die:
    -The original 500 are safe for human consumption and one of the other is poisoned
    -Open 250 of the unopened bottles, mix and let another rat taste test
    -While waiting for rat to possibly die, allow servants to begin decantering the wine so that it will be ready for when the guests arrive (serve snacks that are thirsty quenching so that guests will not be too thirsty hence buying some time just in case, this wine is the better of the wines so guests can savor it while still sober).

Phase 3: Repeat
Keep this halving process until left with a choice of 2 bottles and thus can determine which is poisoned as shown below.

Phase 4: Safely discard the poison and enjoy the party

Method:

After discussing with others in the class, it was determined that mixing wines was allowed and possibly necessary to figuring out this problem. Being able to mix wines helps to figure out which bottles are safe since you can eliminate many bottles at once. Hopefully the rats metabolize the poison quickly so that it does not take extremely long to test. Testing should not take too long if you can avoid the poison until the end. This process will become problematic if you choose the poisoned bottle in every mixture, which will also mean all the rats will die. If you are lucky and avoid the poison until the end, only 1 rat has to die. Being able to combine quantities and then ruling out entire groups systematically rather than testing one by one is a much more efficient way of sorting and determining something. In this case, it also saves the lives of at least 9990 rats. 

Image Source: https://shawetcanada.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ratatouille9.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=605

Unit Plan Draft

Here is a link to my draft unit plan (lessons included).

Also, a picture for your entertainment.

Image Source: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQXrWYA0ZSgXLK_Gm2_00AhN-U-Gm-C6PQJkQoHgFxR5ms_PU11