what do we mean by length, area, capacity, and...
TRANSCRIPT
What DO We Mean by Length, Area, Capacity, and Volume?
Jia He, Rani Satyam & Eryn Stehr
©STEM @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Annual Conference
Traverse City, Michigan – Aug 2013
Strengthening Tomorrow’s Education in Measurement (STEM) Project
Introductions
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Jia He – Ph.D. student in math ed. at MSU. Four years
working with STEM Project. Taught content courses for Elementary Education majors.
Rani Satyam – 2nd year graduate student at MSU and
beginning 2nd year on STEM.
Eryn Stehr – 3rd year graduate student and beginning 3rd
year on STEM; Taught mathematics and Math for Preservice Elementary Teachers at Minnesota State, Mankato
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Session Overview
• What is STEM project?
• Session Goals & Rationale
• Tasks
• Questions & Discussion
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Who is STEM?Strengthening Tomorrow’s Education
in Measurement
Elementary Curriculum Analysis of Spatial Measurement –Length, Area, Volume &
Capacity
*
Professional Development work with 33 facilitators in
23 regions
Research & Development work
with Elem. Math Methods students and
instructors at MSU
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Why we are interested in this
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Definitions play a significant role in mathematicsDefinitions vary in terms of their quality in curricula“Teachers must be able to choose or develop a definition that is mathematically appropriate and also usable by students at a particular level.” (Ball, 2003)
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Our goal for this session…
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Walk out with a better understanding of length, area, volume and capacity as well as how different definitions may affect elementary students’ understanding of measurement concepts.
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
What we are going to be doing…
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Write your own definitions of length, area, volume & capacity
Explore, analyze & discuss various definitions selected from textbooks•Elementary Curricula•Mathematics content textbooks for pre-service elementary teachers
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Task 1: Write definitionsWrite a definition for length.
Please work individually first, then briefly share with a neighbor.
Brief Discussion: What factors were important to you when you composed your definitions?
*© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Task 2: Explore & Analyze Definitions
Length • Briefly sort the length definition cards into
categories that make sense to you
• Talk with a neighbor about categories & questions
• Brief whole group discussion about categories and questions
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Task 2: Explore & Analyze Definitions
Length Sort the definitions into a few categories
• What were your sorting criteria?
• What similarities or differences do you see
with length definitions?
• If different, which differences matter?
• What are the pros and cons of definitions
that you think would affect your students’
learning of length? © STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Task 3: Choose a measurement.... Area
Volume/CapacityWrite a definition for chosen concept(s).
Please work individually first, then briefly share with a neighbor.
Brief Discussion: What factors were important to you when you composed your definitions?
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Explore & Analyze Definitions
Area vs. Volume/CapacitySort the definitions into a few categories
• What were your sorting criteria?
• What similarities or differences do you see
with the definitions?
• If different, which differences matter?
• What are the pros and cons of definitions
that you think would affect your students’
learning of area or volume/capacity? © STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Across the Concepts
•
• What interesting patterns did you see across
your concept sets?
• What surprised you?
© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
REWRITE & COMPARE
Rewrite and compare definition for each of your concepts:
length, area, volume and/or capacity.
• What is the biggest change you made?
• Why did you make the change?
*© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Thank you!
We want to thank the National Science
Foundation for funding this work
We want to thank you for coming!
For more information: http://www.msu.edu/~stemproj
If you have any questions or
OTHER INTERESTING DEFINITIONS OF MEASUREMENT CONCEPTS
please e-mail us at: [email protected] *
Other STEM Presentations
*© STEM Project @ MSU 2013 – MCTM Conference – Traverse City, MI
Supporting Spatial Measurement Tasks
with Technology
B101 Wed 1:30 - 2:30
Filling the Space in Length Measurement A110 Thurs 2:45 - 3:45