Friday, July 13, 2007
Relevance
My response to relevance of middle school mathematics task is a yes and no. In middle school it is good to use task that relate the students’ interest, as it will help to engage them. It also needs to be relevant to things that know about, or background knowledge needs to be given. For example, students in Atlanta probably have no concept of what a yacht is and a problem using a yacht would not make sense to them (particularly without a diagram). At the same time students should not be catered to, or they will only be willing to be involved in tasks that are relevant to them. Talking about a yacht would not be relevant, but it would expand their knowledge base. When these students take a job, the task they are assigned will probably not always be relevant to their interest, but they will be relevant to the job they were hired to do.
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2 comments:
Hmmm I guess its about building bridges then. You may not know about yachts but you do know about toy boats in the bathtub or that pool. Also, interests evolve just like everything else. So consider that just because they don't know anything about it today maybe a compelling discussion will make them interested in it tomorrow.
My thoughts on the relevance of the task is to "hook the students". In reading the diversity book, I remember reading about getting to know the students and bringing their background to the tasks. My task involved riding a bicycle. In order to create the task, I asked my imaginary students if they rode a bicycle. The real task is to teach and to do that I think it will be easier if they connect to the task.
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