New Year's Resolution for 201/2

                             Image via WikipediaHappy New Year to everyone.  I was thinking about a resolution for 2012 and I've decided on a different take of a familiar one.  I'll attack my growing waistband in 2012 by making it the year 201/2.  That is - I'll only eat half of the food I normally eat.

How's that for a simple diet?  If I have a sandwich, I'll just eat half.  If I have a plate of food, then I'll just use half the plate (no fair stacking).  I think it'd be fair to indulge myself with an entire orange and whatnot, but if I have a soda ... then only half.  Not sure if I could write a diet book on this approach, but I think I'm on to something. 

One of the causes attributed to the obesity epidemic in the America is the increase in portion sizes.  Apparently this is a phenomenon that has been on the rise since the Last Supper.  Put simply: we eat more than our body needs.  Perhaps this is a downside of our modern society, the shift from an agrarian to a consumer culture.  People have come to expect a large amount of food as the best value for their dollar, and it isn't just the fast food industry that's to blame.  Researchers have found that even at the all-you-can-eat buffets, people will choose the largest plates available.  I've been amazed by the portion sizes that come out from the Kids' Menu at many restaurants.  It's definitely more than my children need to eat.  Were you raised to finish all the food off your plate?

I've always thought that schools don't spend enough time teaching nutrition.  It's a popular topic in the primary grades but there doesn't seem to be room for it in the middle or upper years' curriculum.  Why is that?  Can you think of a more important topic than health?  I think nutrition topics are a perfect fit in Math, Science, and P.E., but why stop there?  The history of food could make for a fascinating project.

So while I'm halving my food intake why don't you double your efforts on teaching nutrition in your school.  Good luck to all of us!


Here's a link to an old Google Site I made called Nutrition on the Go!  It connects students with the menu pages of fast food restaurants and has them put meals together for the nutritional content.  It didn't fare well when Google revamped their website creator, but it might be worth a look.

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Global Education Conference & RWM

A unique event will be taking place this week in cyberspace. The 2011 Global Education Conference is a free online conference that will connect educators from around the globe in a series of keynotes, presentations, and discussions. The conference begins on Monday, November 14 and literally lasts around the clock until concluding Friday. You can find a schedule of the conference at the bottom of the page here.  Find your time zone and click on it to link to the session times.  Each presentation listed includes links for viewing the event or for adding to your Google calendar.  

I will be doing a presentation entitled "Connecting to Real World Problems with Google Earth" on November 17, 00:00 GMT.  Please take some time to join me.  Use the session schedule to find my presentation in your time zone or find me in the schedule.  Note that my presentation will be taking place on Wednesday afternoon on November 16 in the U.S.  This is the link to my session in Blackboard is here.


The presentations will be given using Blackboard Collaborate.  Blackboard Collaborate is easy to use but you will need to download a file to your computer for each session and have a working internet connection.  Links to each session are given in the schedule.  Each presentation typically lasts 60 minutes.  Keep in mind that some presentations may be in another language; last year's conference had presentations from 62 different countries.

The conference is a collaborative, world-wide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity.

The conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and projects related to connecting educators and classrooms with a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving real–world problems. Through this event, it is our hope that attendees will challenge themselves and others to become more active citizens of the world. Let us learn, question, create, and engage in meaningful, authentic opportunities within a global context!

 - conference website

Please take one hour out of the next four days to hear what others are doing around the world.  You may find some presentations lean towards educational technology but all should address the global experience of learning.  Enjoy!


Here are a few links for more information...
Global Education Conference website
Presentation schedule
Twitter: #globaled11
 

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New activity - Whale Watch

Image via WikipediaI'm happy to announce a new activity has been added to the website. Whale Watch has students analyzing the sightings data of right whales around Cape Cod.  I think data and statistics probably don't get enough attention in most math programs, so hopefully this will help with that effort. Advances in technology have allowed for a greater amount of information to be shared and studied by more people. To me, data analysis is an important 21st century skill.

You probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that I went on a whale watching cruise out of Boston last summer. There were several things I found interesting on that trip (besides the whales, that is). First, the whale watching companies promise that you will see a whale on your trip or you get a free ticket for another day. I was curious how that worked out money-wise for them but my inquiries didn't gather much information. They shared with me that the repeat visitor normally brings additional visitors so that goes to their advantage. Other than that, they were tight-lipped about the numbers.

The other thing I thought would be interesting to learn is how they find the whales.  It's a big ocean after all and even though the whales frequent some regions it isn't always easy to find them.  The Stellwagen Bank is one such area where whales can be found in Massachusetts Bay.  I started to get the idea for a lesson to find Humpback whales (like our friend in the photo above) and decided to follow up on it.  The only problem was that I wasn't able to find any data.  What I did come across was the sightings data for North Atlantic Right Whales.  I learned that they aren't as plentiful as their cousins, in fact they are one of the most endangered whale species on the planet.  Thanks to NOAA and the Northeast Fisheries Service Center I was able to find a treasure trove of data.

I had originally envisioned students plotting the sightings into Google Earth, but after I had plotted the 250+ pieces of data I realized that wasn't practical.  I went over the entire list several times making modifications with the settings and concluded that this aspect wouldn't be a positive experience for the students.  In the end, I've focused the students more on analyzing the data than plotting it in Google Earth.  One thing I like about this activity is that I state that there are no prerequisite math skills needed.  That seems odd at first but when you are viewing the data in its different forms you realize that you aren't performing any math calculations.  I'm sure statisticians could do a lot more with the numbers, but primarily you're asking the students to sort the data in different ways and look for patterns.  The data can be examined not only by the location the whales were sighted but also the month and the number of whales in the group.  These characteristics alone seem to suggest a great deal of information.  Still, mathematical concepts such as averages, range, measurement, and number theory have a place in the exercise.

Whale Watch is also an opportunity for students to participate in a truly meaningful math lesson.  The right whale is an endangered mammal and its numbers are affected by ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.  The activity has students mirroring what researchers do in real life and I like how it is basically an open-ended question.  Protecting the whales while allowing humans to use the ocean for commercial purposes is a problem that doesn't have a clear cut answer or solution.

I hope you and your students enjoy Whale Watch.  I had planned on getting some new lessons on the website in August, so I'm sorry for the delay.  Some of my summer tasks took longer to accomplish than I had planned, but now I'm free and clear to focus more attention on the site.

Related articles

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Real World Math featured

Thanks to Jac de Haan for the opportunity to spread the message.

What she said

Image via Wikipedia

I just read through Sylvia Martinez's four part blog post Khan Academy and the mythical math cure, and I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly.  Posted back in April on the Generation YES blog, she examines the pedagogical effectiveness of the Khan approach while presenting the constructivist viewpoint.  As the publisher of a website that promotes constructivism in the classroom, I was embarrassed to have previously posted a somewhat positive review of Salman Khan's work.
Perhaps to my defense, I did not so much as endorse his videos as I embraced the use of technology as an instructional tool.  In The Path of Khan, I wrote that the videos provide an option for individualized instruction and that their popularity could be the catalyst needed to digitize textbooks.  But while I suggested that Khan's instruction wasn't that different from a classroom lecture, Ms. Martinez astutely points out that this use of technology doesn't either.  Whether the pupil is in the classroom or watching a video at home, this approach treats the learner as a passive participant.  Again as a proponent of active learning, I regretted my previous words.  Maybe I was just glad to see another approach to math instruction gain popularity.  I could go on and try to retract my words but let me just say that I agree with what she said.

Constructivism is the belief that learning is best achieved when the individual uses his/her previous experiences to create new meaning, or as Sylvia puts it, "People learn by reorganizing what they already have in their head and adding new information that makes sense to them.  No doubt this is at odds with teacher-dominated instruction, but is there room for both?  Can a learner take an active and passive role?  Ms. Martinez seems to believe that it can't be both and I'm not sure I agree.  I think meaningful learning is a personalized process but I don't discount the value of teacher instruction altogether.  Would she presume that we can't learn anything from reading a book, watching a movie, or listening to a lecture?  To be fair, her points are directed at math learning which leads to a lengthy discussion in itself.  I'm referring to the question of what is necessary in a math education, but I won't go down that path right now.

I will recommend her post as a must-read for math instructors (instruction?).  Like Dan Meyer's work, I found it further developed beliefs I already had (constructivism?) and provided inspiration for my future efforts.  I won't discount Khan's work altogether; his intention is to individualize learning which is a worthy goal.  Perhaps what the path of Khan shows us is that pedagogy isn't changed just by using technology.  It's going to take more than technology to reform education.  I'm just glad we are moving forward. 

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What does it take to teach with technology?

After spending the last 5 months training teachers on how to use technology in the classroom, I've been able to come to some conclusions on the subject.  I'm not the first to say it, but it really is true that it isn't about the technology.  It's about the teacher.

Teachers have gotten by just fine with a single piece of chalk for a long time.  That's because it wasn't the chalk that was teaching.  Sure, there are those book things also, but with technology we can provide instruction in ways we weren't previously able to.  Think of it as going from a standard box of crayons with 5 colors to a jumbo box of 64 with a sharpener.  Wow, think of the possibilities!  Problem is, even though you have a palette of the rainbow before you, it still depends on how good you can color.

So what does it take to teach with technology?  It takes effort on the teacher's part.  You need to educate yourself on what resources are available and how to use them.  Your goal shouldn't be to plug a computer into a student.  Each tool and resource have their own benefits and limits, so get acquainted with them.  Decide if you want to color the sky with Cerulean or Blue Gray.  You have your standards to guide you, but you don't have to stay in between the lines.  You have infinite resources and solutions to choose from so you better get started.

You have a lot of ways to present the information, but you still need to think about the information itself.  If a lesson is composed poorly, technology isn't going to save it.  Think about your instructional goals and then choose the best resource to accomplish it.  You shouldn't be using technology for the sake of technology alone.  On the other hand, why do you have that beautiful box of crayons if you're not going to take it out?  Is that interactive whiteboard collecting dust in the corner because it isn't useful or because you haven't found a use for it?

Be prepared for class.  Sometimes you find a crayon in the box that is broken.  You need to have a back up plan for those times when the Internet is down or a bulb is blown.  If you have trouble, you can always ask for help from the teacher across the hall, only now you have thousands of teachers across the hall of cyberspace to get advice.  Become active in a social network to build upon your professional development.  This is where you'll get ideas and perhaps you can help others as well.

If we are asking our students to be creative and innovative, then it makes sense that we should expect the same from the teachers.  Unlike your coloring artwork, this doesn't come naturally.  You need to look for the resources to use and assemble them into your instruction.  The possibilities are countless so the more informed you are the easier it will be to find the right crayon for your creation.

There are very few limits.  If you were restricting yourself to teaching from a textbook before, then you had confined your students to that material.  Would you want to go through school with just 5 colors of crayon?  Google the words "water cycle" and you get over 23 million choices to explore.  Look it up in the back of the book and it will say "p.54".  Furthermore, an additional benefit of ed tech is that a wider scope of thinking skills can be addressed more easily.  Collaboration, improved problem solving skills, and creativity are common byproducts.  Most textbooks aim low in Bloom's Taxonomy, but then again, this depends on the teacher.

If this sounds like a lifestyle change then I guess it is.  You can get by with what you've been doing and save yourself the additional time and effort this requires.  But if you're like me, you'll find a renewed sense of purpose and energy in your instruction.  The common thread to all of this was that it wasn't the piece of chalk or the crayon or even the bulk of technology making the decisions.  It isn't the technology that improves instruction, it's what the teacher does with it.

Photos by stuartpilbrow and Ben Sparks

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