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“Connecting Math to Our Lives”

iEarn Link: ​https://iearn.org/cc/space-2/group-64/about

http://www.orillas.org/math/announcement
.html​​ (<- This link does not work anymore! Is that just me???
-Clair)

Participate Project
Click here to view the rubric for this project.

The intent of this project is for you to plan how you would participate in someone else's
telecollaborative project. If you are planning your own telecollaborative project, then you should
look at the ​Plan-A-Project project​.

Note about Ed Tech Key Concepts


This project might be used to fulfill one of the learning objectives for the Student-Centered
Learning Key Concept in the Pre-Internship Portfolio. You could complete this project without
meeting this learning objective, but you might want to have this in mind when preparing the
project.

1.4 Candidates model and promote diversity, cultural understanding, and global awareness by
using digital-age communication and collaboration tools to interact locally and globally.

Find an existing Internet project and plan in detail how you will participate in that project. You
can find Internet projects in a number of places. Here are few options (see Chapter 4 of the
Marcovitz text for more options):

● The Global SchoolNet's Internet Project Registry


● I*EARN Project Database
● ePals
Many project will give you ideas for how to incorporate the project into your curriculum, but you
need to decide how each idea fits into what you want to do. In addition, you might think of
additional ways to incorporate the project beyond what is suggested. You should:

● describe your curriculum-related goals ​Clair / Carl


 
​The description given for the project is more generalized compared to our curriculum 
objectives. Even though Baltimore County has its essential questions and learning 
outcomes, the standards are more specifically outlined for educators. Both are aligned, 
however, the project meets the needs of middle school mathematics and technology 
goals. 
 
“Project Expected Outcomes: Participating groups contribute a report of their local 
project activities to the "Connecting Math to Our Lives" web pages. Joint creation of a 
data base on an issue of global importance. Data is collected and analyzed by classes 
around the world. Collaborative development of a set of images to serve as a resource 
on culturally relevant teaching for math educators globally.”   
Source: (​https://iearn.org/cc/space-2/group-64/about​) 
 
Middle School Math Curriculum-Related Goals: 
 
Grade 7 Essential Questions (CCSS Random Sampling Unit): 

● When is knowledge about the typical or average 


characteristics/actions/preferences of a population useful? 
● How can we discover what a population thinks or does, without asking every 
member of that population? 
● How can we use data from random samples to make important decisions, or to 
accurately anticipate future outcomes? 
● How can data be used to inform, mislead, and/or persuade people? 
(​http://mdk12.msde.maryland.gov/instruction/curriculum/mathematics/units/gr
7_random_sampling/​)  

Grade 8 Essential Question (CCSS Functions Unit): 

● How can functions be used and altered to model various situations that occur in 
life? 
(​http://mdk12.msde.maryland.gov/instruction/curriculum/mathematics/units/gr
8_functions/​)  

Algebra Essential Question (Inferences and Conclusions from Data): 

● Mathematics can be used to solve real world problems and can be used to 
communicate solutions to stakeholders. 
○ It is important to be well-informed on the correct ways to gather data, 
interpret data, and make sound decisions. 
○ Use data analysis tools to compare two independent groups. 
● Relationships between quantities can be represented symbolically, numerically, 
graphically, and verbally in the exploration of real world situations 
○ The context of a question will provide insight on the best method for 
collecting and analyzing the data. 
○ Recognize when to apply simulations to model real world situations. 
○ Conduct simulations to represent a variety of real world situations. 
● The results of statistical analysis must be interpreted and analyzed to determine 
if there is a significant evidence to justify conclusions about real world situations. 
○ Statistics need to be applied to make inferences and justify conclusions 
○ Recognize possible sources and types of error in context of the real 
world. 

Algebra Essential Question (Unit 2 from CCSS):  


● When and how is mathematics used in solving real world problems? 
○ What characteristics of a real world problem indicate that the situation 
could be modeled by a functional relationship? 
○ How can systems of equations and inequalities model and be used to 
solve real-world problems? 
(​http://mdk12.msde.maryland.gov/instruction/curriculum/mathematics/
units/hsAlgebraI_Unit_2/​)  

High School Comparison  

ITEEA National Standards  

STL 17  
Students will develop an understanding of and be able to select and use information and 
communication technologies. 
 
F. Communication technology is the transfer of messages among people   
and/or machines over distances through the use of technology.   
 
N.Information and communication systems can be used to inform,  
persuade, entertain, control, manage, and educate.  

● detail the technical needs you will have ​- ​Steph


The following items will be needed for participation in this project: 
● Computer(s) - one per student 
● Internet access - wifi accessible if possible 
● Web Camera with microphone  
● Microsoft Word, Math Equation Editor, Skype (if possible), Microsoft Excel 
● Language Facilitator Skype 
● iEarn Subscription - teacher use 

While the project, Connecting Math to our Lives, requires a lot of data collection outside of the 
classroom, students do need to access the website to post the data, discuss the data with other 
classes, and interact with online professionals and facilitators. Students are asked to collect 
data on how math is connected to their daily lives and the lives of others. Students take specific 
data and generate statistics about the community and society in which they live. For this, 
students can record their data in Microsoft Excel or Word (Math Equation Editor). The 
collaborative aspect of this project requires students share their data with the other classes 
around the world. Students will need computers as well as a viable internet connection. In 
addition, the students will need a webcam and microphone. This is for communicating with 
other classes around the world and interacting with the experts and facilitators. Students can do 
this through a website such as Skype. If the internet is not working, then students can certainly 
analyze data with partners or in small groups until they are able to reconnect.  

● describe exactly what you and your students will do for the project-​Mike will
trim the fat of items 1-6 below
● From Mike: Activities in ​red​​. Original in ​Green​​. Feel free to change any of
it.
Middle High school level.
Our Plan
Adapted from “Connecting Math to our Lives” via​ h ​ ttps://iearn.org/cc/space-2/group-64/about 
and h​ ttp://www.orillas.org/math/announcement.html  
Introduction:  
Students will be given post-it notes and asked to contribute at least one answer to the 
question “What Mathematics means to me and how it plays a role in my daily life?” Students 
may complete more than one, but record only one idea per note. As students record their ideas, 
all post-it’s are brought to the front of the room as a visual. Read all notes as a class and begin 
a discussion about how to categorize the ideas based on their similarities. Based on the 
discussion of ideas, students will write a reflection to summarize today’s activity.  
 
Everyday Math in my Community: 
Using previous discussions as inspiration, students will interview an adult (family 
member or friend) to answer the question “How do you use math in your life, job, or studies?” 
Their goal will be to identify specific connections between math and the adult’s life. For 
example, making calculations, handling money, created budgets, taking measurements, 
analyzing numeric data, etc. Students will participate in a mock interview with a teacher to begin 
to develop the questions they will ask during their personal interview. Using notes from the 
mock interview as a model, students will brainstorm who they will interview and the questions 
they will ask. Students’ homework will be to complete their interview and bring the answers to 
class.   
 
Everyday Math in my Community- Part 2: 
Students will work in partners to create a word problem based on the answers to the 
interviews conducted in order to apply mathematical concepts to a variety of situations. After 
the word problems are written, students will rotate around the class solving the problems 
written by their classmates. As a class, determine the 5 best word problems that represent your 
society and record them on a Google Doc to be shared with the partner class. 
 
Introduce Yourself to the Partnering Class: 
Using Skype and the Google Doc, students will share the challenging word problems 
created from the previous activity that incorporate geographic-specific contextual information 
to spur curiosity in other classroom. Each class will reflect on a difference they see in the two 
societies. The outcome of this lesson is to have students compare the similarities and 
differences in their society to the partner class. After having a brief discussion between the 
classes, students will have a discussion within their own class to begin a list of the similarities 
and differences in the two societies. The students will be developing an on-going graphic 
organizer comparing and contrasting the two societies.  
 
Statistics and Society:  
Students will research statistical information about the issues faced in society. Topics 
for students to consider:  
● Population make-up (gender, nationalities, religion, age) 
● Job income 
● Average rainfall 
● Elevation/topography 
● Availability/cost of produce 
Once data is gathered, students will represent it graphically and share their results with the 
partner class. Through a discussion about the results, students will add to their graphic 
organizer created in previous classes. 
 
Promoting Equality at our School Site: 
Students reflect on the issues of equality between the two societies and begin to create 
an action plan that addresses the issue of equity in each society answering the question, “What 
can your school do to address issues discovered?” Students will compare data using rates, 
ratios, percents, and proportional relationships in order to analyze the information gathered. 
After data analysis, students will continue to refine their action plan with the purpose of 
introducing it to their partner school.   
 
Conclusion: 
As the conclusion of our project, students will be asked to complete a written reflection 
that addresses the following topics: 
  
● What did you like the most and least about participating in this project? What 
would you do differently to improve the experience? 
● What did you learn about other societies by participating in the project? 
● How can you use your newly acquired knowledge to help you improve your own 
classroom and/or society? Where is math involved in this improvement? 
 
 
1. WHAT MATHEMATICS MEANS TO ME  
(Product: A collage.) In this activity the students consider their attitudes and
thoughts about mathematics, the role that math plays in their lives, or how they might
use numeric data to describe themselves and their families. They then cut out numbers,
symbols, or other text or graphics from newspapers, magazines or other publications.
After arranging and pasting these figures onto a piece of paper or cardboard to create a
collage, the students write about their work in a paragraph entitled "What Mathematics
Means to Me".

2. EVERYDAY MATH IN MY COMMUNITY


(Product: Report describing an interview. Or alternatively, student-written math story
problems based on the ways their families use math.) The students interview a relative or
other adult in their community about how they use mathematics in their job, daily life, or
studies. Encourage students to ask questions about the specific ways in which math is
used, e.g. making calculations, handling money, creating budgets, taking measurements,
analyzing numeric data, etc. Students then write a report or create math word problems
for their peers based on the information they gathered.
3. AN IDEA OF YOUR OWN TO INTRODUCE YOURSELVES​.
Some classes will want to move right into the activities linking math to equity issues and
social concerns. Feel free to send a brief message telling how math is taught at your
school, and/or a successful or innovative math activity your class has done.
Activities Linking Math to Social Concerns and Issues of Equality
4. STATISTICS AND SOCIETY
 
 
-Students reflect on challenges that are present for each class, propose potential 
solutions (if possible) via detailed explanation on given topics.  

(Product: Analysis of a graph or chart showing statistical or numeric data.) In this activity
the students create or find a graph or chart depicting some kind of numeric data or
statistics on a theme of interest. This might include themes related to social, political,
scientific, or environmental issues. After creating or finding the graph or chart the
students explain the information that it conveys and write about the implications they
think the data projects. (Note: it is important to have a written description and analysis of
the data so we can exchange the information on the network.)
Another approach to this activity, which can be used successfully with students of any
age, is for students or teachers to take informal opinion polls in their classes. Students
tally the responses and calculate ratios or percentages. Then they describe in their own
words, being as explicit as possible, the findings and implications. Finally they can
create bar or pie graphs to represent and share their findings. Encourage students to
address questions of concern to the school and community, analyze the responses by
age, gender or other characteristics of the respondents, and write about their findings in
the school newspaper.

5. PROMOTING EQUITY AT OUR SCHOOL SITE


 
 
**More ideas below for all variations a-d

(Product: Report on the actions students have taken in their communities or schools to
promote greater equity, including a brief summary of the data and analysis on which
those actions were based.) Have students analyze all the biographies in the school
library on the basis of gender, race, class or disability. Students then categorize these
and use percentages, fractions, and bar graphs to help them describe the library's
biography collection. After students have gathered the information and analyzed the
collection, they can be encouraged to explore why the numbers are as they are. Assist
your class in understanding how publishing and power work.
Next, ask students how they think and feel about the people and groups in the books and
also how how their research influences the way they think about themselves. For
example, when girls have gone through books and found only a certain number of
women doing "important things", what does that say to them about themselves and what
does that say to boys about their own importance? We can expand on that when we ask
what does it mean when very few of the people, men or women are Latino, Asian, or
African American.
Finally, students take action to address issues of representation at their school site.
Encourage students to find out who has the power to make decisions about which books
are selected for publication and which books are selected for purchase by the school.
Students might write letters to educational publishers. They can also work with the
librarian, administration, and the PTA, to encourage a more diverse collection of books
and ensure that a broader range of educators, students, and community members are
included in future decision-making. Variations include:
a. Students use CD ROM encyclopedias in their classrooms or
libraries to gather data on the length of the selections for many famous people, based on
their gender, and race.
-Students use searching techniques taught to look up celebrities based on gender and
race and apply
b. A group of students tours the school to collect and graph data on the images that
appear on the school and classroom walls. Whose pictures and words are portrayed?
Students analyze the data on the basis of gender, race, class or disability, comparing
percentages of voices and images represented in each category with the population in
their class, at their school site, in their state, and in their country.
-Groups asked to tour the school and collect data based solely on visuals in
publications/posters around the school.
c. Students analyze entire newspaper stories. They can outline
in one color all the stories about violence and crime, for example, and use another color
to outline stories about people working for justice and peace. Similarly, one can highlight
how many times people of color are featured in stories of crime or drug-addiction, and
how many times they are portrayed positively.
-Teacher brings in a variety of recent newspapers, students analyze whole stories for
inequities, connections between race and a positive/negative portrayal.
d. Students look at front-page photos for one month in three major dailies to record what
percentage of front-page photo subjects are women or people of color and when they do
appear how they are represented, i.e. as athletes, criminals, victims, or representatives of
government or business.
-“Front page flash”, different groups get different batches of 3-4 daily periodicals to
analyze the front page picture and any representations of a high percentage of inequity
based on gender or race
In each case, encourage students to use math skills of simple computation, averages,
percents, and graphing to create displays on bulletin boards. Be sure to ask students to
consider how these images affect the way they feel and how the decisions are made
about which images or stories appear. Students can then take action against any
inequities they might discover by writing to the newspapers or publishers and using their
findings to teach younger children about the bias they detected.

Activities Linking Math to Social Concerns and Issues of Equality


For the project, students will be grouped and coordinated with another class from a different
geographic area

● describe the offline activities that your students will do-


-Students will work in groups to analyze data once it is collected, write down
ideas/paragraphs of work on a given subject.
-Students will have to use discourse to talk through issues discovered.
-As a class and at their seats, students will play a game involving tossing trash from
varying distances and connecting to inequality. Link here:
http://twentytwowords.com/what-will-you-do-with-your-privilege/
● discuss the difficulties you might encounter and how you will avoid them- ​Dave

Any time you embark on a telecommunicative project, there are many places along the way in 
which you might encounter difficulties. Of course one cannot predict every possible problem 
when implementing a project that involves so many parts; however, with any roadblock, good 
planning and help to avoid many of the most common ones.  
  
Language​-Much of this project, particularly at the beginning stages, really revolves around 
looking at yourself and your immediate community and how math relates to your daily life. 
However, as the project progresses, the level of interaction increases. Students move from a 
personal stage to critical analysis and social action. In each stage, students share their projects 
online with the global community. Likewise, students from other countries also share. So for 
students to look at and understand other student work may be problematic if language is a 
barrier. In addition, communication with others may also be a difficulty. To avoid this, at the 
beginning, you may want to just concentrate on other projects and schools who speak the same 
language as yourself. However, within a short time, you will probably want to expand outward. 
In this case, the teacher may want to make use of the project facilitators (which we will discuss 
further down) or even employ a translator to help translate communications. Again, while this 
may be a barrier, it may also be a good teaching moment for students to understand how this 
process works and how to communicate with others who may not speak the same language. 
  
Data Collection​-Depending on the community in which the school exists may impact how easily 
data can be collected. The one section of the project asks students to interview parents, family 
members or community members regarding how they use math in everyday lives. The cool 
thing about this is that the project itself gives an alternative in which students can write math 
story problems about the way they use math. The teacher may want to give students guiding 
questions or ideas of what to ask or look for when the students determine how their community 
uses math.  
  
Time​-The issue of time with this project doesn’t necessarily mean that the activities within the 
project are too long and tedious to complete. In fact, they are pretty engaging and of high 
interest. However, like it was mentioned earlier, there are many different levels to this project. 
And while the students don’t have to progress systematically through the levels, the Critical 
Analysis and Social Action levels are definitely more difficult to understand for students and 
take more time to complete. Within the project description, it states that students may not get 
to the Social Action level within one school year. For teachers, this can pose a problem in terms 
of wanting to see a project through to its end (or at least to the point where students employ 
higher-level thinking skills). Since most of the time teachers here don’t teach the same 
students more than one year in a row, it is entirely possible that students will be left with a 
feeling of “unfinishedness.” To address this, teachers may want to limit the scope of the 
project, especially if it is their first time participating. The goal may be to only hit the Personal 
and Critical Analysis stages in that year.  
  
Using facilitators/experts​-One of the supports that the project provides is the use of facilitators 
to bridge the communication gaps as well as to provide support for teachers. I think one big 
difficulty with utilizing this would be the availability of the facilitators. Teachers would have to 
be flexible with when they would be able to get support. Teachers may need to plan out well in 
advance when using these services. 
  
Students at different levels of math​-One of the biggest issues that may come up is the fact that 
teachers may have students at very different levels in math. While the project is somewhat 
specific about what type of data should be collected, there is some flexibility. The idea here is 
that students will contribute a report of their local project to the “Connecting Math to Our Lives” 
site. The report will be on the “issue of global importance” that the project determines. Data is 
then collected and analyzed by classes around the world with the intent to “uncover stereotypes, 
understand history, and examine issues of inequality.” Because the data that needs to be 
submitted is going toward global analysis, the teacher really doesn’t have flexibility in what 
needs to be submitted. However, what a teacher can do is to look for different levels of 
participation. For example, a student who may struggle with math could identify some ways 
math is used in everyday life and work on the collage part of the project. Other students who 
have more math skill may be able to look at data collected through interviews (also part of the 
project) and graph that data to be presented. 

● discuss backup plans in case some of the difficulties are greater than anticipated- ​Dave

This project does seem like a pretty simple project in terms of the actual working of 
it. Basically, students collect data and complete activities on their own and then post 
their findings/data to the website at which time classrooms from around the world 
analyze the data in order to work toward a solution to a real-world problem. Most of the 
actual work and activities are done “offline” in the classroom or at home. So in this 
respect, if anything goes wrong in this stage, the teacher should be able to correct or 
provide instruction in order to get the students on track or to guide them in the right 
direction. I suppose at a basic level, the teacher could have the backup plan of working 
only within their school or with one or two other classrooms in their district instead of 
having the pressure of posting their data online. In this way the teachers and students 
can get a feel for the project and move at a pace that is better for them. At any part 
along the way in this project if a teacher feels that the requirements are not aligned with 
curriculum or that the students just aren’t able to progress then they should engage in a 
backup plan that involves a local issue. Before beginning the project, the teacher should 
research certain issues that are pertinent to their local communities and then just do the 
same project but on a local level. While this is not ideal and certainly not global, the 
students can then try to connect with other students who may have the same issue and 
collaborate with them. Again, this is something that should be taken into account 
before beginning the project. 

● describe of your plans for closure of the project within your classroom- ​Clair

● describe how you will evaluate the success or failure of the project -​ ​Steph
 
The success of this project can be identified by students connecting to others inside 
and outside their community. Students should be able to show connections in 
mathematical content in their products by using Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. 
Students will also have increased their conversational skills and ability to develop 
well-thought out questions when conducting interviews with adults and other classes. 
The end product will be asking students to write a personal reflection analyzing an issue 
of equality and identifying a connection to math in your day to day life. 

● Carl- Website

This plan should be detailed enough so that you will know exactly what you are doing if you
choose to participate in this project. Note that this project should be of a significant nature,
requiring several hours of classroom time. Alternatively, you could choose a series of simpler
but related projects to plan. Examples of simple projects include data collection projects in
which your students count the number of each color of of M&Ms and enter the data in a website
and projects in which your students enter basic information about their pets on a website.
If you actually have your class participate in this project, include a plan written before actual
participation and critique of how well the plan worked, including what you changed and what you
would do differently next time.

Create this in the form of a Web page and be sure to include a link to the original project's Web
site or project announcement.

Minimum Grading Criteria


● Write a plan (including all the above points) to participate in a viable project that meets
some curricular objectives in your class
● Create this in the form of a web page that includes correct HTML tags (although it is not
required that you use HTML to create the page)
● All your work should be professionally presented, including correct grammar, spelling,
and punctuation.
If the minimum grading criteria are met, you will receive a B for this assignment. The grade of A
is reserved for outstanding work that goes beyond the minimum criteria. See the ​rubric​ for more
details about grading criteria.

What To Hand In
● Copy of your plan/web page
● (Optional, but required for an A) Paragraph describing how you have exceeded the
minimum grading criteria.
● Note that the best way to hand in work is by putting it on the Web and submitting the
URL via the Moodle Assignment. If it is not submitted that way, all work should be
submitted electronically via the Moodle Assignment; you should put ALL files that are
part of the assignment in a single folder and compress it in Zip format to save the files as
a single archive.

Last updated: May 11, 2016


Created by:​ ​David Marcovitz​ and Natalie Janiszewski

Exceeds Expectations Rational

We demonstrated anticipation of long term needs by creating an electronic teacher calendar. It


is used to request lab equipment to facilitate the lesson. We also prepared a detailed
contingency plan for overcoming problems which is addressed in the Back Up Plan on our
website. Included in the evaluation tab is a Google feedback form which students complete at
the end of the project. The submitted answers will be evaluated by the teacher and after careful
reflection, changes will be made.

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