Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Eric Aegerter
Professor An
TED636
Week 2 Framework Reflection
National University
15 September 2018
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new idea in mathematics, an idea that is highly criticized by many, including the parents
of my students. This new idea, however, if implemented correctly by school districts and
staff, has the potential to change the future for many American students. It is the idea
that ALL American students will be college-ready by not just memorizing facts, but truly
The three principles of CCCSSM are “focus, coherence, and rigor” (Board of
Education, 2016, p. 2). This means, respectively, that there are less standards so that
teachers focus more deeply on the anchors, each grade level builds off the previous
ones with some overlap, and students are taught to not only know how to solve math
problems but also apply them to real world situations. Moreover, there are no longer just
content standards being taught to students, but standards for mathematical practice as
well. These are the standards that teach students the necessary tools to be
mathematicians.
examine the fourth grade math standard 4.NF.A. This standard, in a nutshell, is about
finding equivalent fractions and understanding that, although two fractions may have
different denominators and numerators, the fractions themselves can still be the same
size as long as the same whole is used. Thus, I would use the “pizza party” activity from
Georgia’s math standards. I would divide students into groups of four and provide each
group with pieces of a circle and each one would be the same size. However, each
student would have a different amount of “slices.” I would pose the problem: Suppose
you and your friends had a pizza eating contest and one of you ate 3/6 of your pizza,
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the other ate 2/3, another at ½, and the last person had 4/6 of their pizza. Two of you
tied for first place and two of you tied for second place. Who did you tie with? Students
would then use their fraction manipulatives to place on top of each other pieces to find
out who ate which amount. This activity is meant to be hands-off for the teacher, and
primarily student-led.
The other strategy I would like to try would be “Numberless Word Problems” in
the standard 4.OA.3. These types of problems are meant to provide scaffolding to
students, which I happen to value heavily, particularly because of the highly transient
population I happen to work with. What’s more, I find that students often attack word
problems with whatever type of math they are comfortable with, regardless of what the
problem actually said. They are not naturally critical thinkers in most cases, it has to be
taught to them. Numberless word problems make it impossible for them to do this. They
HAVE to think critically. SFMP.2. “Use quantitative reason” is the primary mathematical
practice standard that they get out of this type of problem. Thus, I would put a slide up
on the TV that states “Michael saw some caterpillars while he was on a walk. Each
caterpillar had the same number of legs.” I would ask probing questions that would lead
to student thinking and discussion such as “What does this statement make you picture
in your mind? How many legs do you think each caterpillar has”? I would then show two
or three slides of the type of caterpillar I want to use. We would discuss more, and
ultimately come to the conclusion that each caterpillar had six legs. The next slide would
state “Michael saw some caterpillars while he was on a walk. Each caterpillar had six
legs.” More questions such as “How many caterpillar legs did Michael see on his walk
then? How do you know? Do we have all of the information we need to answer this
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question?” I would put the next slide up that state “Michael saw four caterpillars while he
was on a walk. Each caterpillar had six legs.” My final question “How many caterpillar
legs did Michael see on his walk? How do you know? What type of math did you use to
find this answer?” Students will learn to be analytical about future math problems that
The concepts laid down by CCCSSM seem extremely practical and useful to me.
I wasn’t around in the days before common core, but I don’t see how anything before it
intricacies of math rather than all of the shortcuts they possible could so that I would get
the right answer. Even when I was getting the right answers, I had no clue how I got
there other than the shortcuts. I feel that I’ve been cheated out of a real education just
because of the time I went to school. I am happy to be teaching kids math rather than
NGSS
The Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) are revolutionary and much
different from all of the other standards, particularly in the way that they are laid out. As
it is state in the California Science Framework 2016, “Each page consists of boxes
arranged in four rows (figure 1 .13): (1) the title of the core concept being covered; (2)
one or more performance expectations; (3) a foundation box containing the three
dimensions of the NRC Framework; and (4) a connection box” (p. 63). It does not simply
list the name of a standard and give a short description like you would see in math,
ELA, or even social studies. If you are able to learn to read and understand the other
content standards, that does not mean that you will be able to understand the NGSS
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standards; it will take some practice. Nonetheless, these new standards are meant to
make scientific inquiry more natural and hands-on for students, tapping into their innate
The first activity I would conduct would be about the standard 4-PS3-1 “Use
that object” (California State Board of Education, 2013, p. 254). My activity will be
simple and fun, yet effective for learning the concepts needed for the student to
demonstrate mastery of the standard. Each student will have a science journal for
recording observations. For this particular standard, students will work with a partner.
Each partner will receive a toy car and something to use as a ramp (miniature white
boards possibly). Students will be asked to explain why the car isn’t moving when it is
sitting on their flat table. After a rich discussion on this topic, students will be asked to
consider what might make the car move. Once they’ve decided on what makes the car
move, they will find ways to get it to move faster using their ramp and a stack of books
to adjust the height from which the small car will roll. In this way, the students will learn
about the concept of gravitational energy and kinetic energy. They will also be working
with ELA and ELD standards embedded into the lesson through the use of writing skills.
My next activity would be for the standard 4-PS3-3 “Ask questions and predict
outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide” (California State
Board of Education, 2013, p. 254). This standard is closely related to the previous
standard, only it explores deeper into the various mediums through which energy is
transferred and the potential consequences of such transfers. As stated in the Science
framework, energy is often defined as “’the ability to do work’,” but the framework
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recommends to alternative definition of “’the ability to injure you’” (California State Board
of Education, 2013, p. 255). In this way, students can relate common injuries from
falling down to gravitational energy, getting hit with a baseball as kinetic energy, and so
on. So, for this standard, I would use weighted spheres of various weights, and
that they will collide. Students will then work in groups of four, trying every possible
combination of weights and recording their observations and findings. This will provide a
fun student-led experiment that will allow students to investigate real life science.
The NGSS framework is the first real attempt to allow students the opportunity to
become scientists. They are able to investigate, use their senses, and formulate
observations and predictions with real life manipulatives. Possibly the most important
part about NGSS, besides the fact that it actually teaches science, is that students are
having fun. Students become more bought it when they get to lead discussions. They
enjoy learning when they get to come to a conclusion by themselves after countless
wrong answers were experienced. They get to see why something works and why some
References
California State Board of Education. (2003). Science content standards for California Public Schools.:
Georgia Department of Education. (2015). Mathematics Georgia standards of excellence (GSE) K-5.