Mathematics Units
Understanding Correlation
One unit I have taught with Upward Bound students (in grades 9th-12th) is on correlation. While most students are familiar with scatterplots and basic correlation (positive and negative), many have not explored higher than this, to lines of best fit, the correlation coefficient, and residuals. In this unit, students spend time on each of these topics before taking several days to research their own data on a topic related to the Olympics, then use this data to perform correlation calculations and make judgments about the data. This unit encompasses about ten days. The majority of the learning is discovery-based, with students using computer simulations to uncover patterns and form definitions and concepts. Most work is included in the PDF packet below.
One unit I have taught with Upward Bound students (in grades 9th-12th) is on correlation. While most students are familiar with scatterplots and basic correlation (positive and negative), many have not explored higher than this, to lines of best fit, the correlation coefficient, and residuals. In this unit, students spend time on each of these topics before taking several days to research their own data on a topic related to the Olympics, then use this data to perform correlation calculations and make judgments about the data. This unit encompasses about ten days. The majority of the learning is discovery-based, with students using computer simulations to uncover patterns and form definitions and concepts. Most work is included in the PDF packet below.
Student Work Packet for Correlation Unit | |
File Size: | 725 kb |
File Type: |
Quadrilaterals
The complete unit I created during my undergraduate career was on quadrilaterals and focused on reasoning skills, classification qualities, and geometry in the real world. In this unit, which lasted for approximately four weeks, students learned about each of the different types of quadrilaterals and their properties. Students investigated each type to discover their unique properties, and then applied these to write proofs for more theorems. This unit plan included computer activities, discovery labs, quizzes, a test, and homework assignments. The culminating project was a performance task where students could choose to be a tile layer or a quilter, and they had to create a design that used several different quadrilaterals. They then had to calculate the areas of these shapes to determine how much of each material would be needed. Each of the activities in this unit allowed for a lot of student choice and helped them recognize how these quadrilaterals worked in the real world.
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Feasible Regions
I created this Math I mini-unit (3 lessons) in graduate school. The first lesson leads students through discovering feasible regions as they calculate all possible combinations of items that can be made given certain constraints. Next, students create feasible regions from constraints they create from inequalities. Last, students use what they have learned about feasible regions to maximize profit in a real life situation. These lessons also include small group and whole class discussions while enabling students to make their own meanings of the new terms and processes. Some resources were adapted from NCTM and the Mathematics Vision Project. Click here to access the Google Drive folder containing these resources. |