What makes a good invention?

The start of the quarter delivered a new group of students to Math Literacy. The Invention Design Challenge Project has been incredibly successful the last two quarters and students today were excited to be able to get the project started after what their peers have shared. Students are always the best avenue for advertisement :-) I even had a few students who already had invention ideas ready to go for today!

Today's entry event: What makes a good invention?

1. Students brainstormed five characteristics of good inventions on their own.
2. Students broke up into groups of three each with a specific role: manager, reporter, and speaker.
3. Students shared their five ideas with each other and discussed common themes.
4. Students collaborated to determine a group list of the top five characteristics of good inventions.
5. They used their new group list to evaluate a cell phone and then a magnet using a Likert scale for each characteristic. The cell phone earned mostly 4's while the magnet earned mostly 3's.
6. The discussion evolved into what makes an invention useful.

Tomorrow we'll further evaluate the concept of a "good invention" and then watch the "Smart Wheel" invention pitch from "Shark Tank."

Individual evaluation vs. overall team score

One group working to create a new top five list

Spaceport America Gift Shop Design Challenge

Students in my fourth quarter Math Literacy wrapped up the year with a bang!  Students delivered amazing presentations on their knowledge of marketing, sales, and manufacturing.  Many students expressed that they wanted to become future business leaders and entrepreneurs,  so I thought this project would be an appropriate way to encourage and strengthen their skills.

Thanks to Elias Molen at the Space Foundation for donating FREE family passes to visit the Discovery Institute this summer for the top two teams!

Spaceport America Gift Shop Presentation Rubric

Paper Airplane Design Challenge

The second project of third quarter Math Literacy was the Paper Airplane Design Challenge.  Using materials from a generic engineering design challenge, students quickly began designing their own planes or researching online for simple to challenging plane designs.  Students had to build their paper airplane within specific constraints and their designs had to perform in a distance competition.  Students had to share their design process, designs, and competition results with their peers as a culminating presentation.  Students also kept an engineering notebook to record their process.  A few students also submitted a how-to guide or video separate from their engineering notebook.

Thank you to the National Museum of World War II Aviation for donating FREE passes to the top two teams!

Paper Airplane Design Challenge 2015 Rubric
Exemplar Presentation

Dilations & Rotations

Students in a previous Math Literacy class shared how transformations (8th grade geometry standards) apply to their interests in their last project for the class. I wanted to mix things up a bit with the next group of students and received some inspiration from my mother-in-law.  She introduced me to a quilting craft video about students creating their own rotational symmetry using their name.  Attempting to reflect some letters became challenging for some students, so I also offered students the option of dilating a word, name, or image.  Students presented their creations along with a description of how their image represents transformation vocabulary as well as what their inspiration was for the choice of color, words, letters, images, etc.  I saw several of these students showcase their designs at the end-of-year learning fair :-)

Mini-Golf Hole Design Winners

After sending out a survey to parents, students, and educators the votes are in for the winners of the Mini-Golf Hole Design project in Math Literacy.  Students who won the design challenge will receive a trip to a local mini-golf place upon returning from winter break.

Thank you to Adventure Miniature Golf for donating FREE miniature golf games to the top three teams!

Guest Speaker - Major General Briggs

Air Force Major General Briggs stopped by to speak with my Math Literacy students about the basics of pilot math and the power of mental math.  He started his talk by asking students four questions and then walked through how to answer each of the questions and their relevance to him as a pilot.

Henna Designs Fall 2014

Students recently completed their Henna designs based on guidance from myself and our guest speaker, Rocky Mountain Henna Designs owner Carla Remillard.  The designs were personalized and required students to describe how they used transformations in their creations.

Let's design our own henna!

Community member and owner of Rocky Mountain Henna, Carla Remillard, spent a few days with students in my Math Literacy class.  Ms. Carla spent the first day educating students on the ingredients of henna and the dangers of using black henna.  The second day Ms. Carla showcased Moroccan designs and their connection to transformations in math.  Students had the rest of class to apply henna (with prior permission from parents/guardians, of course!) based on designs  inspired by geometric designs are personal interests.

Guest Speaker - Sean Starkey

Challenger parent, Sean Starkey, visited with students in my Math Literacy class to discuss the challenges and benefits of being an engineer.  He shared about his current work in telecommunications, coding, and sound frequency and played with sound quality using Audacity. 

Guest Speaker - Bonnie Birckenstaedt

Bonnie sharing talking about her role at ULA

A good friend of mine from my days at Colorado School of Mines came to speak with my Math Literacy kiddos on Friday, October 3.  Bonnie is a Radio Frequency Engineer at United Launch Alliance (ULA).  She was able to share her challenges, passions, and accomplishments with my students to inspire them to become engineers and pursue space exploration.

Bonnie pointed out all of the math she uses on a daily basis to solve complex problems - her favorite being Calculus :-P

Click HERE to see her presentation.

Guest Speaker - Karlene Thomas

Local wildlife affected by construction

I am fortunate to have several community members and parents of Challenger students who want to share what they love most about their career with students.  A Challenger parent, Karlene Thomas, came into my Math Literacy class today to share problems she solves on a regular basis as an Environmental Engineer with Pinyon Environmental, Inc.

Demonstrating erosion mitigation

She included several demonstrations to illustrate how she addresses environmental concerns along the Front Range. She thoroughly explained how communication and collaboration are essential for the environmental engineers, biologists, and civil engineers to minimize the impact of construction on local wildlife, the environment, and water quality.

Checking the pH level of water

Sand vs. silt particles in water

I am so grateful to have parents enthusiastic about sharing their passion with students and encouraging them to pursue a college degree!

Click HERE to view her presentation.

Next week a good friend of mine, Bonnie Birckenstaedt, will be presenting to students.  Bonnie is a Radio Frequency Engineer with United Launch Alliance (ULA).

Math Literacy Vocabulary Assessment #2 - Transformations

In Math Literacy, students had to use and spell two words from their vocabulary list in context of the following visual representing rotational symmetry.

I chose two student exemplars (one boy/one girl) who represented the vocabulary in the most contextually-connected way.

I sent their parents an email to share the amazing work they're doing to describe mathematical concepts.

I also shared a post on Facebook: "Just took some pictures of exemplars from the recent Math Literacy vocabulary quiz about transformations and forwarded them to parents. I hope this will give these amazing kiddos some positive leverage at home."

 

The Regulators - ADA Ramp Codes

Sketch Artists creating a visual of the ramp

Students in my Math Literacy class reviewed ADA ramp codes and assessed the ramp used for the two portable classrooms behind the school.  Students were put into groups of four, each with a team role and ADA ramp code sheet to use as a reference:

• Sketch Artist
• Responsible for creating a side sketch
• Must label appropriate units for each dimension
• Measurement Artist
• Responsible for using a yard stick to measure multiple dimensions of the ramp to the nearest inch
• Code Regulator
• Advises team on the code for "Slope & Rise"
• Advises team on the code for "Clear Width"
• Advises team on the code for "Landings" 
• Report Manager
• Responsible for writing a report to determine if the ramp is up-to-code using measurements as proof
• Shares any additional recommendations from the team

After collecting measurements and sketching multiple dimensions of the ramp, students headed back to class to write up their report.

Example of a report