Math and Science Multi-age Projects |
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Children,
and teachers, learn best when the environment is child-centered and
makes use of integrated subject matter within the framework of a
generative, process-oriented approach. The teacher should serve in a
mentorship role. All the projects listed below were tied to core
questions that the children researched which expanded their own world
view. Many are multi-aged in nature with technology being but a tool,
one of many, to express the required elements. There are marked
advantages of having a cross-age ties. Aside from the affective "gee
whiz" of being paired up with a child a different age, ownership and
responsibility of all levels of students towards their own learning
increases; the depth each child assimilated the information improves;
and the students' abilities to work with others in a cooperative and
supportive way are reinforced.
The Rube Goldberg Science Project-Spring
2004
What is a Rube Goldberg machine? It is a machine that takes a very
simple method, like sharpening a pencil or eating a banana, and make it
difficult. It is done by taking a group of ordinary objects and
connecting them with a bunch of simple machines in a weird, but
workable, way.
Knowing what people know takes many forms. In this case, rather than a
written science test, the students had a chance to combine what they
learned in language arts, science and technology into an exciting and
fun project. It allowed them:
Each child had the option to build a working model of their machine
along with a poster and every child constructed a web page that required
them to take a digital picture and manipulate it.
Math- A State of Mine and MathMagic
Spring 2001
Mathematics, Logic, Researching and Technology "Within each one of us lives and breathes a real mathematician. Always. Everything mathematical was, and is, just made up by people like you and me. They were trying to make sense of what was going on around them. Just as you are. They tried to find the words and the rules that seemed to explain what they observed. Just as you do. Your job over the next few weeks is to discover how they did this and what they did. To get their number, so to speak." This multilayered project lead fourth and sixth grade students on a three week voyage of discovery about mathematicians using a co-authored web page called a Swiki.
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