Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Reflection #8 - Lexie

Math Standards for the Plant Cell Project:  (I had them originally listed with the project, so I just copied them again)

·      G-GMD.1:  Explain how to find the formulas for the circumference of a circle, area of a circle, volume of a cylinder, pyramid, and cone
·      G-GMD.3:  Use volume formulas for cylinders, pyramids, cones, and sphere to solve problems. 
·      G-MG.3:  Apply geometric methods to solve design problems (e.g., designing an object or structure to satisfy physical constraints or minimize cost; working with typographic grid systems based on ratios)


I enjoyed class last night.  I have not worked much with topographical maps, but I found it fun, like a puzzle.  The most difficult part was having to use the computer as a reference, and measuring on the screen.  I would have liked to have the actual map to touch and work with, but that is just me being picky.  I started off by making the graph square, without keeping the scales the same for the horizontal and vertical axis.  Then as a group we talked about it and decided that we should make it look more realistic.  The video may have mentioned that, but I did not remember it.  After talking about it, it made complete sense, so I did that.  I use a proportion to determine that my y-axis should be 4 cm tall.  From there I split it up equally to have tick marks.  It would have been nice if I was able to determine where each 100’s was, but I wasn’t able to in the time we had. 


Overall I liked this activity and feel like it would be a good one to do with one of my classes.  When and what class is another question.  I find it hard to fit in these activities to my classes because I have a list of material to cover and not much wiggle room.  I know that it will be helpful and a learning experience for the class, but I worry that I might miss something from Algebra I or Geometry that they will need in the future.  If I hadn’t taught similarity yet, I would have done this activity.  I still might try and figure a way to squeeze it in, but in future years I will do this with my Geometry class during the similarity unit.

2 comments:

  1. Looks good, Lexie. I really like your focus on the geometry aspect of your project, but I'll bet you run across some algebra topics as well as your students complete the project. I'm looking forward to how this turns out :)

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  2. As a math teacher, I appreciate that you have a lot of material to cover and know sometimes it just doesn't work to fit in that fun project you really want to do. I hope you are able to include the topography cross-section into your Geometry class next time you teach it :)

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