SERENDIPITY and ESTIMATION 180

I have begun using Andrew Stadel's Estimation 180 web site with my students. This is an area of number sense that many students could use practice, and this is the perfect way to get their estimation brains in shape. Andrew is one of the new faculty on my Professional Development Staff through the Math Twitter Blogosphere! Super creative and....in a word....TALL!

                                                    Click here to go to Estimation 180

In these lessons, students use the context clues in a photograph and their prior knowledge from lessons to make estimations. They are able to find out the actual measurement and see other students' estimates on the site.  I have given my students a sheet to fill out to record their estimates and the difference between their estimate and the actual answer. For some reason, the kids LOVE this! They especially love being able to get the exact answer.

Yesterday I decided to expand the lesson a little and was rewarded with some surprises along the way. After the students made their estimates I asked them to write their estimate on a piece of paper.  I then had them line up around the room from the shortest estimate to the tallest estimate. Those were the only directions - I just let them figure out the rest while I sat back and watched. One brave soul asked, "Where do we start?" and all I said was, "You'll figure it out."  And they did!

 

 My reward for not orchestrating their every move was the satisfaction of seeing their problem-solving skills in action - all the natural leaders, born teachers, and bosses of the future stepped right up. They were totally engaged, listened to each other, and completed the task of lining up without one single suggestion from me. Proud moment...

 

We then took the opportunity to talk about the range, mode, and median of a set of "live" data. Totally unexpected part of my lesson but it was one of those teachable moments I couldn't pass by. 

  

 Now for the serendipity....if I hadn't expanded this lesson with the lining up from least to greatest, I would never I have seen this...

In every class several students wrote their estimates for feet and inches as a decimal: 6 feet 2 inches was written 6.2 feet.  It never occurred to me that this misconception might come up in the writing of measurements!  Great opportunity to get this tackled - I'll be on the lookout today for anyone writing their measurements in this manner.

Changing my methods of teaching is sometimes a huge stretch for me.  Teaching an old dog new tricks is always possible.  There is no one monitoring these moments except for me (and now, YOU!). These moments are my rewards. The serendipity of learning new things is what drives me every day.  The inspiration of my Professional Development Staff keeps my passion for teaching and learning alive in the face of budget cuts, lack of technology, and the endless paperwork. 

Thanks, Andrew, for a great site that has opened up to so much more for my students and myself!