Triple Helix

Here are some of the highlights from later half of the semester:

1. Skateboarder software: we brought kids to computer lab for an exploration on the Skateboarder software. It is basically a software where user uses mathematical functions to define the path of a skateboarder will travel. After we explained some of the basic concepts and a set of concrete instruction at the beginning, we let students to play it around. The results are pretty amazing. some girl was able to put a bunch of skateboarders inside a circle path and definitely won the “Who can keep skateboarder moving longest” competition. While some of the math concepts are beyond 7th grade, like some of sine and cosine curve functions, kids are eager to explore them and I had the opportunity to explain them.

2. IBM Watson Supercomputer: due to the supercomputer fever, I decided to show some clips introducing the IBM Watson and how it works and beginning of the actual jeopardy competition, time-allowing. Some of the students heard of it, but most students had vague, if not none, knowledge of it. It was a fun class that I was able to explain the basic difference between IBM Watson and Google Search. It was also related to my research and I actually went to a talk about this supercomputer, and as a result I actually know a lot about it and we were able to discuss how it actually works. It was also fun to watch these students watching the clips in admiration. I wish there is a new breakthrough technology every now and then so I can show them to the students.

3.  Geometry and Pythagorean Theorem: geometry is one math topic where students can actually visualize  the shapes and volumes. In addition to some activities that Julia usually uses to teach class, we found a cartoon book about the life of Pythagoras. Although it is mostly fictional, it inspires kids on how Pythagoras discovers the concept of Pythagorean Theorem. Kids take turns to read part of the stories and it was  a great integration of  English and Math. After the story, we asked students to show the Pythagorean Theorem by reorganizing the several pieces of 2 squares to form a larger square. It was fun. For honor math class, I challenged them one more step and showed the easiest proof of Pythagorean Theorem. I was aiming for a few students to be able to follow it but a lot more asked a lot of questions about the proof that is far beyond what they have learned so far. I was surprised and really glad that they are actually interested in the proof.

4.   A Real Demo of Math and Engineering: after several hectic weeks preparing for the state exam, I was finally able to give a great example on what I wanted to do for a long time: to show that Math is important everywhere. I was looking for something that students are interested and can be used to show the math going into the design and everything else. Taking suggestion from Ron, I contacted RPI Public Safety Outreach Program and an officer, David Jordan, nicely agreed to do a live demo on how to use a defibrillator in Doyle Middle School.  Then I explained some of design decision using 7th grade math, which is quiet a challenge to say the least! It was exciting class to see kids want to learn how defibrillator works and why it works. The assumption that defibrillator would attract their attention because girls want to help people while boys like things that can “shock” people is sound! Some kids from other classes also joined the presentations. Overall, it was a great success.

Summer

during research week, I gave a presentation on the my research and the software we have been developing. Here is a screenshot in current stage:

Julia and I discussed the potential usage of the motion tracking software. We decided to spit the program into several and each covers a specific topics so we can do more with it. I am working to include more gesture, especially fun gestures, in the software so kids will like it. Stay tuned as we work hard on it!

That’s all for all. Looking forward to the new semester!

A new semester, a new start.

First of all, I should say I should post here more often. Sometimes it is just a bit too much to juggle between middle school, homework, research and sleep. Anyhow, it has been fun to go to schools and it is the most exciting and fun part of my day, energizing the rest of day. I was particularly excited when several kids cheered to see me and called me “awesome”. They should do it more often J.

At the end of last semester, Julia and I were able to bring Microsoft Xbox Kinect to class and let kids to experience frontier of technology. The topic that week was Proportion, so we designed a worksheet that basically asks some proportion questions involving games, for example “If you can score 15 points in 10 minutes of Kinect Adventure, how many points can you score in 30 minutes at the same rate?”. Kids who finished the questions first got to play Kinect first, although everyone got to play it in the end. They were really excited and challenged each other to beat their own high scores. In addition, we also used NUMB3RS to explore the famous problem of “Rice and Chess”, focusing on the topic of exponential growth. We read them the story of “Rajah’s Rice”, burrowed from school library, and I wanted to challenge them by explaining how to do arithmetic sum on such sequences. Although not everyone could understand it, they were able to follow it. I feel we should expose them to harder problem sometimes so they know there are more stuff than the material they can get a good grade on.

Since this semester starts, kids have been busy with their own end of quarter and some standard tests. Moreover, the honor class got to take a state-wise math competition this week. I acted as proctor for once! However, the questions are difficult and I hope them to do well and win! IN term of math topics, students have learned some probabilities and been working on graphing now, including bar graph, histogram, circle graph and all other kinds of statistic graphs. They also learn to use protractor to measure angles. It has been a lot of hands-on and 1-on-1 teaching. Students got the concepts fast, to my surprise!

Since it is graph related, we want to use Skateboarding software to further challenge students’ ability. Due to scheduling in reservation of computer lab, we will not be able to do it until March. In the meanwhile, I want to show some part of IBM Watson: Machine vs. Man Jeopardy to students and show some videos that explain how it works. I know it is a hard concept but it is highly relevant and can definitely generate a lot interest!

It has been a fun month and half. I got to work Mrs. Dunsmoor (aka Julia) and know kids in classroom, helping them to learn math. While I don’t have my own software yet, Mrs. Dunsmoor and I have done a lot fun and creative things to teach math. Here are a brief summary of major things we have done:

1. the show NUMB3RS

Kids love them! It makes them believe that math is actually useful in real life! However, the episodes barely touch the concepts of related math so it is very difficult for kids to go further and actually understand some of the principles behind. So far we have shown 3 episodes on classes after tests. To help them understand some math, we usually stop the video once a while to explain some concepts.

2. After school program

I visited Doyle Middle School’s after school program Future City Team and talked to the coordinator of Math Counts. Math Counts is a regional/national math competition for middle school students, and Future City is a regional/national engineering competition to build a future city and awards cover almost every aspect of engineering.

While the students are creative and productive under guidance, the general number of participation is not so great. To get them engaged in such an extracurricular activity would definitely help them to be engaged at math and science. Mrs. Dunsmoor and I have been thinking if we should start an after school club for math. One (immature) idea is to get kids who interested in the show NUMB3RS and really explain math behind in depth to them.

Future City: http://www.futurecity.org/

Math Counts: http://mathcounts.org/

3. RAP

While researching for my first presentation (see below), I came across some rap’s on basic operation rules PEMDAS. I introduced them to Julia and she found a few more related raps on GCL and LCM and showed the students. From what I heard, they liked it. We probably should do a RAP/music research on every math topic from now on.

Here is the link for PEMDAS rap:

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?title=PEMDAS_Rap&video_id=79967

4. Computer games that help learning math

I heard that integers operation is a difficult concept for students to learn in the beginning. While Julia introduced a few card games to class, including modified version of WAR, I did some search online to find some games that have some of these games. Due to the computer lab scheduling conflict, I wasn’t able to be present while two periods of class played them. A few issues arises, including a technical difficulty that kids cannot play against each other, and we will try to fix them before presenting to more kids in different periods.

Some games on Mrs. Dunsmoor’s front page: http://moodle.troy.k12.ny.us/course/view.php?id=38

5. My first presentation

To introduce myself and get them to think about math, I did a presentation on my research talking a little about computer vision and motion tracking to the honor period. They were very active and engaged during the presentation, for which I am glad that I did it. In addition, I also talked about the importance of math in real life so they can make a connection between what they learn in class and life outside school. I gave them a little assignment to think about where they apply math to a real life situation and come back with a few examples. Although most of them gave answers about finance and groceries, Julia and I plan to make the discussion a year long project–to push them to think harder and further!

Difficulties

Sometimes things don’t go as what you expect. A lot of things can happen. First, to manage the classroom and keep kids quiet and focused is really really difficult. For this, I respect Julia and she is really a good teacher. Secondly, technical difficulties are always there. Doyle Middle School has a firewall that blocks YouTube. As a result, a lot of things we want to show to kids cannot be played in classroom, including the raps. We had to download them and then found out school computer cannot play the media format! So frustrating. Lastly, I just want to say, as a college student, it is nearly impossible to wake up in the morning

Sometimes I also get to help kids with in class problems so it has been fun. It has been great and exciting to work with Julia and we are working hard to get more things done!