Flipping the Classroom

I can see "flipping" the classroom working in math, but at the same time I can also see it not. The article makes it sound so great and wonderful, but I'm just not sure how it would work out in real practice. The reason I say this is because of my work with college students and many of the 100 level college math courses. It really comes down to how motivated the students are.

One in specific is MAT142 here at ASU which is a "hybrid" class where all the material is online but the students have class time to ask questions to the Professor and Instructor's Assistant(me). The class had mixed reviews from students but as I could tell only the students that were truly motivated to learn did well in the class.

I really like the idea and how they have it laid out, I really think I could do some very interesting things with it and it work out great, but I don't think I would want/need to do it for everything. I'm not the type of person to keep to a set schedule or routine, I need some chaos in my life or I just get bored. And bored Eric is not good.

In the end I think I'll end up doing the "flipping" for certain lessons or units preferably. Some things just won't be very exciting and just boring and tedious with not much material to cover; that is just how math is sometimes, and in those I'll probably keep it to the classroom.

Integrating Technology into the Classroom

So instead of plagiarizing a great little site I found;

http://teachers.redclay.k12.de.us/pamela.waters/math/fetc/index.htm

It says everything I could think of when I want to use technology in the classroom.

Differential Equations Applet

http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~sontag/JODE/index.html

UbD Stages 1-3

HS.F-IF.4. For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features given a verbal description of the relationship. Key features include: intercepts; intervals where the function is increasing, decreasing, positive, or negative; relative maximums and minimums; symmetries; end behavior; and periodicity.

Essential Questions:

Where will we find real-world answers on a graph?

What does a function represent to real-world situations?

How can we use a function to help make us the best choice in a decision?

Enduring Understandings:

Consider the given company's profit function. At what price should they sell their product? What is the profit made at that price? What price gives the company the least profit?

Given the following function, what does f(0) tell us? Is there any other way we can represent this value?

Find the x-intercept, y-intercept, intervals where the function is increasing, decreasing, positive, or negative; relative maximums and minimums. *lame

*not sure if these are applicable to this standard...but they fit closely

What does it mean for a function to be proportional?

Given a function is proportional, is it always linear?

Given a function is linear, is it always proportional?

Facet 1: What is implied when f(0) = 50?

Facet 2: What does point A represent? *graph with A at max

Facet 3: What types of things can we model using a function?

Facet 4: An open-topped box is cut from a rectangular piece of paper. Each corner is cut out using the same size cut as modeled in the below picture. The sides are then folded up, making the box. The volume of the box as a function of the size of the cutout, x, is shown here. Based on the graph what is a reasonable size cutout to get the largest volume for the box? *place points on real and non-real answers of the function

Facet 5: What is the function helping us see in the data?

Facet 6: How do I know my answer is correct, or close to it, without knowing the answer?

Activities:

This will be a small group activity that I expect will take a few days/week. Probably make a project out of it. The students will get colored paper(s) to work with so they can see the box as they do the problems. After writing this I realize it might work better when doing volumes – or leading into volumes.

1.

a) Create an open box(without a top) by: I) cutting four equal-sized square corners from an 8.5 by 11-inch sheet of paper and ii) folding up the sides and taping them together at the edges. Is it necessary that the cutout be square? Explain. *picture to go along with it

b) List the relevant quantities for determining the volume of a box made by cutting four equal-sized square corners from a sheet of paper and folding up the sides.

100. Make a cutout of 1 inch. Use a ruler to measure the length of the sides of your square cutout (measured in inches).

cutout length:

box's height:

length of the box's base:

width of the box's base:

500. Calculate the volume of the box. Describe your method for computing the box's volume when all you know is the length of the side of the square cutout, and you are unable to use a ruler.

Volume:

2.

a) Define a formula to relate the width formula of the box and the length of the side of the square cutout. Be sure to define your variables.

b) Define a formula to relate the length formula of the box and the length of the side of the square cutout. Be sure to define your variables.

100. Define a formula to relate the area of the box's base and the length of the side of the square cutout. Be sure to define your variables.

500. Define a formula V, to relate the volume of the box and the length of the side of the square cutout. Be sure to define your variables.

e) Let x represent the length of the side of the square cutout; let w represent the width of the box's base; let l represent the length of the box's base. Complete the following table.

Quantity	Smallest Possible Value	Largest Possible Value
x
w
l

f) Using a graphing calculator, create a graph that represents the volume of the box. When determining the window setting on your calculator, consider the possible values of x and the possible values of V. Construct the graph below. *maybe just have it graphed already?

g) Use your volume formula to find the volume of the box at when x=0, x=1, x=2, x=3, x=4. Do these points correspond to points on your graph?

h) Using your graphing calculator, find the maximum volume of the box. Be sure to consider the domain of x. What is the volume at that maximum value? What size cutout gives us the largest volume?

i) Using interval notation, when is the volume increasing? When is the volume decreasing?

j) Why does the volume of the box increase and then decrease as the size of the cutout increases? Shouldn't the volume always increase when the cutout gets larger?

k) Why don't we want to use values of x greater than 4? Such as a cutout of 8 inches?

Congratulations! Your now an engineer!

Personal Mission Statement

I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet. I didn't realize this until I starting thinking about the topic, but the people I call my friends and family, the people I surround myself with, are the ones I wish to model myself after.

Physical: I would like to have my father's ability to stay in shape throughout my life. He has been in triathlons and keeping up physically his whole life. I only hope I can myself.

Mental: I hope to be able to be mentally strong like my friend Adrian G; being away from friends and family for 2 years in Mexico and being a pitcher speaks for itself for the mental dexterity he has.

Emotional: My biggest flaw and one I try to work on the most. I hope I can be like my best friend Eric D. Regardless of the things I see him go through, regardless of where it comes from, I am always impressed and can only hope to somehow react like that if it were to happen to me.

Spiritual: Honestly, I would just like to be able to always reflect upon myself with openness as I have been.

ABC

Antecedent: Doing the same procedure with classwork every day.
Behavior: Not doing classwork.
Consequence: Student received a "thinking time" form to go to another classroom and complete the form stating the reasons they acted out of line and reasons they won't do it again etc.

Before the teacher even spoke to me about the student in mention it was easy to tell the student had no interest in what was going on in class. He either knew the material from the repeated times in class he has done the exact same problems (just different numbers), or was sick of the same repeated process day in, day out. Either way I was really saddened by what happened and could empathize with the student wholly.

Backwards by Design

I want(would like) my students to have a core comprehension of the overall subject matter in the lesson. I don't want them to memorize processes or equations. I would like them to be able to understand where the equations come from and use their reasoning and logic skills to come to an answer. In the previous I feel that the vast majority of students are not learning math, they are being told math, and that to me the reason Americans have such a disdain for mathematics. Forcing students to work one way for no other reason than, "I said so" isn't teaching, it's telling. There are an infinite amount of ways to get from one destination to another, so why block all ways but one? Why mark off points on a problem when the student didn't do it exactly your way? Why not commend the student for finding another way? Why not show the rest of the class this newly found path?

With that said, accomplishing comprehension without telling students exactly what to do is going to be a difficult process and creating lessons backwards by design is going to be key. Knowing where the students need to end up and how they can get there will be tedious and take a long time, but I feel it can be done.

For lack of a better example, learning is like a road; I need to set up obstacles and road blocks along the path to get students to comprehend the lesson in a way that they understand. Teaching math in this manner creates meaning for the students since they come up with everything themselves. The students will see where the equations came from. They will see reasons the "because-I-said-so" teachers told them to do what they did and truly understand the material better than they.