Video : Private Universe Children's Ideas in Mathematics

Watching the video made me realize that the development of a child's mind is very important. In the video I was able to see that at a young age they are able to come up with strategies to problems. The video shows that giving a student a chance to come up with a strategy or possible solution would create more of a thought process than telling the student how to solve the problem. This concept deals with stimulating their minds. This would be a great way to start lessons, though not every lesson, to see what new ideas students can conjure up. The students would benefit more than if they were simply taught the solutions. The important thing is to challenge their minds at a young age. Starting the process at an early stage in their lives will eventually lead to higher order thinking not just in math, but in any subject that challenges them. I strongly believe that students who come up with their own ideas and strategies will have a better understanding of the concept than memorizing steps.

4 Story Tower Cubes

I decided to give it to my girlfriend to see how many combinations she could come up with the cubes. She first began with making a tower of orange, then started replacing one orange with one black. After she was done with all the combinations by replacing one cube, she began replacing two orange cubes and then 3 orange cubes. The last piece she formed contained all black cubes. At the end she formed 15 different combinations. I asked her how she knew she was done and she responded that she did not know. My question made her second guess herself and she looked at all the combinations she had made. Within a few minutes, she figured out that she missed one.

Virtual Manipulatives :Algebra Balance Scales

I chose to play around with Algebra Balance Scales. It is a very helpful tool when dealing with simple linear equations. I thought it would be a great way to reinforce the idea of solving linear equations. The algebra scales can help with the idea of balancing out equations instead of just solving the variable in the equation. It would be easier to visualize the problem instead of just having the student look at numbers and variables on a piece of paper. I am not considering stretching out the exercise for more than a day, but it would put the idea in a student's head. The question I would like my students to ask themselves would be , "What do I need to do to balance the equation?", instead of , " What do I need to do first?". This could set a strong base to deal with longer and more difficult linear equations.