Math 131

Spring 05

Project: Making a Children’s Book

 

            Your final project for the semester will be making a children’s book that has the following qualities:

 

·        Beautifully illustrated (you may use photographs or geometry software, etc.)

·        Engaging story or concept

·        Significant geometry content

·        Includes a separate teachers’ guide suggesting activities to use the story to help children learn geometry

 

Note that you are not making a textbook.  I will try to bring in excellent examples of children’s literature with mathematical themes to show you.  These are books that children like to read, and teachers can use them as a basis for rich mathematical activities. 

Here are some more technical details for your project:

 

·        Work in groups of two to five.  You do not have to work with people in your study group, but your study group time next week will be allocated to working on the book project.

·        You need to learn something new (geometry related) for this project.  One option is to learn to use geometry software  either Sketchpad or Kaleidomania (or Tesselmania in the Resource Center).   Another option (possibly combined with the software) is to pick a topic or topics we haven’t studied and learn about them from the Green Book or other sources  suggestions are Three Dimensional Figures (8.3), Transformations (9.1), Symmetry (9.2), and Tesselations (9.3).  Help will be available on the work days.

·        Choose two problems in the Green Book that are related to your project and write them up (due April 28^th).

·        Write a reflection about what you learned from this project (due May 2^nd).

·        You can check out digital cameras from the IT Department.

 

Scoring Guide:

Level 5:  Goes beyond a level 4, with an exceptionally creative book or a book that shows exceptional geometry learning etc.

Level 4:  Book is creative, engaging, and beautifully illustrated.  Geometry is accurate and important.  Teachers’ Guide is thoughtful and creative and focuses on significant mathematical activities.

Level 3:  Very good book, with good illustrations.  Mostly focuses on important geometric concepts, accurately presented.  Teachers’ Guide is good.

Level 2: There is much good in the book, but it doesn’t follow some of the major aspects of the assignment, either by not including a teachers’ guide or not focusing on important mathematical ideas etc.

            Level 1: Some good work, but serious problems with the assignment

 

Copyright 2005, Debra K. Borkovitz.  You may copy or edit this material for non-profit, educational use only.

 

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