Commentary: Children’s Book Project

 

            I tried this project at the end of the second semester of Math for K-6 Teachers, when we weren’t going to have as much time as I’d have liked for geometry.  The idea was to do a project that the students would find very engaging and that would help them learn some geometry.  The project definitely was engaging, and students made some nice books.  The class was in four groups, however, and two of the groups wanted to make shape books, where they wouldn’t have learned any new geometry.  I intervened in one case and had them focus on symmetry and tesselations in the teacher’s guide and in taking their photos, which worked well.  I didn’t check in soon enough with the other group, who had already put a lot of work into a hand-illustrated book.  In the future, I’d be clearer about the mathematical expectations and also require a draft or a proposal.  But the potential is here for a very good project. 7/05

 

 

   To Assignment               Doc File                       PDF File                      Home