Idea Galaxy

Adventures in Junior High and Mathematics

Discovery Labs

How to Teach Simple Probability through Discovery

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As teachers we want our students to discover things, but we also like to be in control. Sometimes we feel like we don’t have enough time to let students discover. We just want to jump in and give them a list of steps. I believe there’s certainly a place for teaching the list of steps, but I’ve also seen the power of discovery and I can’t go back to the days before I used it. Now, I start every unit with a discovery lesson. Some topics call for more involved discovery activities, like volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres. Other topics are less complex like simple probability. In this post I’m going to share the discovery activity I used with my students for simple probability.

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Exploring the Distance Formula through Discovery

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Do your students struggle to understand and remember the distance formula? Boy, have I been there. In this blog post I’m sharing with you a powerful way to teacher the distance formula that really pushes students to struggle productively and ultimately learn the distance formula at a deeper level. When students get to the place of struggle, and then you give them just a little support, then they understand and remember the distance formula more than ever before.

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Teaching the Pythagorean Theorem Proof through Discovery

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Using a discovery lab to introduce students to the Pythagorean Theorem was an amazing way to kick off my Pythagorean Theorem unit. I’m excited to share with you exactly how we got hands-on with the Pythagorean Theorem proof and how it helped my students really understand this geometry concept. I’ll also share with you how I used foldable notes to introduce this unit to my students. [Read more…] about Teaching the Pythagorean Theorem Proof through Discovery

Teaching Operations with Scientific Notation through Discovery

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After introducing students to scientific notation and converting from standard to scientific notation, it was time to move on to using the four operations with scientific notation. Once I chunked out the learning targets with “I Can” statements, I was ready to get things started. With this new topic, I again wanted to start with a discovery lab. I find my students so much more engaged over the whole unit when we start off with an introduction that asks students to discover first, before formal instruction. It gets them curious, which makes them much more invested in their own learning. I’m excited to share with you just how we started off this unit teaching operations with scientific notation through discovery. [Read more…] about Teaching Operations with Scientific Notation through Discovery

Teaching Scale Drawings through Discovery

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Teaching scale drawings always seems like a fun, activity based concept to learn. But what makes it really important for students is that it helps them apply proportions in a real-life way. When they really understand scale drawings, they are also that much better at solving and understanding proportional relationships. I already talked about how I chunk out the learning targets for this skill here. And I’ve shared in an earlier post about my first experience teaching with a discovery lab. Now I’m excited to share with you the discovery lab and foldable notes I used to teach scale drawings and proportional relationships. [Read more…] about Teaching Scale Drawings through Discovery