One photograph can be the jumping off point for an authentic project. What was this? Who built it? When? Why? What happened to it? (history/research – reading)
Where was this photo taken? (geography) What clues are in the photo to help you figure this out? (botany/geology)
Design and build a model of what you think this structure was. (math) Creative writing story starter? (writing)…
When we developed The State Fair Project in fourth grade there were countless opportunities to use math. During the year we were constantly looking at statistics for each state. Size, population, socio-economic make-up, average temperature, significant dates… All of these numbers were looked at and discussed. The numbers were used not only to compare and contrast the 50 states but to develop some cause and effect hypotheses.
If the average temperature of a state was warmer than most, how would this effect the size of the population. How about the average age of the population? Why would older people tend to live in a warmer climate? Why would more Olympic skiers grow up in specific states? But, why were there Olympic figure skaters training in Florida?
Every statistic became a jumping off point for further discussion and research. Questions created more questions. The use of math was constant, fluid, and authentic. (And of course, reading and writing skills were strengthened as well.)
*This authentic project can be easily adapted for territories, counties…whatever system the country you are studying uses.
Quilt by Chris StaverI am passionate about Authentic Teaching and Authentic Experiences, because I believe that is truly the way we internalize learning. I just returned from a marvelous trip to Alaska. I kept a list of entries I wanted to add to my blog when I returned home. However, yesterday we traveled for 22 hours through four time zones, arriving home at 4AM. So in order to publish somewhat coherent blogs, they will have to wait for another day or two!
Having completed hundreds of worksheets on calculating time and time zones as a student (and admittedly giving students hundreds to do as well during my early years as a teacher) I can honestly state that nothing compares to the authentic experience of resetting you watch four times, recalculating your departure and arrival times, and trying to drag yourself out of bed the next day suffering from severe jet lag. I definitely internalized the “time zone” concept! Bye for now…gotta go take a nap!
*I promise to publish ideas for teaching the concept of time zones in future blogs – once my brain fog clears!
Having children work out and stick to a budget is a great authentic way to teach and reinforce math skills. It is also a way to show children how to find out what something might cost and to stick to a budget.
For example, for classroom or home parties, give children an amount to work with, give them websites they can search to find prices, and let them plan the party. Giving children ownership of the budget and planning provides an authentic math experience, and also gives the children ownership and pride in their event.
The Educational Journey 