Thursday, March 27, 2014
E2K Mathematics - Mrs. Sari Sheinfeld
Often, during an E2K session, the students are confronted with a task for which they have not been taught a solution technique. In a recent 6th grade math E2K activity, "The Burning Board" the activity began by the students being assigned a number which dictated how far across a game of catch they would throw the ball. The ultimate goal was to make sure each got the ball once, but only once and identify who the "opening player" should be. Such as during this activity, the students, during many of the E2K activities, the students are working in an an environment of some degree of uncertainty, and often begin through the use of trial and error, using logic, teamwork, collaboration, and each other as a guide. Often exploring many paths, both correct and erroneous, they explore until they unfold a path (or multiple!) for reaching a solution. This hand on approach allows the students to reach important insight that they are then able to adapt to numerical and mathematical concepts. From the game of catch, we moved on to a numerical version of the game on paper- without having formally discussed the conclusions they came to from the game of catch. Watching the students develop their reasoning from the kinesthetic to the concrete numerical version was very similar to watching them observe the trees initially, step back and become aware of the forest as these adapt their own strategies into a mathematical method.
