At PSESD, a hub for teacher training and information in the Seattle area, a group of teachers congregated and talked all things math. We chatted about making a difference in academic outcomes (and ultimately life outcomes) through mathematical instruction. We discussed equity through a math lens, and we learned about new learning outcomes that are headed for classrooms.
I am so excited for the newest strand of mathematical standards in Washington State. The creators are people after my own heart. We are going to be diving into the world of Data and Statistics, which is necessary and interesting as so much of our world is surrounded and revolves around these mathematical principals. Charts and tables litter the media and we need to have citizens be able to read and understand these ideas with a critical eye. What makes a graph biased? What makes is believable? I want my students to be honest skeptics and think deeply about the world around them.
As a biology major, much of my undergraduate program consisted of creating science experiments, exploring results, collecting data, and searching for meaning in the natural world. Now I get to bring some of this type of thinking to my students.
This week, my 5th graders started an assignment called "Dear Data" that I learned from the PSESD training. We are discussing statistical questions. We will create some statistical questions, gather the data to answer our questions, and then we are going to represent our learning in an artform or a graph.
The students have already jumped into the process and I am busy creating lesson plans to go with the new strand of data learning. I have heard the slow reveal graphs also go along with this learning, so I am planning on finding some of those online. We will discuss what the graph is saying and apply it to our thinking as we make our way through this unit.
