Yeah so we haven’t had too many science blog posts and so I’d thought I’d switch it up a little bit and talk about the side of PLP you don’t hear much about from my blog: Scimathics.
Anyways, this post will be covering our recent unit in math. During this unit we learned about exponents, their laws and it eventually all culminated with Sam and I designing an exponent card game.
We started out by designing a unit start mind map about what we knew about numbers in games. Here’s mine.
I knew that there was lots of math in sports, so I talked about that mostly.
If I were to go over every small thing we did in this project, we would all be here a while. What I’ll do is just take a few competencies from math 9 and reflect on how I’ve grown in these competencies throughout this unit. These competentcies will also show the process of my exponent game.
The first competency I’ll focus on is “using reasoning and logic to apply mathematic ideas.” The reasoning behind this is because in order to succeed in our game, you had to use reasoning to try and optimize your score. For example, you had to check what combination of exponents could get you the highest score. I think that I improved my reasoning and logic slightly by playing our game.
The next competency that I think reflects my learning process is “Develop, demonstrate, and apply mathematical understanding through play, inquiry, and problem solving”. Again, to play our game you had to understand basic exponent laws. Otherwise, it would have been a struggle to play. Starting the unit, I’m not sure that I would have been able to understand our game but I think I grew as a learner when creating this game. My partner and I were able to demonstrate our game and edit it to make it more enjoyable, proving the point.
Thirdly, another competency I would use to describe our game or my growth as a learner throughout the unit would be “ Explain and justify mathematical ideas and decisions”. You had to be able to justify or explain the move you were making in our game. This was done by telling the other people the two factors you were going to either multiply or divide together. They could then analyze your move by putting it into a calculator or by using mental math to make sure they were getting the most out of your turn.
Lastly, I would use the competency “ reflect on mathematical thinking”. I’ll use this competency to reflect on some things I learned throughout the unit. I reflected by creating a unit end mind map touching back on what I learned. I added on to my project start mind map and answered questions that I previously didn’t know the answer to. Here’s what it looked like.
Lastly, here’s a copy of our rules sheet for our game. I think it might help you understand what I wrote under the competencies a bit more.
In the end, I valued the experience of learning new math skills in exponents. It was a fun lesson and I like how we could personalize our card games.
Hope you enjoyed the post!
nik.
