My classmates and I have just finished our first math unit of the year.  We learned about the exponent laws through order of operations and displayed our learning in a project where we were asked to create a card game using the five exponent laws. 

Click on the image of my mind map below to read all about my learning throughout the project.

 

 

I worked with Emerson to create a card game that included the five laws of exponents.  

For my unit reflection I will talk about a few curricular competencies that I feel I have improved on throughout this project. 

 

The first competency I will focus a bit on in this reflection is reasoning and analyzing.  This competency was certainly difficult for Emerson and I in the beginning when we were coming up with ideas and drafts.  We had a hard time because we kept coming back to the idea of having the objective be to get to a big number to win the game.  However this meant that you would be spending more time with a calculator than actually playing the game.  That was when we realized that you didn’t need to solve the exponent equations to get the point across about exponent laws.  From there we created the final draft of our game that included all the exponent laws and didn’t require a pen, paper or calculator.  All you had to do was analyze your cards, figure out what exponent law you had and figure out from there what your next play would be. 

The next two curricular competencies I will focus on is understanding and solving, as well as connecting and reflecting.  These two competencies basically mean that our game must have a clear way to win the game and that our game rules and cards are easy to understand and use.  Emerson and I created our game rules on one piece of paper that were easy to read and understand with examples of the five exponent laws on the back to refer back to at any point during the game.  Our cards had an animal theme that tied into the name of our game, “Exponent laws of nature” and were easy to read and understand. 

 

 

The objective of our game was to be the first person to create three of the five exponent laws on the table with your cards.  This worked out great because it was easy, simple and included all the five exponent laws in the game. 

Overall I had lots of fun created the game and learned lots.