MTMS February Article - 100 Students

The article entitled "100 Students", published in the February edition of the "Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School" journal, was written by the following authors, Jody L. Riskowski, Gayla Olbricht and Jennifer Wilson. The journal discusses a specific project performed by a group of students in the area of statistics and data analysis. The students were assigned to construct a specific survey to administer themselves to their peers. After the construction of the survey it was the students responsibility to conduct it effectively and professionally in ways allowing them to most effectively gather the necessary information to complete the remainder of the project. Once this aspect was complete the students moved on to collaborate and explore the data that they had collected using it to study concepts in area of statistics. This was achieved by considering and exploring the data in various ways such as cultural and gender distribution. Upon completion of the study of the data the students finished their projects by creating and presenting a multimedia display of their choice. Their challenge in this was finding a creative, fun, and most importantly effective way of displaying the spread and range of their data in a way that their peers could understand and connect with.
While the background ideas of this article were seemingly obvious ones (the ideas on the effectiveness of group work and collaboration) I enjoyed the opportunity to read about a specific example of this through the documentation of this specific project. I gained ideas that I can use as a future teacher in my own classroom and further learned about the benefits of multi-level projects along with teaching mathematics through interactive work. By allowing these students to learn about the areas of data analysis and statistics through group work, collaboration, and even interactive media, they were allowed to connect with the subject on a more personal level. Instead of simply memorizing and regurgitating formulas and facts, they were given an opportunity to employ their mathematics skills in their every day lives. This article further solidified my ideas that this really is the most effective way of teaching mathematics.