Post 9: Alike or Different

Post 9: Alike or Different 

Personal Objective: 

    As I continue to do my blogs I keep trying to focus on the standards that as an educator I will be teaching from. I have realized that there will be activities that will entwine between the standards yet I must always focus in depth on one. As stated in the site I took this activity from, "the Standards for Mathematical Practice focus on the nature of the learning experiences by attending to the thinking processes and habits of mind that students need to develop in order to attain a deep and flexible understanding of mathematics. Certain tasks lend themselves to the demonstration of specific practices by students. The practices that are observable during exploration of a task depend on how instruction unfolds in the classroom. While it is possible that tasks may be connected to several practices, only one practice connection will be discussed in depth. Possible secondary practice connections may be discussed but not in the same degree of detail.

Common Core Standard:

K.G.B. Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes.

K.G.B.4. Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/“corners”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).

Activity:

Alike or Different Game

Materials: This game uses the 16 cards below or blank cards (students to draw their own shapes to add to the game).

Task:

In pairs:

1. Students take turns drawing two cards. 

2. They should name something that is the ALIKE or DIFFERENT between the two cards. 

(ex: “This one is curvy and this one isn’t”; “This one has more corners”; “Both of them are pointy”).

3.The next two cards are drawn and the process repeats until no cards remain.

Corporately:

1.The students work together to name a property for each pair.

2. The student who can name a property first gets to keep the cards and the student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. 

(ex: “This one is curvy and this one isn’t”; “This one has more corners”; “Both of them are pointy”).

Note: Since the properties may depend on the orientation of the cards, students should sit side-by-side if working cooperatively. If a more difficult game is desired the students can name two things that are alike or different.

Attached Resources:

Black line master (png)

Solution/examples:

Student may say (This depends on the orientation when students place the cards down.),

ALIKE: “They both have four sides.”

DIFFERENT: “Only one is round.”

DIFFERENT: “There are fewer sides on the triangle.”

ALIKE: “They are narrower at the top.”

Note: There are many possible solutions for this game. Each solution a child produces should be evaluated based on their reasoning, such as "these are the alike because..." or "these are different because....".

Other Resources:

Reflection:

    I picked this task because, "this particular task is linked very intentionally to the first part of Mathematical Practice Standard 3, construct viable arguments. Students work in pairs and take turns drawing two cards. These cards have pictures of different shapes. The students are asked to describe what is similar or different between the two shapes. This type of task lays the foundation for the art of explanation leading to “critiquing the reasoning of others.” Before students can critique the reasoning of others, they must feel comfortable in supporting their own thinking with evidence.  For instance, a kindergartner might offer the explanation, “I know that the shape has straight sides and the second shape has one curvy.” The teacher can easily promote a classroom discussion on this argument by asking, “Do you agree and why?” This type of math talk in the classroom is built through collaborative problem solving and dialog." I have been finding that there will be many times in which this will occur and yet I have learned after this blog that the focus must remain on one. Teaching in general over all based on the standards have their own vocabulary and context that I must expose myself to in order to understand and be a phenomenal educator. 

 Submitted to Jason Dyer to the fourth Illustrative Mathematics task writing contest.

http://tasks.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards/K/G/B/4/tasks/515