In two weeks, student's will present their millions project. On the surface, the requirements of the project's calculations are not overly complex. For example, a student shoots 12 basketballs in a minute. That would be 120 in ten minutes, 1,200 in one hundred minutes, etc.
The next step would be converting the amount of minutes into a more understandable measure- days, weeks, months. This fulfills the project's requirements, thus meeting our standard, amounting to the grade equivalent of a 2/2+ depending on the difficulty of subject the student selected.
So, what does a 3, the grade indicating above grade-level work look like? This is the student who researches how many shots were taken in the NCAA championship game, discovering a unique new unit of measurement for their project. By dividing the million shots by the amount taken in the championship game the student can now report that in the time they calculated it would take them to take a million shots they could have played X amount of games (or series, or seasons).
The student who takes the time to brainstorm unique units of measurement particular to their project, calculates it out, and comes up with engaging way to display it is the student who exceeds the standard.
This week's TED talk looks at the beauty of information. David McCandless is using the internet as a resource to mine data in innovative and fascinating ways. For example, combing through thousands of Facebook status updates for the words "break up," analyzing the data and drawing some incredibly interesting conclusions. We watched the first half in class and when it was time to shut it off, the overwhelming response was to let this talk play out.
It's an outstanding model for our students to see just how fun it can be to collect, analyze and display numbers. In the digital age, data is ubiquitous and it will take a creative eye and outside-of-the-box thinking to tease out relevant information.
I discussed at open house that the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. estimates that 70% of the job growth in the United States is heuristic in nature. This project can be a great exercise for students to build their analyzing and synthesis skills to gain new perceptions of an activity that engages them.
Below you'll find some examples of inforgraphics that students can use for inspiration in creating their visual. We'll look forward to seeing what these kids come up with!
No comments:
Post a Comment