Spotlight on the 1995
SIG/Tel
Online Award Winners
Math Pen Pals: Communication
through Numbers
(December 21st Solstice Activity)
Leisa
Winrich
North Middle
School
N88 W16750 Garfield Dr.
Menomonee Falls, WI 53051 USA
Paragraph Summary of
Lesson Plan
My sixth-grade math students with learning disabilities expressed
disappointment
when they thought they couldn't participate in written key pal
exchanges. But,
through further class discussion, we discovered math does help
us communicate.
We could grow to better understand our global neighbors and their
environments
by exchanging and studying numbers. Therefore, we designed Math Pen
Pals, an
ongoing telecommunications project on Kidlink, the well-known
educational listserv.
Our favorite activity featured analyzing December 21,1994, solstice
sunrise/sunset
times submitted by 30 classes worldwide and received via the classroom
modem.
My math students then assisted me in collecting, organizing, and
analyzing the
data before posting a numerical summary to project participants
through KIDPROJ.
Objectives of
Lesson
This lesson enabled students to:
- increase science skills by discovering the relationship between a
location's
latitude and length of daylight;
- increase social studies skills by identifying sites through given
latitude
and longitude;
- increase math skills by predicting and computing length of
daylight;
- increase technology skills through use of a database; and
- increase written language skills by communicating with sites to
receive
more information.
Hardware/Software
Needed
Computers, modem, and printer; database (Microsoft Works) and word
processing
(MacWrite II) software
Telecommunications
Resources Needed
or Recommended
Kidlink and KIDPROJ can be accessed through the listserv at
vm1.nodak.edu or
via gopher at kids.ccit.duq.edu. This network extends to teachers and
students
in numerous countries and provides many opportunities for classes to
"experience"
learning via telecommunications. Also, locations were verified as
needed through
a Geoserver (Telnet martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000).
Importance (Role) of
Telecommunications
in this Plan
Contact with classes worldwide as the solstice occurred, allowed my
students
to simultaneously "experience" both the beginning of winter and
summer. The
students themselves discovered the relationship between latitude and
length
of day and even shared this information voluntarily in their
mainstreamed science
class. They eagerly reported how they had heard from teachers above
the Arctic
Circle who were in darkness and a teacher in total daylight at the
South Pole.
The personalized information excited the students who then asked to
learn the
scientific explanation for seasons. Furthermore, several other Math
Pen Pal
classes completed a difficult ASCII graph activity suggested by an
online Florida
meteorologist, who had been working with my language and math classes.
The graphs
submitted by students from Maryland compared daylight length to the
earth's
shadow and helped my students to visualize our numerical data.
Finally, these
same students then questioned the meteorologist further to determine
why greater
variances in daylight occurred nearer the Arctic Circle, than in the
continental
United States. Without these spontaneous telecommunications and our
Maryland
and Florida "teachers," my students and I would not have realized that
difference!
Curriculum Area(s)
Involved
Math, science, social studies, and written language
Grade Level(s)
Targeted
Students ages 10–15 or Grades 5–10
Class Management
Strategies
Since the activity proved to be so interesting, motivation and
on-task behaviors
were easy to maintain. A site master list helped monitor progress,
i.e. message
printed, daylight calculated, information in database, etc. Since some
students
had difficulty with keyboarding skills, they were paired with other
students
to make the fine motor task more manageable. An LCD panel or
presentation unit
would have facilitated computer lab instruction, but was not
available. I needed
to give individual and specific computer guidance for each step. All
verbal
instructions were also reinforced with written or visual instructions
whenever
possible.
Class Time
Required
- five 48-minute class periods for students to print messages and
identify
locations on wall maps
- two class periods to calculate daylight length given
sunrise/sunset times
- five computer lab class periods to create and sort computer
database
- two class periods to analyze data, discuss science aspects, and
e-mail classes
for more information (i.e. "What is it like to go months without a
sunrise?")
Print Materials
Needed
Atlases, USA and World wall maps, push pins, and location labels;
copies of
e-mail messages to share with students; database examples with step by
step
directions to enter information
Procedures/Activities
While working with my math and language classes on weather-related
topics,
our online meteorologist collaborated with me to design the
sunrise/sunset activity
posted on KIDPROJ. Postings from Math Pen Pal classes were printed and
distributed
to students. First, students identified locations on maps using the
latitudes
and longitudes given by participating sites. After determining the
daylight
length for our own town, students predicted whether other
schools/locations
would have more or less sunlight than Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. The
class
worked with me to "subtract" sunrise from sunset times, because this
task proved
very difficult for these youngsters with learning disabilities . In
the computer
lab, students helped type all information into the database. Each was
given
different e-mail messages and asked to highlight location name,
latitude, longitude,
and sunrise/sunset times. The databases were then merged and a sort
command
organized the sites by daylight amount. Finally, students compared the
daylight
column with the latitude column to detect significant patterns.
Method(s) for Evaluating
Student
Achievement of Objectives
The students discovered the relationship between latitude and length
of day.
Beginning with Finland and Alaskan sites with no sunrise, students
determined
that as latitude moved further south, daylight length increased until
we reached
Antarctica, which students were amazed to discover had no sunset. This
discovery
also increased the accuracy of students' daylight length predictions.
Accurate
wall map labels demonstrated utilization of latitude and longitude
skills, while
the final numerical summary indicated progress in working with a
computer database.
The students' desire to write other classes signified their excitement
for learning
as they were eager to learn more about their global neighbors and
communicate
through numbers. Finally, students were looking forward to the
spring/fall equinox
to repeat the activity!
|
