Practice » Motivational activity

Goal: Create a 2-5 day student activity designed for increase students' enjoyment of mathematics.

This activity should minimally:

1. Identify the course (algebra, geometry, etc.) and the grade level (8th, 9th, etc.)
2. Have a clear connection to mathematics. Optionally, this project can be based on College Preparatory Mathematics (9th grade algebra) used earlier in the semester.
3. Include a student handout that details the activity.
4. Have a schedule for each day.
5. Include a scoring guide.

Possible resources:

• If giving choices, 2-3 are often recommended. If students are stuck, try a morphological matrix
• Example math rubrics
• ScienceDaily: America's best teachers get creative
• WI Standards for Mathematics
• Motivation
  • Time: Motivation, not IQ, matters most for learning new math skills (Blue, 2012)
  • Puzzle of motivation (Pink, 2009, video)
  • Surprising truth about motivation (Pink, 2010, video)
• Attention
  • Selective attention test (Simons)
  • We don't pay attention to boring things (Medina)
• Stories
  • Three acts of a math story (Meyer) (with list of tasks)
  • Privileged status of story (Willingham, 2004)
• Manipulatives
  • NCTM Illuminations
  • National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
  • plot secret messages
  • Desmos art
• Puzzles
  • connected puzzles (arithmetic)
  • shikaku (geometry)
  • zukei (geometry)
  • sudoku (logic)
  • tic-tac logic (logic)
• Games
  • Derivative block
  • Linear war (and other math hombre games)
  • bringing back Battleship

Submission

Bring three copies of the activity to class. Be prepared to get feedback from your group members.

Alo be prepared to get feedback from actual students about your activity.

Scoring guide

Practice assignments are designed for formative feedback. Expect a lot of notes. I recommend using these notes to make edits to your practice assignment so you start your career with an improved version.

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