Activating Multiple Pathways

In week 4 of Dr. Zadina's workbook, she discusses ways in which teachers should try to activate multiple pathways for students so that they can create a more intricate network of the information in the brain. She suggests selecting a lesson and composing a list of various assignments that the students are free to choose from. Keeping in mind her discussion of executive functions in chapter 7 of our textbook, I thought it would be interesting to also incorporate some of those ideas into the lesson.

The topic I chose to work with was box plots. I wanted my students to understand how to read, create, analyze, and compare box plots. The lesson consisted of a brief introduction and a teacher led example of creating a box plot. During this time, we had a whole class discussion about how to read a box plot so that the students would be familiar with this before completing the other activities. After discussing how to read a box plot, we completed an example of creating a box plot. I didn't feel as though this was something that the students would be able to "discover" on their own, which is why I decided to lead an example. I then gave the students a list of assignments that involved reading, creating, analyzing, and comparing box plots. This page outlined their assignments for two class periods. At the end of the second class period, the students understood that they would be responsible for the concepts and would be completing a quiz. Some of the assignments involved worksheets. Some involved task cards in which the students receive 10 or so cards; on the bottom of each card is a problem, on the top of each is an answer. The students choose a card from the stack and work the problem presented, they then look for the answer on the top of another card. Using these cards, they are able to self-assess because they know that if their answer doesn't appear on any of the cards, they made a mistake and need to re-work the problem. We recently made accounts on Khan Academy, so some assignments involved watching a video and completing the assignment using their laptop. Some of the assignments involved creating a foldable in order to learn more about box plots. I asked the students to complete 6 out of the 12 or so assignments on the paper. The page also outlined the focus of each assignment; for example, task cards - reading box plots, Khan Academy activity 1- comparing box plots.

I explained that they were responsible for choosing which assignments to complete and making sure that they kept an eye on time. After the quiz at the end of the second period, we had a discussion about which activities they enjoyed the most and which activities helped them understand the material the best. My students made comments like "well since I really understood how to read box plots right after you did an example, I thought it would be better to spend my time on making the box plots and comparing them instead of doing the assignments that just wanted me to read them." It was awesome! So the activity even involved metacognition; I felt like my students were thinking about their own learning and getting to know the ways that they learned best. Is it by working basic problems and leading to more difficult ones, or is it working difficult problems and figuring out the mistakes they are making? I felt like it was a great assignment and I would definitely try it again!