A lot of maths is done at desks, in rows. I am guilty of this (I often find that if students are sat in groups of four, there is a little too much room for them to ‘hide’). However, going out of the classroom and into the real world is often really powerful.
I was recently trying to get my students engaged in the idea of distance time graphs. These can often be tedious, especially when phrased as an exam question.
KILL ME
My students where also getting confused. Especially when looking at a situation that was impossible, or a situation where the subject of the graph is on a return journey.
So I created this.
It’s a really simple resource, just a couple of graphs. However, the idea is the students have to recreate those graphs using a stopwatch, a marker and a trundle wheel.
This really engaged my students, and made them think about exactly how these graphs work. Once they’d practiced on a graph they would come and show me the finished product, we’d talk about how accurate their version of the graph was, and we’d talk about any misconceptions.
I recommend you give it a go and get outside.