Good things in small packages! | The Great Math Experience: Engaging Problems for Middle School Mathematics...

Ok not quite what it was hyped up to be | The Great Math Experience: Engaging Problems for Middle School Mathematics | Andrew Field

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	• The Great Math Experience: Engaging Problems for Middle School Mathematics Andrew Field Trafford Publishing, 2004 - 106 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Is anybody paying attention?

In the introduction to the book, Field states, "I have personally experienced students who transform from math-haters to math lovers, largely due to these types of problems and the discourse they stimulate."

That is quite a statement, but from my limited teaching experience I have every reason to believe that it is correct. Many years ago I did some substitute teaching. Since I was never given an assignment I frequently gave recreational math problems to the students. I was most pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm that the problems generated.

In this short book, Field shows that he goes far beyond what I did. After having the students work on their own, he initiates discussions around the problems, allowing students to benefit from each other's insights. He also relates the problems to related areas of mathematics. The book reproduces some of this dialog and I found it quite interesting.

There is a view of students as being lazy and unmotivated. If you read this book you will see that this is simply not the case. Students like to be challenged. They would not play video games if the games were easy. What students do not want is rules without explanation and endless and repetitive exercises. There is a better way of teaching math than is currently being done. Having much of the curriculum being devoted to challenging or open ended problems engages the students, increases their appreciation of mathematics and sharpens their skills. For a somewhat more academic treatment of problem centered learning I recommend Experiencing School Mathematics by Jo Boaler.

I have two suggestions for any reprintings of this book. In chapter 10, the students are able to work out a formula empirically, which is quite okay, but there is no attempt to then verify the formula analytically. This can be done, with perhaps some assistance, using only the mathematics available to students in middle school.

In chapter 12, it is stated that writing a googolplex in 12-point font would stretch from here to Pluto and back six times. With all due respect for the author, the 10^100 digits of googolplex is unimaginably large. I suggest as an exercise to determine the order of magnitude in inches of the 28 billion light year diameter of the visible universe and see how far short of 100 that it falls.

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Good things in small packages!

Don't let the size of this book mislead you. The problems presented in this book were engaging and challenging for my middle school algebra classes. Each problem has a well written explanation of the solution and extensions . I would definitely recommend this book to anyone teaching middle school math.

Ok not quite what it was hyped up to be

This book has some excellent problems to get students thinking. I was expecting a little more out of it. Some of te problems were great real world situations others seemed forced into a real world situation.

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Really Really Good for getting kids to think

This has been a great tool for getting kids to think outside of the box... The solutions aren't listed like you would expect, but it's not hard to figure out the answers.

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The Great Math Experience is a collection of wonderful mathematics problems and ideas for their use in the middle school math classroom. Whether you are an experienced teacher or brand new, this book is sure to offer fresh ideas to help your students have a great math experience!

Each problem has been actually used in a real classroom.with great success. The book lists the areas of mathematics that a problem encompasses and offers advice on how to introduce it to the class. The author offers sample questions that foster deep mathematic discussions and typical student responses.

Students in grades 5 through 9 are sure to benefit from these non-traditional, fun mathematic problems, which stimulate the profound mathematical thought that educators seek.

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