Lesson Activities: Grade 11 College (MBF3C)

Lesson Activities: Grade 11 College (MBF3C)

In the grade 11 college preparation course, students develop an understanding of mathematical concepts related to quadratic relations, data management, trigonometry, and geometry.  This course is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge necessary for college programs or for some apprenticeship or training programs.  The lesson activity presentations that we had during class were both interactive and hands on, which is perfect for this course. 

The first lesson activity, presented by Anita, covered mean, median and mode.  This lesson would be best implemented in the middle of the data management unit when working with one variable data.  The last time students would have covered mean, median and mode would have been in grade 8, which is why it would be useful have a lesson activity on these mathematical concepts.  I think Anita’s game activity, “Find the Mean Like You MEAN It!” would be a fun way to have students practice and review these concepts without feeling like they are simply completing the same practice questions repeatedly.  In this activity, students deal a deck of cards and calculate the mean of their hand and compare it with the other players.  They do this for three rounds and then calculate their average to see who the winner is.  This game could also be used for practicing median and mode. 
 

The second lesson activity, presented by Tori, was equally as interesting.  Her lesson was on real- world applications of 3D figures, and solving design problems.  I really liked how hands on her activity was, and how it required students to use various STEAM topics (i.e. art, engineering, math) in order to complete their task.  In this activity, students had to design a container that could fit 3 circular chocolates.  We were given multiple materials (popsicle sticks, cardboard, tape, etc.) that could help us in our construction of the container.  We got to work in groups to discuss what the best design shape would be, and then construct our design.  I think this activity would be perfect for the grade 11 college course because it allows students to be active and creative, which is not as common in traditional math classes.   I think that when students are completing this activity, they will be using math skills without feeling like they are.  i.e. they will not have the anxieties associated with mathematical problem solving. 

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