End-of-course holiday party

[Maria Droujkova]

What makes a good holiday party? Think of this question as an instructional designer. Would it not be cool to design classes more like parties?

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For example, what math jokes can your kids tell one another? You can tell them a joke a day and invite them to share jokes, too. I frequently tell this one, because I literally do stuff like this if I am on auto-pilot:

A mathematician was in a habit of making a cup of tea when working late at night. Her usual method was to get the teapot from the cupboard, take the teapot to the sink, add water, heat to boiling, then make the cup of tea. One night when she went to make tea, the teapot was already full of water and sitting on the stove. She paused momentarily, then emptied the teapot and put it back in the cupboard, thereby reducing this to a previously solved problem.

If you wanted to tell a math joke right now, which would it be?

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Another party favorite (or lesson warm-ups) are physical, body tricks. 

Can you hold the end of a string in each of your hands and tie a knot in the string, without letting go of the string?! Scarfs work beautifully. In this video, a father plays with his two sons around this puzzle, explaining some math behind it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RxbKC_gnlg

I recently saw a room full of kids get totally engaged with this party trick, called The Math Salute, at a Jim Tanton's math circle. You got to try it to believe how magically motivating it is. It also has a big math problem-solving point to it: work backwards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-X3mEY1Xg

Which math party trick would you share, if you were at a math party or a party-like class right now?

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Playful, fanciful food - or playing with your food - is always a part of a good holiday. I try to arrange food for kids during all math lessons, simply because math burns so much blood sugar and calories. But at a party, it's a must!

Here is something I found inspirational - from the one and the only Vi Hart: http://vihart.com/food/

I also like how everybody makes fancy pies on the Pi Day which is 3/14 (pun overload!)

What food-related math fun could you arrange for kids, with your favorite food?

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Some modern party goers share rich media - short videos, pictures, animations. For this to work well, you need to be able to pull the media piece out of your pocket quickly, and it has to take very little time. I often find myself sharing XKCD comics when they highlight a point I am making; or else short, beautiful videos my PLNs circulate. Bonus points if the other party-goer has seen the media piece before - then we feel really connected over it. Here are a couple of recent favorites:

http://xkcd.com/1035/ (food math)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVthC6neqVc (my office is not this weird and wonderful yet, but I am working on it!)

Which media piece would you share with someone in a light conversation over cocktails - or with students relaxing after a long problem-solving session?

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Happy end of the semester! I hope you have fun when you celebrate Pi day, Sonia Kovalevsky (girl mathematicians) day, Math Storytelling day and other math holidays. One geeky, mathy holiday is coming up next week - Star Wars day (May the Fourth).

What other small, meaningful things can we do to make our math lessons feel like parties?

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova
919-388-1721

Make math your own, to make your own math

 

[Garrett, Sandra]

I think celebrating mathematician's birthdays would be fun in a math class!  There are lists all over the internet.  This one is really great, though it is from 2005  http://mathforum.org/~judyann/calendar/.  It includes a quote of the month for one of the birthday "boys" or "girls".  It could be a fun way to talk about different math concepts as well as learn some history of the cubject.  Maybe once a month, the class can have a party celebrating all of the birthdays of that month.  Additionally, maybe students could be assigned a specific person to learn about, and on that person's birthday, the student could share a little about the person.  The teacher could then give the student a little gift or treat.  Talk about a positive behavioral support!  :-)

 

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