Tuesday, October 4th: Cary Arts Center at 2pm; game mechanics question - please help

[Maria Droujkova]

Hello Trekkies,

The next meeting of the Math Trek game will be Tuesday, October 4th at 2pm on the front stairs of the Cary Arts Center, 101 Dry Avenue.

Because most of the participants will be different from Sunday, we will play the same game sheet we did on Sunday (attached). 

To answer several inquiries, the game materials are licensed Creative Commons - it means you are welcome to use them in your own groups, with attribution. I will be thrilled to hear how it goes!

• Email your Trek photos to math...@posterous.com (you can do it during or after games)
• Bring your cameras
• Bring snacks and water
• Dress comfortably to move around, run and jump
• If you like surprises, don't look at the attached game sheet - this is what we are playing tomorrow

~*~*~*~*~*

Carol Cross, a veteran player, shares a concern about the new Quest 2 game mechanics after we tried it for the first time this Sunday. Please weigh in on this issue, especially if this describes your child! I did ask participating kids and, as Carol mentions, they all liked it - or so they told me. However...

Quest 1 involves just running around and finding things - a scavenger hunt with some puzzle elements. For example:

Find something that shows fractions Ancient Egyptians would use: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5…

Quest 2 means people have to pose and do some improv:

• Tell other gamers how to pose, so that they show, stage, impersonate and point out math you found

• Take a picture or a video when they are ready

~*~*~*~*~*Carol's post, edited:

I was thinking some more about the new game format for Math Trek.  Although it was fine for the crew we had, I think in general it might make Math Trek less attractive to the older students--middle and high schoolers.

I think when students are 10 and younger, they all are pretty much up for anything. But once they get to 11 and up, and they start thinking more about their identities and their image and all that, I think some, at least, would not want to act out the kinds of things we did yesterday. Kids we had before are all pretty confident and secure and game for anything. But I think of some of shyer kids - while I think they would do it, I think they would find it uncomfortable and maybe not want to come back. And I think of some older students who are more self conscious or image conscious, wouldn't agree to curl up and be a rock, or lie down and be six bricks (like Katherine and Sasha did). See the picture at Math Trek photo site: 

http://mathtrek.posterous.com/ratio-and-fraction-rocks

http://mathtrek.posterous.com/ratio-and-fraction-16-of-stones

I'm just thinking about making Math Treks as a national model for the widest range of kids possible.

Maybe we can have different options for the acting out portion. For example, they can be some kind of character and act out a story related to the pictures? I think it is easier for many tweens/teens to act out through role playing, where they are being someone other than their usual "selves," that it is for them to be themselves being rocks and such.

~*~*~*~*~*

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova
919-388-1721

Make math your own, to make your own math

 

[laura combs]

I can see how what Carol raises could be a concern and think it is a good point. I think that Quest 2 could be optional for teens who are too cool, but I think that needs to be judged on a group by group basis. If it is an all teen group, perhaps some type of modeling materials could stand in - k'nex or something else.

In the case of our group, Quest 2 flowed pretty well overall - it was a little long, though, and I am not sure how to shorten it. If a teen or anyone for that matter didn't want to participate in Quest 2, I think that the group would have respected their comfort level and decision.

I like the multi-age interaction in Quest 2 and hope that we continue to encourage it in our group and respect the decisions of those who may not want to participate in the future - if someone is uncomfortable, perhaps they could build a model of their Trek find.

Thanks to both of you for making me think bigger yet again! 

 

Laura
Raleigh, NC
www.movingstronglyforward.typepad.com

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From: Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com>
To: mathtrek...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2011 6:38 PM
Subject: [MathTrek] Tuesday, October 4th: Cary Arts Center at 2pm; game mechanics question - please help

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[rache...@gmail.com]

I think this is good to consider-making sure that being included in the math tableau is clearly optional. That said, speaking for the 'tween in our group-it was her favorite part, a close second to the pride in discovering 1/64th. Being in the photos is part of what made the event FUN for her. (And of course the two eight-year-olds loved decorating the found math with bystanders.) I noticed looking over the pictures we took that the photos of math + cute kids were more interesting than the plain photos of sewer grates etc., I mean items-of-mathematical-wonder. I think overall that any action that involves touching, imitating or reinterpreting the said object makes the experience more meaningful. Are there other ways to do that?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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From: Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com>

Sender: mathtrek...@googlegroups.com

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 18:38:15 -0400

To: <mathtrek...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: mathtrek...@googlegroups.com

Subject: [MathTrek] Tuesday, October 4th: Cary Arts Center at 2pm; game mechanics question - please help

[Carol Cross]

As the person who raised the older students issue, let me add it a few things--

Certainly, in all of Maria's activities, individuals of whatever age have the option to choose out--which is a great thing.  However, I would love for us to come up with some things that would have tweens/teens choose in.   At our local level, I think that most all of the students 11 and older who participate regularly have a personal connection to Maria and her family.   What can we do to make this activity, which I think is applicable to all ages (because I find it engaging as an adult), attractive enough to draw more of our older students?

As someone who has been actively involved in trying to building middle school-aged communities among both my homeschool group and my spiritual center, I have discovered that the older that students get, the more precious their time is.   Their studies take more time, and they have clubs and sports and personal goals and such, so it becomes harder and harder to get them involved in other activities.  And it seems that it becomes even harder when they get into high school, where they are dealing with transcripts for colleges (and trying to earn the grades that will get them into the colleges they want) and sometimes dating and sometimes working outside the home and other life commitments.

So my belief is that if older students come, and choose out of half of the class for a couple of classes in a row, they won't be coming much any more.  There is simply too much competition for their time. 

However, I do think some reflection and sharing of what they have discovered is valuable.  And I do value the mixture of ages in Math Trek.  So what I would love to do is to come up with some different ways to do that besides acting out their photos.  My thought is that either we could rotate the types of activities, or give people choices about how to reflect on things each week.  But I'm not exactly sure what those types of activities or choices of options would be....

So if anyone has any ideas to share, it would be great to hear them.

Thanks,

Carol

____________________________________

Interested in knowing more about early adolescents (ages 10-14)?  Check out my Teaching Your Middle Schooler blog at

http://teachingyourmiddleschooler.blogspot.com/

[laura combs]

This is a great discussion, as it is causing us to think about Math Trek in greater depth, so thank you.

I think that part of the reason we aren't seeing older students (high school kids) is that some of the high schoolers that I know often chose to homeschool on their own when they are in high school, so they have missed the chance to work with Maria from a young age to grow their math eyes and natural math cultures. In addition, Maria wasn't holding Treks and Clubs when these kids were five, six or seven, so it is not part of their culture and they choose to do things more along the lines of what is familiar to them. If they did Trek, though, I bet the kids I know would have a ball...they are just that way.

Math Trek has touched a number of families, and some of the families have chosen to adopt Maria's approach as part of their family culture. Some families with young kids will not be participating this year because of schedule conflicts and differing priorities, which is completely understandable, as we are all on different journeys with different emphases. The younger families who keep coming may be the ones we eventually see as tweens and older teens. Or they may have Trek pretty well under their belt and the kids or the parents or Maria will develop something new. It is hard to say. This is our fourth year participating in Maria's classes, and I am looking forward to my family being part of the evolution as long as possible.

That said, I don't think that the way we are doing things now in Trek keeps older kids away. The older kids just haven't shown up to be kept away, and we have only done Quest 2 one time, so really isn't a factor in stopping older teens from attending.

As for developing a rotating number of activities so that kids are not always acting their Treks out, I am sure that will be great, and as the need develops it will become part of the natural evolution of Math Trek. Right now I am not seeing the need because Quest 2 is very powerful and has strong participation. If some folks want to express themselves differently, by all means they should. I have complete confidence that their way of expressing will be embraced by the community and may lead to other great Math Trek adventures.

Laura
Raleigh, NC
www.movingstronglyforward.typepad.com

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From: Carol Cross <ccr...@mindspring.com>
To: mathtrek...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2011 9:19 PM
Subject: Re: [MathTrek] Tuesday, October 4th: Cary Arts Center at 2pm; gamemechanics question - please help

[Maria Droujkova]

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 9:19 PM, Carol Cross <ccr...@mindspring.com> wrote:

As someone who has been actively involved in trying to building middle school-aged communities among both my homeschool group and my spiritual center, I have discovered that the older that students get, the more precious their time is.   Their studies take more time, and they have clubs and sports and personal goals and such, so it becomes harder and harder to get them involved in other activities.  And it seems that it becomes even harder when they get into high school, where they are dealing with transcripts for colleges (and trying to earn the grades that will get them into the colleges they want) and sometimes dating and sometimes working outside the home and other life commitments.

Let me formulate a question, to myself and everybody. 

Quest 2 is about reflection on mathematics found during the scavenger hunt. How can we design the said reflection, so it looks good on a high school transcript?

Let us brainstorm!

[Rugrats RUs]

Hi. I have been hoping to join Math Trek for about a year now and it looks like we will be able to make it this time around!  I am planning on being there today with my five rugrats.  We may need to leave a few minutes early if that is ok as we have a standing activity the first Tuesday of every month.

See everyone today!
Stacy and the rugrats

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[laura combs]

Hi. I have had the great fortune this morning to be in a coffee shop with Karen and Alex Surrette. We were talking about the concerns for older kids. After integrating the discussion, I have synthesized it to this regarding alternate activity ideas (and have no preference - just excited by possibilities):

1. Draw the favorite Math Trek discovery (each person brings own drawing materials) and present to the group. Do it how you see it. Or make it abstract, impressionistic, ets.

2. Build the Math Trek discovery (legos/k'nex/other). While Maria has lots of manipulatives, we may want to bring our own.

3. Computer program/build it on a computer that the participant brings and then they explain it. Animate it.

4. Cartoon it.

5. Choreograph a dance.

Karen and Alex were great help coming up with this. I look forward seeing more ideas!

Laura

 

Laura
Raleigh, NC
www.movingstronglyforward.typepad.com

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From: Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com>

To: mathtrek...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 6:59 AM

Subject: Re: [MathTrek] Tuesday, October 4th: Cary Arts Center at 2pm; gamemechanics question - please help

[Maria Droujkova]

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 11:17 AM, laura combs <lrc...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi. I have had the great fortune this morning to be in a coffee shop with Karen and Alex Surrette. We were talking about the concerns for older kids. After integrating the discussion, I have synthesized it to this regarding alternate activity ideas (and have no preference - just excited by possibilities):

1. Draw the favorite Math Trek discovery (each person brings own drawing materials) and present to the group. Do it how you see it. Or make it abstract, impressionistic, ets.

2. Build the Math Trek discovery (legos/k'nex/other). While Maria has lots of manipulatives, we may want to bring our own.

3. Computer program/build it on a computer that the participant brings and then they explain it. Animate it.

4. Cartoon it.

5. Choreograph a dance.

Karen and Alex were great help coming up with this. I look forward seeing more ideas!

Laura

Thank you for brainstorming, Laura! I drew a bit for Stacy's kids yesterday, and if we had supplies for everybody to draw, I think it would be a lot of fun. I will try it more next time.

Everybody, please email your photos to math...@posterous.com

I want to do cool things with/to them and for that, I need the photos!