KQED News Mind/Shift – Katrina Schwartz
“Getting students excited and authentically curious about a math task takes more than presenting a word problem. Some teachers are finding that a short, high-interest video or other piece of media that raises questions in kids’ minds is the best way to prime them to dive deeply into problem solving. In this Teaching Channel video of Sarah Dietz’ second grade class, she uses a video clip about cookie monster to grab her students’ interest and get them questioning. The video presents a puzzle to students and Dietz makes sure to draw out their questions, honing in on the common theme (and the lesson for the day) based on their authentic questions. She’s also asking them to decide what information they need to solve their question, an important part of math in the real world that is often left out of traditional textbook problems. Then, she gives them time to work through the question they’ve posed using a model of the cookie package and their knowledge of various subtraction strategies.”(more)