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Problem-Based Math Lessons & Full Units of Study
Browse through over 60 complete K-12 math units of study chalked full of problem based investigations, 3 act math tasks, visual number talks, consolidation prompts and purposeful practice worksheets to Spark Curiosity & Fuel Sensemaking in every student.
MAKE MATH MOMENTS WITH OUR NEW
PROBLEM BASED MATH UNITS
EACH LESSON CONSISTS OF:
Each Make Math Moments Problem Based Lesson consists of a Teacher Guide to lead you step-by-step through the planning process to ensure your lesson runs without a hitch!
Each Teacher Guide consists of:
- Intentionality of the lesson;
- A step-by-step walk through of each phase of the lesson;
- Visuals, animations, and videos unpacking big ideas, strategies, and models we intend to emerge during the lesson;
- Sample student approaches to assist in anticipating what your students might do;
- Resources and downloads including Keynote, Powerpoint, Media Files, and Teacher Guide printable PDF; and,
- Much more!
Each Make Math Moments Problem Based Lesson begins with a story, visual, video, or other method to Spark Curiosity through context.
Students will often Notice and Wonder before making an estimate to draw them in and invest in the problem.
A great example of this is one of our more recent units called Piggy Bank.
After student voice has been heard and acknowledged, we will set students off on a Productive Struggle through a prompt related to the Spark context.
These prompts are given each lesson with the following conditions:
- No calculators are to be used; and,
- Students are to focus on how they can convince their math community that their solution is valid.
Students are left to engage in a productive struggle as the facilitator circulates to observe and engage in conversation as a means of assessing formatively.
The facilitator is instructed through the Teacher Guide on what specific strategies and models could be used to make connections and consolidate the learning from the 3 act math lesson.
Often times, animations and walk through videos are provided in the Teacher Guide to assist with planning and delivering the consolidation.
A review image, video, or animation is provided as a conclusion to the task from the problem based lesson.
While this might feel like a natural ending to the context students have been exploring, it is just the beginning as we look to leverage this context via extensions and additional lessons to dig deeper.
At the end of each lesson, consolidation prompts and/or extensions are crafted for students to purposefully practice and demonstrate their current understanding.
Facilitators are encouraged to collect these consolidation prompts as a means to engage in the assessment process and inform next moves for instruction.
At the end of each lesson, consolidation prompts and/or extensions are crafted for students to purposefully practice and demonstrate their current understanding.
Facilitators are encouraged to collect these consolidation prompts as a means to engage in the assessment process and inform next moves for instruction.
In multi-day units of study, Math Talks are crafted to help build on the thinking from the previous day and build towards the next step in the developmental progression of the concept(s) we are exploring.
Each Math Talk is constructed as a string of related problems that build with intentionality to emerge specific big ideas, strategies, and mathematical models.
Use our OPEN ACCESS 3 Act Math Style Lessons...
The first lesson in every Make Math Moments Problem Based Unit is open and available for all educators to use in your classroom without a Make Math Moments Academy Membership.
The first lesson in each of our problem based math units leverages a 3 act math task style anchor task with a full teacher guide to ensure you not only Spark Curiosity, but also Fuel Sensemaking in your students.
Typically educators who take advantage of the first open access lesson in each unit decide to become a part of the Make Math Moments Academy Community in order to access the additional 3 act math task style problem based lessons, visual number talk prompts, editable lesson templates, purposeful practice handouts, math worksheets and math assessments.
All Make Math Moments Problem Based Lesson resources can be downloaded, modified and leveraged in any format you prefer. Included in each download section are all media files as well as Apple Keynote and Microsoft Powerpoint slide show formats.
LOOKING FOR ADDITIONAL TASKS THAT SPARK CURIOSITY?
MAKE MATH MOMENTS
CURIOSITY SEARCH ENGINE
Making Math Moments That Matter is easy when you have interesting lessons with 3 act math tasks, visual math talks, purposeful math practice worksheets and other high yield approaches that Spark Curiosity and Fuel Sense Making. However, finding or creating those tasks from scratch can be difficult and time consuming.
If you’ve already searched through our Make Math Moments Problem Based Math Lessons and Multi-Day Units of Study and haven’t found what you’re looking for, consider trying the Make Math Moments Custom Curiosity Search Engine.
Resources for Teaching Through Task
The Make Math Moments core lesson design should be your go-to math lesson planning framework to spark curiosity, fuel student sense making, and ignite your teacher moves.
Download the Digital Guidebook now!
Other Useful Resources for Teaching Problem Based Math Lessons
Consider checking out the following links to better understand how you might go about teaching through task in your math class:
- Three Acts of a Mathematical Story by Dan Meyer, Creator of the “3 Act Math Task” Structure
- Three Acts of a (Lousey) Mathematical Story by Dan Meyer
- The 3 Act Math Task Beginner’s Guide by Kyle Pearce
- Formative Assessment and 3 Act Math Tasks by Jon Orr
- Trying 3 Act Math Tasks With Primary Students – National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
Looking for 3 Act Math Tasks to Supplement Your Make Math Moments Problem Based Units of Study?
If you love the Make Math Moments 3 Act Math Style tasks that are included in the problem based lesson days of our units, you’ll enjoy supplementing our multi-day investigative math units with some of the 3 Act Math Tasks by the math leaders below:
HELPING TEACHERS
MAKE MATH MOMENTS THAT MATTER
Helping K-12 teachers spark student curiosity, fuel sense making in kids, and ignite the teaching moves necessary to lead successful problem based mathematics lessons.
SPARK
Curiosity
FUEL
Sense Making
IGNITE
Your Teacher Moves
MAKE MATH MOMENTS WITH THE 3-PART FRAMEWORK
The Make Math Moments core lesson design should be your go-to math lesson planning framework to spark curiosity, fuel student sense making, and ignite your teacher moves.
Download the Digital Guidebook now!