Reply To: Lesson 3 – Teaching Through Task – Discussion

[Lavon Heath]

My students had a surface area problem this week, but most of my students saw 3 numbers and found volume. As I reflected on this, I realized that they learned surface area at the beginning of remote learning, which means that they missed out on physical models and they jumped right to nets. Consequently, they don’t have a solid foundation. We need to go back to physical models and then see how many cubic inches will fit around our model. Once they have spent time with they have spent time performing direct and indirect comparison, we could then move on with nets and algorithms (direct and indirect measurement).

As I reflected on how the rush to formulas shortchanges our students, I thought about my unit on slope. We need to spend much more time than I did last year drawing the triangles of rise and run and counting the units. The hands on models may take more time upfront but they lead to a deeper understanding that will pay off in the long run.