Imagine_IT Final Report
With about 8 weeks left in the school year, my students in the KAM classes are putting the finishing touches on their research report. They have read mathematical books, studied online resources and solved their own problems and now they are typing up their work in a professional math typesetting software.
I have learned several things throughout this process. First, it can be very hard for me to step back a bit and let my students wade through the boggy marshes of math research. I am so tempted to give them a more coherent path towards a finished product, but I stop myself most of the time because I don't just want to say exactly what they should be looking for in their research. I think that once I set the project next year, I will have a better sense of what a high school math research paper can be, and because I have some examples from this year, I will be able to advise my students a bit better.
I spoke with my students about the project, and they said that they appreciated the time to just delve into a topic without a lot of restrictions. At the same time, they were honest about how daunting that can be. I gave them a framework to type up their research, and I gave examples of work I did in college, but they would have liked a bit more structure, perhaps with mini-deadlines along the way.
Part of my original project was to develop a community of mathematicians. Frankly, it's been awesome to see my student's mathematical work. Just from their drafts, I'm really proud of the work they have done. They have also talked with each other about how to format their work and structure their proofs. I do think I can space a few days into the project next year where students share out a bit of what they have so far and other students can give constructive feedback. I think that might also accomplish the goal of having more mini-deadlines along the way of crafting a large research paper.
So often in other classes, I do the heavy lifting of designing units and standards and skills and assessments. This makes sense in a class like Geometry which has a previous class and a designed next class. Things are very rigid like that. I appreciate that this project has allowed to think beyond the pipeline, into what professional math can be. Perhaps there is space in early grades for it, although that is a much harder question indeed.
I have learned several things throughout this process. First, it can be very hard for me to step back a bit and let my students wade through the boggy marshes of math research. I am so tempted to give them a more coherent path towards a finished product, but I stop myself most of the time because I don't just want to say exactly what they should be looking for in their research. I think that once I set the project next year, I will have a better sense of what a high school math research paper can be, and because I have some examples from this year, I will be able to advise my students a bit better.
I spoke with my students about the project, and they said that they appreciated the time to just delve into a topic without a lot of restrictions. At the same time, they were honest about how daunting that can be. I gave them a framework to type up their research, and I gave examples of work I did in college, but they would have liked a bit more structure, perhaps with mini-deadlines along the way.
Part of my original project was to develop a community of mathematicians. Frankly, it's been awesome to see my student's mathematical work. Just from their drafts, I'm really proud of the work they have done. They have also talked with each other about how to format their work and structure their proofs. I do think I can space a few days into the project next year where students share out a bit of what they have so far and other students can give constructive feedback. I think that might also accomplish the goal of having more mini-deadlines along the way of crafting a large research paper.
So often in other classes, I do the heavy lifting of designing units and standards and skills and assessments. This makes sense in a class like Geometry which has a previous class and a designed next class. Things are very rigid like that. I appreciate that this project has allowed to think beyond the pipeline, into what professional math can be. Perhaps there is space in early grades for it, although that is a much harder question indeed.