Snapshot: 8A Food Deserts

Berkeley, CA

As a final project, I like to find a way to incorporate a social justice lesson into the eighth grade curriculum. Last year, the class spent the final weeks of the year tackling the question, "Is minimum wage a livable wage?" They explored by calculating living expenses for a year (rent, food, transportation, entertainment, etc) and then compared it to what you would earn if you were working a minimum wage job. They had a a guest speaker from the Human Resources department come and talk about the taxes and deductions that are taken from a pay check. In the end, we had a good debate/conversation about whether or not you can live off of minimum wage.

This year, the class took on the idea of food deserts. This is a project I have been tossing around for about a year. The essential question was, "What is a food desert? Who is impacted by food deserts?" We researched and defined a food desert. They looked at research about the impact of food deserts. For four classes, a group of students were charged with locating grocery stores on a set of maps from AAA of the Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, and Portland, OR. They had to cut out 1-mile radius circles to represent the reach of the grocery store. The areas that were not covered by the circles are defined as food deserts. These maps are not comprehensive because we were limited in time, but students were able to get a sense of how food deserts occur and who is impacted by these deserts. 

Our discussions centered around how they live in an region of the country were access to fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, and whole grains is easy. They recognized the high density of markets and grocery stores is high in the Bay Area and that affluent areas had great overlap of circles. Some students were able to recognize living in Northern California is not representative of the issue of food deserts. If we had more time and I had planned ahead, we would have done a second round of maps that represent cities where food deserts are a significant issues, such as New Orleans, Atlanta, and Detroit, and compared maps with the Bay Area. I would extend this to look at grocery stores per capita and other ratios that might have helped us understand the issue further.

This activity turned out better than I had hoped and I was pleased with how we were able to use math to explore this topic. I look forward to refining and extending this project for future classes. 

Oakland, CA

El Cerrito and Richmond, CA

San Franciso, CA

Lake Tahoe, CA

Portland, OR

Snapshot: 8A Barbie Bungee Jump

Students are always asking,"When will I ever use this?" in math class. I do my best to give them real world contexts for the skills they are learning. In the 8th grade, we began the year learning about linear functions and figuring out how to graph them. To help make these skills real, the students did an activity where they had to use linear functions to figure out how many rubber bands a Barbie required to get the most thrilling bungee jump off QLab 201's balcony (16 feet).  Thrilling was defined as getting as close to the ground without actually touching the ground.  Here is a compilation of shots from our jump day. 

Thank you to Blake Hansen for the video footage and editing.


If you wish to read more about this adventure or see more photos and video, check out: 8A Barbie Bungee Jump: Explore More.

Snapshot: 8A Equations of Lines

Much of the fall was spent working with various forms of a line. The class saw different representations of lines: tables, graphs, equations, and word problems. In this activity, the class was split into groups and they had to match a table with an equation, a graph, and a story problem. They are working to understand the relationship between these representations and know when each type is useful. There was lots of great discussion and testing of understanding as the activity progressed. 

Next, we are getting ready to solve systems of linear equations!

Snapshot: 8A Opening day

We are back! It was the first day of the 2016-2017 school year and my only class was with 8A. We opened the QLab and there was lots of energy and enthusiasm for the newly renovated space.  We opened class with an introduction for the new students to the group. Then we jumped into an activity called 31-derful. We just got a start on the challenge and will continue when we return from our trip to Catalina. Stay tuned for more information on this fun challenge.

Snapshot: 8A Documenting the Process

 

One of the great challenges that my students face in math class is documenting their thinking on paper. Most students are resistant to taking the time to show their work in detail. It is difficult to capture all of the decisions and step that are required to show someone how they achieved their result. Every so often, students are able to capture their thinking in a clear, detailed, and concise manner. These are two exemplar samples of what we hope every student can achieve. 

The eighth grade is learning how to factor polynomials. We began the journey by learning how to multiply monomials, binomials, and polynomials. The class spent several periods looking for the clues on how to factor a trinomial in the form of a^2+bx+c. To solidify their learning, they were asked to write out the steps to teach someone how to factor this type of trinomial. Many found this task difficult because they struggled to generalize the steps. Most could tell you what to do with a specific example, but not how to do it without specifics. These two examples were the most successful at capturing what needs to happen to factor a basic trinomial in the a^2+bx+c form.  Both capture the essence of the procedure in very different ways. One is verbal and the other is expressed with tables. We shared in class to help everyone get better at documenting their thinking. 

Snapshot: 8A Applying Systems of Equations

The eighth grade is working hard to develop their algebraic tool box. They are learning the different tools used to solve systems of equations. We have practiced substitution, graphing and elimination. The class's tool of choice is elimination!  

To help us synthesize our learning, we set out to figure out which tools worked best in different scenarios. Each group was given a pair of equations to solve. They had to graph the solution, use substitution to solve the system, and use elimination to solve the system. We discussed and identified characteristics of each set of problems to help us determine which was the best tool for each scenario. Below, are the notes from our exploration. 

Our greatest challenge in this work has been keeping track negative signs, applying the distributive property, and correctly manipulating equations according to the reverse of the order of operations. 

Snapshot: 8A Slope Battleship

To solidify and extend our understanding of slopes of lines and to get practice graphing linear equations, we played Slope Battleship.  Teams of two battled with each other to sink the other team's submarine, destroyer, and battleship. Each team gave the other team an equation for a line and they would report back if it was a hit or miss. Some games got very animated!

8A: The Banach-Tarski Parody

My classes quickly learn that I am easily side-tracked by interesting math ideas and conversations. This VSauce video was sent to me by a student and I felt compelled to share it with the rest of the class. In the last two years, we have tackled the concept of infinite, on multiple occasions. This video does a tremendous job of simplifying this abstract and complex idea. Our brains were stretched and I loved the interesting ideas it generated in class. I hope if you are interested in learning more, you will check out the links on the YouTube page and the many books referenced at the end of the video.

Thank you to JP for sharing this video with me and the rest of the class!

Snapshot: 8A Collaborative Problem-Solving

It was great to welcome the 8's back from their travels to Catalina Island. We kicked off the year with a collaborative problem-solving activity called "31-underful!" Each table was given a deck of cards and required to make a 5x5 array where each column and row had a sum of 31. Each table and group had a different approach and different way to solve the challenges that emerged along the way. Each group presented their strategy and solution to the whole class. It helped to dust off our math skills and start of the year communicating their thinking.