Math Knowledge Network QUARTERLY Issue 2

Math Knowledge Network QUARTERLY 1(2)

 

Welcome to the Issue 2 of the Math Knowledge Network Quarterly!

Once again, we are excited to share some of the recent work of our Communities of Practice: Math Leadership, Critical Transitions, Indigenous Knowledge & Computational Modelling.

George Gadanidis & Donna Kotsopoulos (MKN co-Directors)

PS – To stay up-to-date on upcoming events, activities, and resources, please visit the MKN website, join our mailing list (see subscription form bottom-right), and follow us on Twitter @mknrcm.

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In this issue

Indigenous Knowledge & Youth Gathering – Revitalizing Star Knowledge

AI Education – Andy diSessa Webinar report

Steven Floyd and Lisa Anne Floyd: A Webinar with Dr. Andy diSessa

Graham Fletcher: Harnessing the Power of the Purposeful Task

Northeastern Ontario Math Leadership Workshop May 2019

News from St. Andrews PS, TDSB

News from Greater Essex County District School Board

Indigenous Knowledge and Mathematics Inquiry Year 2, DPCSB

Math & Computational Thinking in the Niagara Catholic Classroom

HS to elementary and back again + coding

Guidelines to Engaging with Indigenous Knowledge

Kindergarten Educator Spatial Reasoning with Millbrook-South Cavan P.S.

Maximizing Early Math Learning Conference, August 2019

Grade 11 Teachers’ Workshop in Ottawa, August 2019

Upcoming Events

  • Early Years Critical Transition Team hosts a Professional Development Conference for primary teachers at Queen’s University – August 12
  • Math 9 – 12 Critical Transitions Team hosts a Grade 11 Teachers’ Workshop in Ottawa – August 27 – 28
  • Computational Modelling at Wellington CDSB
    1. Math and Computer Science Integrated Program (on-going)

Cast a Wide Net at St Andrews PS, TDSB: AI, robotics, coding, math, social studies

View this report in PDF here.

Report by Iain Brodie, December 2018

Sometimes, in order to learn about specific things, you have to approach it from many angles. This is what the grade sevens at St. Andrews Public School are about to do with artificial intelligence. Rather than approach it as a singular scientific subject, they are about to embark on a journey that will take in literature, communication, mathematics, coding, engineering, making, and most importantly – thinking.

Thinking as a skill is not specifically outlined in any of our curricula except as a category on an achievement chart or a process expectations, and even there it does not give nearly enough credit to the abilities of our children to think, to think critically. The grade sevens in Ms. Awara’s classroom are going to learn not only how to think critically, but in order to understand what artificial intelligence might be, they are going to have to think about thinking, as well as about some serious issues in our interconnected world.

During planning, Ms. Awara stressed that it was really important for her and her students to cast a wide net during learning engagements. “Doing so exposes the students to a widening horizon so that they can learn to make informed choices in and about their futures. It also gives them many chances to learn and practice collaborating, thinking critically, and problem solving through conducting an open inquiry with many “big, juicy questions” for the students to dive into.

Some of the materials they are going to be using include a graphic novel which will set the stage for the inquiry, online apps which will help the students to understand how programming works with Boolean algebra, logic gates and more (see http://eduapps.ca/ai/). They are also planning on exploring Vector, an AI robot so that they can experience the user side of working with an AI.

Our future is wide open, and there are so many things that we can learn. Ms. Awara and her grade seven students are not only going to learn about what AI is, they are going to learn how it learns and in the process learn how they learn, too.

NEW Report: Locally Developed Gr 9 Classroom Study

In Spring 2017, members of our Critical Transitions CoP began a project in locally developed Grade 9 classrooms in partnership with Lakehead University and Lakehead Public Schools. In June 2017, in-depth semi-structured interviews of three teachers at the partner high school who had or were teaching the Grade 9 Locally Developed course were conducted. Throughout the project, a number of new classroom resources, lessons, and so on were designed, field tested and revised, and this work is on-going.

To learn about the project so far, check out their full report, “Revisioning the Three R’s from the Ground Up: Relationships, Resilience, and Resources.” A 1-page summary is also available here.