Tell Me About It

A couple of years ago I came to the realization (not sure why it took me so long) that my students could number crunch like nobody's business, but had no idea what the answers meant or, more importantly, how they could meaningfully convey that to other people.

Take these clips from the Food Network's "Unwrapped", for example:

These relatively short clips are chock full of ratios and other cool numbers, and the story makes it mildly interesting.

Calculations like this might seem out of place in an advanced math class, but how many students in those classes will continue to operate in abstract math-land? Not a lot. But a good portion of them will benefit from having a strong command of some of the most basic skills, such that when employed correctly, makes people take notice.

Break It Down

In the beginning of the year I usually give them an interesting (well, interesting to me anyway) fact alone on a slide:

Alright, so Garr Reynolds might not be inspired by this slide, but it serves its purpose. On the first iteration of Tell Me About IT (TMAI) I will usually walk them through my expectations. I want them to convey the information to me in such a way that is different than what they see on the slide, and might inspire people to say "Wow!".

This usually doesn't involve anything more difficult than the four basic operations, but it requires some creativity and it asks them to search for information that I'm not willing to give them. This exercise is presented to ALL levels of classes (yes, pre-calc included) and ALL levels have trouble with this at first. Not because they're not creative or intelligent, but because our system doesn't allow them to think this way most of the time. Wrote memorization? Check. Multiple choice strategies? Check. (On a side note, when was the last time a real-life math problem presented itself to one of your students in the form of a multiple choice problem? Just thinking out loud.)

Creative manipulation of numbers?

I break down their responses into categories:

1.) Factual. A student operating at this level can tell me that 2,400 boxes per hour equals one box every 1.5 seconds, or 57,600 boxes per 24-hour day.

2.) Comparative. At level 2, a student might use statistics from the internet to compare consumption of Whitman's Sampler to consumption of vegetable servings, beef, chicken, etc. Are we eating more chocolate than the four basic food groups?

3.) Descriptive. The good ones that make level 3 take the numbers and convey them into something powerful. For example, in an "Unwrapped" episode on Twix candy bars, they told the viewers how many times the Twix candy bars manufactured each year, if laid end to end, reach to the moon.

That's it. That's what I'm looking for. I don't care about how many miles it is. Tell me about trips to the moon and back...a small nugget so meaningful that I won't forget...no...CAN'T forget the comparison and will then go tell my friends.