NCTM Conference: Denver, Colorado

I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to fly to Denver, Colorado for the NAtional Council for Teachers of Mathematics annual conference. While I was there, I attended several seminars and booths to obtain new, helpful resources and information. I was able to visit booths such as Texas Instruments, Lonestar Learning, IXL.com, Qwizdom, and much more. They offered information regarding calculators and other technology to enhance student learning of mathematics. Even though I attended several seminars, there was one that solely stood out and had a great impact on my view of math and learning in the classroom. A speaker named Dan Meyer gave a presentation on the idea of "Perplexity." He stated that engagement differs from perplexity, because engagement is being involved while perplexity brings about questions and exploration. He will gage his students by using various technologies and creates lessons that require his students to think on their own and question what is going on. For example, he told us to look at a graph about water consuption during a hockey game. HE took away all the information on the graph and asked us to decipher it and think about what was happening when the line of the graph would plummet or drastically shoot up. So, this required us to think of various things that may have occurred during the game for when most of the water was consumed. This activity incorporated perplexity. We questioned the graph and our own thinking to consider the various things that could have happened, instead of being provided the information. Not only did this activity engage my interest, it also encouraged me to start questioning. I believe I will try to incorporate activities like this in my classroom, because it teaches the students to think on their own. In addition, it incorporates ideas about the "real world," so students may be more interested in being involved in math activities such as this.