About this Resource
From October to December 2011, 24 teachers from across various school districts, as well as private and charter schools around, and within Calgary, met to look at ways to improve mathematical understanding in their classrooms. The cohort started with a full day for teachers – an introduction to what the cohort was about, followed by teachers being actively engaged in two engaging and rich math tasks. Following the first day, teachers then met every two weeks.
The process of these meetings, including the first one, was to introduce teachers to a rich math task, have them engage in the task as a group of learners, debrief the activity regarding questions that teachers could ask students who might struggle or excel in this activity, discuss some additional scaffolding that may be needed, identify misconceptions that students may run into and how to best support learners.
After each problem was presented and debriefed with teachers, they were then asked to return to their classroom and within the following two weeks, do the problem with a group of students. During that time, teachers were asked to document through audio or video what the students were saying and doing. They were also encouraged to collect written artifacts of the students work.
When teachers gathered together again, we had the chance to observe the lesson in action. Thanks to the Calgary Science School, we were able to go into two teachers classrooms and watch how the students took up the tasks.
After this observations, teachers met to debrief what they saw in the classroom they observed at the Calgary Science School, what they saw in their classroom, how students reacted and worked on the tasks being presented to them, and to also show evidence of what took place (audio, video or artifact).
After this, the process was repeated – new problem, new misunderstandings to consider, new supporting/stretching questions to consider, return to classroom to do the problem, return to group to observe the lesson in a class, and debrief.
Below are some of the problems that teachers looked at, along with some video regarding lesson study, teachers in action debriefing the problems and much more information. Enjoy!
Introduction
Teacher Uploaded Problems
- Diaper Problem – Created by Craig Churchill
- Variables can be used to Describe Relations – Source: Great Ways to Differentiate Mathematics Instruction by Marian Small
- Compilation of Problems – Put together by Vladimir Stelkic
- Avalanche Problem: Exploring Volume – Uploaded by Josh Markle
- Circle Geometry Scenario – Created by Mikkel Nannan
- Batman Imprisoned – Uploaded by Yvette Jean-Jacques
- Farey Sequences – Uploaded by Brittany Riddle
- Fence for Cattle – Uploaded by Lori D’Argent
- Perched Birds – Uploaded by Ian Higginbottom
- The Locker Problem – Uploaded by Rita Poruchy
- Last One Standing (King Arthur’s Problem) | NCTM Article – Uploaded by Shannon Potts
Additional Resources
Final Thoughts
Here is a video of some of the thoughts from teachers involved in this project.