November 16th 2011

               Today, if kids were finished with their designs, they were allowed to work on 5 different programs: the Graffiti Grapher, the Virtual Bead Loom, the Navajo Rug Weaver, the Pacific North-west Basket Weaver, or the Yupik Parka Patterns. All these programs relate to Cartesian coordinates and we had decided on using them on the 15^th. After the children finished their designs, their designs were transferred onto a flash drive. They then began working on the other programs.

               Many of them wanted to use the same computer that they were using the previous week for various reasons. Sometimes the reason was the desktop image and other times it was a saved image of a previous design. They also wanted to use the Skateboarder software instead and I had to tell them multiple times that they couldn’t use it at the school and had to prevent them from going on it or other sites multiple times. No one used the Yupik Park Patterns software because they found it too complicated. Many kids tried to use the Graffiti Grapher but moved onto different programs if it proved too hard for them. Many kids still needed help with creating designs using coordinates and another volunteer tried teaching Cartesian coordinates to one student the normal way. Other kids were adept at the new software and began making complicated designs that they felt proud of. At the end, many wanted to save their new designs.

               The basement is finally open at the Boys and Girls club. We brought them to a room were we played a few minor games while waiting for the parents to arrive. Many kids were getting bored and trying to leave early. Eventually, we escorted them up to the gym and let them play dodge-ball until their parents arrived. Some of the parents were interested in our program so I showed them the bead-loom software and gave a brief description on how it’s used.

November 9th

               This was the last day to work on the bead-loom software. Students were supposed to create a design and save it. Next week, will begin working on a hand-made beadloom. We gave them their assigned laptops and asked them to create their final design.

               The kids were beginning to become competitive. They would constantly compare their designs and seemed more focused on the job. Every now and then, I had to remind them to make the design symmetrical and show them how to create objects but they usually based their work on that of the person sitting next to them. While I was helping a kid one time, he became lazy and started telling me what he wanted me to do. I told him he was supposed to do it by himself and I stayed behind him to make sure he did it. The kid sitting next to him started out by making a similar design and then moved on to other steps. He had to simplify his design because he couldn’t a complex design symmetrical. One other kid who took this program the previous year created multiple very complex designs and began showing off.

               I noticed that many of them were still struggling to understand the concept of symmetry and had trouble using the different tools. Many tried to use triangular iteration and linear iteration but eventually resorted to lines and rectangles.

November 2nd, 2011

               Last Wednesday was a half day at the ACCS. Today, however, we continued on the bead loom software. There were four instructors, including me. There were also only 13 kids. The kids were familiar with the bead loom by now. They were using the rectangle tool and the line tools to create their own designs.

               There were some problems with the laptops randomly restarting but that wasn’t really an issue. I worked with a table of six and made sure that the kids did not visit random websites. They were very rowdy and would often encourage each other to go on other websites. I also helped them create new designs and find ways to create new designs. Some examples were concentric squares, rectangles, and symmetrical, diagonal lines. I started doing this after I realized that the students were not making symmetrical designs. Some students unfortunately seem to be losing interest in the program. I believe that they should be encouraged to make designs out of pop culture references they like instead of ancient Native American designs. One laptop had a desktop screen of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on it. When the kid using the laptop opened it up, he and all his friends became very excited.

               There was some trouble saving the file and we could not open it afterwards. Today, it didn’t matter because those designs were easily reproducible. I suggest that we put the software on the computer, restrict internet access to only a few websites, and have them save the file on the desktop as well as online.

October 12th

            On this day, we decided that it was best to teach the students about counting lines on a grid and using them to create symmetrical objects before having them use the bead loom software. One RPI student was absent so the other brought in two of her friends to help out.

            The other 3 were charging and preparing the school laptops for the bead loom so in the meantime, I started by drawing a grid on the board and using extra thick lines to mark out the axes of symmetry. I then put a magnet on a point and asked the class to find the symmetrical point over the vertical axis. One of the students who were in the program already put the other magnet in the correct spot. I then explained how to find the answer by counting out the lines and explaining that the number of lines has to be the same on both sides of the axis. Unfortunately, not many of the kids were paying attention and I had to call out to them several times. I called up several of the kids who did not seem to understand and asked them to reflect several other magnets that I put up. One girl was too shy to go up in front of the class. Finally, I called a few more and asked them to reflect a point over the origin. All except one were able to do it after some explanation. I went over several different problems with the last kid but we had to move on to the bead loom software before he could understand it.

            Before starting the bead loom, we had the group read the cultural background of the bead loom out loud. If one kid starts to reads out loud, he/she would eventually lower his/her voice out after making a few mistakes with big words or out of shyness. The same girl who wouldn’t get up to solve the symmetry problem was also too shy to read out loud. We solved this by having the entire class read out loud together. We had to make sure that students weren’t going on other websites while working. I worked with the 3 students who seemed to have the most trouble with the software. I would have them first choose an easy design and then show them how to change color and plot points. I plotted the first few for them so that they know where they should begin and then I let them choose for themselves. I taught them to hold the mouse over a point that they want to use, look at the x and y values that show up at the top of the screen, and enter them in the text boxes. After a few tries, they understood it.

October 5th

            There were 20 students this week. We had to cut up the pizza slices into halves and thirds to distribute it equally. Today we began our actual math lessons.

            We started by explaining the concept of symmetry. After we explained the concept, we called on several of them to point out symmetrical objects in the room and then asked them how these objects were symmetrical. Next, we handed out several different designs and Native American symbols – one to each table – and asked them to point out whatever shapes they could find within the symbols. We then asked them to draw lines of symmetry on the symbols.

            Finally, we divided the class into 3 groups working on three different projects. My group of 6 was supposed to make symmetrical objects on a paper grid using black card stock paper cutouts. Almost all of them were able to create roughly symmetrical objects without using the grid lines, demonstrating that they understood the concept of symmetry. However, when I asked them to create symmetrical shapes using the grid system, they couldn’t do it. I worked with them 1 at a time to teach them how to count the lines starting with the symmetrical axes of the paper. One kid understood how to count the lines and create symmetrical objects very quickly. Another kid, I believe, was in this program the previous year and only needed a little reminding to create the objects. For the other 4 kids, it took more time and was difficult for them. I placed a cutout on a particular point and had them count the number of lines it was from the axes horizontally and vertically. I then had them reflect the point over the two axes and then, to make sure they understood, over the origin by reflecting over both axes one at a time. Two of the kids kept giving up saying they didn’t understand it and wanted me to move on. Eventually, they were able to understand how to reflect over one axis at a time but not over the origin.

September 28

I and 3 other students visited the Ark Community Charter School for the first day of the program. We stopped on the way to get 2 pizza pies. When we arrived at the school, we handed out the pre-tests to the entire 4^th grade class. After the school day ended, we collected the tests. There were 15 students present for the program and after giving them pizza, we began our activities.

It started with just introductions. We had all the students split up into pairs and interview each other to gain an understanding of their cultural background. While they were interviewing each other, we would suggest questions and expansions on those questions to the kids to provide deeper explanations for their answers. For one pair, this led to a discussion about their thanksgiving dinners and immigrant parents. This activity succeeded in creating friendly relations between the two who had not interacted much previously. We then had them read the interviews out loud to the class and sometimes we had to ask them to speak louder, probably due to their shyness. This would help them get along better during group activities throughout the rest of the program.

At 4 pm, the children were taken by bus to the Boys and Girls Club. We did not have time to do activities there because we arrived at 4:15 and the children would have to leave at 4:30 pm. We are hoping to extend that time to 5pm.

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

               Children rarely have an understanding of the importance of mathematics. Children are also falling behind in math and science due to a number of causes such as lack of understanding, boredom, or a lack of motivation to learn something new. An understanding of the use of math in real world problems is an effective way to develop intuitive learning and interest in children.

               Professor Ron Eglash has started a program that allows students to learn math through relevant and interesting cultural practices. The program uses several different types of software developed by RPI students to accomplish this. The computer programs start out with a cultural background, moves on to a tutorial, and then the software itself.

               Every Wednesday, we will go to the Ark Community Charter School in Troy and work with kids – mostly 4^th graders – who enter the program and work with them using the software. The Ark Community Charter School is a school that receives government funding but is free from certain rules. Our program is meant to improve the grades of students in relation to other 4^th graders who have followed standard learning procedures. We will be using a pretest to determine the effectiveness. We will present the results of the program to the NSF.

               I am participating in this program as part of a course that promotes service and civic learning as well as community responsibility. I hope that this program will help motivate students to actively seek out potential uses for math skills and pursue a heavy math and science curriculum in high school and beyond.