At a gifted conference years ago, I was thrilled to get a seat in a session presented by Ed Zaccaro, author of Challenge Math, Primary Grade Challenge Math, and The 10 Things All Future Mathematicians and Scientists Should Know But Are Rarely Taught. Much of his experience was at the middle school level, and his books are collections of lessons he created for his own mathematically gifted students.
One thing that sets this book apart from others is that the lessons are organized around ten BIG IDEAS, principles important in the application of math and science to real-world problem solving and decision making. The lessons also present so many opportunities for students to apply the tools of Depth and Complexity: ethics, multiples perspectives, big ideas, and rules are a few that emerge so easily from the stories.
In a series of posts, I plan to share how I presented some of the lessons in the book, beginning with this one that introduces Occam’s razor.
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IMPLEMENTATION IDEAS:
Each chapter in the Ten Things book is introduced with creative cartoon illustrations, which also appear throughout the stories, so I often used my document camera to share these as I read through the lessons. The students enjoyed them, and they reinforced what was being read. The cartoons are actually the perfect guides for discussion. If you preview each lesson, you can think about when you want to pause to ask questions.
The way you implement these lessons depends on how much time you have, the goals of your program, and many other variables. Our GT program stressed a multidisciplinary approach, so these lessons worked well. But, even though I had my students nearly an entire school day once a week, I still didn’t have time to incorporate every lesson.
My students had learning logs, and I wanted them to record some of what we were learning about the ten things. So, we drew simple cartoons and wrote very basic facts for the lessons covered. Shown here is a sample I created. I had a teacher learning log that matched theirs, which actually was a lifesaver as I planned from year to year!
We always divided our page into six blocks (as shown), but sometimes we only had time to draw in one or two pictures. Throughout the year, we would add to them as we had time, and often I would summarize the lesson or story in the chapter, rather than reading it. The cartoons really helped the students remember the true stories and events behind each of the ten big ideas. Occasionally, we even added cartoons related to current events!
INTRODUCING CHAPTER THREE
Of the ten things, I only introduced one to my 4th graders: Occam’s Razor (Chapter 3). It connected well with the year-long unit my students did in 4th grade, MYSTERIES. Like all chapters in the book, Chapter 3 begins with cartoons that explain the principle. As I searched for kid-friendly resources, I found this simple but relatable story which is a perfect introduction to the principle of Occam’s Razor.
After an introduction to the chapter, I’d begin with the true story of “Clever Hans the Horse Genius” (p. 52) and either read the story aloud or summarize it for students, displaying the cartoons. The 4-minute video below reinforces the story. You may want to show excerpts to help students visualize the time period.
Of the four lessons in the chapter, I read or summarized all but one (“Cold Fusion”) over the course of a semester. However, if time allowed, I shared the story of what happened in 1938 with “War of the Worlds,” mentioned in the end-of-chapter questions, and even played excerpts of the radio play. Students seem to love this one.
Again, due to time constraints, we did not always have time for the leveled questions at the end of each chapter. However, if you mention them to students, some may want to know more and choose them as topics for independent research time.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions about how I used this book. Watch for posts about other chapters in which I hope to share additional videos and extension activities. If you have any ideas to add to this chapter, we’d love to hear about them in the comments below.