KaraStucky

EDCI718
July2014
Rationale
TheUnderstandingbyDesign(UbD)frameworkallowsteacherstothinkingpurposefully
aboutcurricularplanning.(McTighe,n.d.)Thisprocessisbrokendownintothreemainstages:
firstthedesiredresults,secondtheassessmentevidence,andfinallythelearningplan.Ihave
decidedtofocusmyAlgebra1unitonhelpingstudentsmakesenseofpatternsbecauseI
believethatitisoneoftheessentialunderstandingsinmathematics.Asaneducator,Iwantmy
studentstounderstandthatonewaywemakesenseoftheworldaroundusisthroughmodeling
relationshipswithmathematics.Thestudentswillbefocusingontwotypesofpatterns,
arithmeticandgeometricsequences,inthisunit.Inthisrationale,Iwillwalkthroughtheunitas
Iwouldteachit.Youwillseevariouseducationaltheorieshighlightedthroughout,including
DalesConeofExperience,GardnersMultipleIntelligences,thehigherorderthinkingskillsin
BloomsTaxonomy,UniversalDesignforLearning(UDL),andBrunersConstructivistTheory.
Thisunitbeginswiththe
PixelPattern3Act
activity.Theteacherintroducestheproblem
tothestudentsasiftheyarecomputerexpertswhoneedtosavethecomputerfrombeing
destroyedbyavirus.Thismakespatternscomealiveandgivespurposetotheproblemthe
studentsmustsolve.Ratherthanbeinggivenalecturebytheteacheronarithmeticsequences,
thestudentsareactivelyengagedinthelearningprocess.Whilethestudentsdonothavean
authenticexperiencewithinthisunit,theydogettobeapartofacontrivedexperiencethrough
thePixelPatternactivity.AccordingtoDalesConeofExperience,learningthroughconcrete
experiencescultivatesbettermemorythanthroughanabstractmethodsuchaslecture.
(Rhizome,n.d.)Also,thisactivityisstructuredintheYou,Yall,Wemethodwherestudentfirst

workindependently,theninsmallgroups,andfinallytheclasscomestogethertodiscussthe
learningthathastakenplace.ThisisinplaceoftheI,We,Youstructurethatissooftenseen
inmathclassesintheUnitedStates.(Green,2014)Ratherthantheteachergivingthelesson
andthenthestudentspracticingtheskillstaught,thestudentsaregivenaproblemandthe
opportunitytomakesenseofaconceptforthemselves.ThisfallsundertheUbDlearninggoal
to"makemeaning.Theteacherisengagingthestudentsintheinquiryprocesssothatthey
canbegintocometoanunderstandingoftheconceptforthemselves.(McTighe,2012)
AftercompletingthePixelPatternActivity,itisimportantforstudentstoexplaintheir
thinkingtotheclassandsharethevariousmethodstheyusedtofindtheirsolution.Thismay
promptaclassdiscussionandevensomedirectinstructionfromtheteacherbasedonthe
topicsthatcomeupandthequestionsthestudentsask.Then,thestudentswilltransferwhat
theyhavelearnedwiththe
PracticeafterthePixelPatternActivity
.Duringthistime,theteacher
willtakeonthecoachingroleandprovidedirectinstructionasneededindividually,insmall
groups,ortothewholeclass.Studentswhohaveahighbodily/kinestheticintelligencecan
manipulatetheinterlockingcubestocreateandextendthepatternstheyseeonthepaper.
Nextintheunitcomesanother3Actactivitycalledthe
DominoSkyscraper
.Thisis
similartothePixelPatternactivitystructuredintheYou,Yall,Wemethod.Studentsare
introducedtoanewpattern,calledageometricsequence,throughaninterestingquestion.It's
alsoimportanttonoteherethatbothinterpersonalandintrapersonalintelligencesare
addressedthroughthisactivity.Studentswhohavestrengthsineitherintelligencearegivenan
opportunitytoworkintheirstrengthwhilealsobeingstretchedintheirweakness.
BoththePixelPatternandtheDominoSkyscraperactivitieshavebeendevelopedwith
BrunersConstructivistTheoryinmind.Theunderlyingideaofthistheoryisthatlearningisan
activeprocessinwhichlearnersconstructnewideasorconceptsbasedupontheircurrent/past

knowledge.(Bruner,n.d.)Ratherthantheteacherlayingoutthepropertiesofthetwotypesof
sequences,thestudentsareengagedinaprocessofdiscoveringthepropertiesforthemselves.
Thestudentsaregivenanintriguingquestiontoanswerandthenaskedwhatinformationthey
willneedtoanswerthatquestion.Thiswholeprocessisrelyingonthestudentsprior
knowledgeandtheabilitytothinkcritically.
WrappinguptheDominoSkyscraperactivity,thestudentswillagainsharetheir
processesforthinkingthroughthisproblemtotheclass.Thishighlightstheverballinguistic
intelligence,givingthestudentspracticeinexpressingtheirmathematicalthinkingverbally.
Theremaybesomemisconceptionsorconfusionstillaboutthetwosequences,sotheGoogle
slideson
ArithmeticandGeometricSequences
havebeenprovidedfortheteachertouseto
teachtheseconceptsasneededdependingonthestudentsintheclassroom.Withintheslides,
thestudentsareaskedtoanalyzethetwotypesofsequences,arithmeticandgeometric,
comparingandcontrastingasetofpatterns.Basedonthestudentsreadiness,theteacher
maydecidetodelaythisactivityuntillaterifthestudentsarenotyetreadytousingthis
higherorderthinkingskill,analyzing,asdefinedbyBloomsTaxonomy.
Nowthatthestudentshaveacquiredtheinformationandbasicskillsrelatedtothetwo
sequences,theywillcontinuetoconstructmeaningusing
visualpatterns.org
.Studentswill
practiceidentifyingthepatternsandrepresentingtheminvariousways:usingequations,tables,
andgraphs.Thestudentswillreceivefeedbackfromthe
StudenteTool
(createdinDesmos),
theirTeacher,andtheirpeers.Thisactivitywillhelppreparestudentstotransferwhatthey
havelearnedintotheassessment.
ThefinalpieceoftheUbDunitistoassessthestudentstoseeiftheyhavereachedthe
desiredresults.Theevidenceforthisunitinvolvesaproductcreatedwith
GlogsterEDU
,
Jing
,
or
WeVideo
.Thestudentswillfirstcreatetheirownpatternin
GoogleDrawings
usingthe

shapestool.Thenusing
Desmos
,anonlinegraphingcalculator,theywillmodeltheirpattern
withatable,equation,andgraph.ThefinalproductwillbringtheGoogleDrawingtogetherwith
Desmosandincludeaverbalorwrittenexplanationofthepattern.Thisassessmentinvolves
creatingwhichisahigherorderthinkingskillasidentifiedbyBloomsTaxonomy.Thestudents
arenotonlyconstructingapattern,butareorganizingallofthemathematicalrepresentationsto
showtheirdeepunderstandingofsequences.Thestudentsindividualprojectwouldbeshared
usingeitheraclassblogorwebsite.
Afterlookingatthisunitasawhole,youcanseeelementsofUniversalDesignfor
Learningthroughout.Forexample,studentsaregivenachoiceforthetooltheywouldliketo
useinthefinalproductwhichmotivatesthestudentsbygivingthemautonomyandstimulating
theirinterest.Studentsarealsoprovidedwithvaryinglevelsofsupportthroughpromptsto
showandexplainyourwork.

(CAST,n.d.)

Inall,thisUbDunithasbeenconstructedwiththe
studentinmind,focusingonprovidingmanyopportunitiesforthestudenttomakemeaningand
transfertheirlearning.

Createdwith
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

References

CAST:UniversalDesignforLearning.(n.d.).
CAST:AboutUDL.
RetrievedJuly28,2014,from
http://www.cast.org/udl/

ConstructivistTheory(J.Bruner).(n.d.).
TIP:Theories.
RetrievedJuly27,2014,from
http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/tip/bruner.html

Green,E.(2014,July23).TheNewYorkTimes.
WhyDoAmericansStinkatMath?.
Retrieved
July28,2014,from
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/whydoamericansstinkatmath.html?r
eferrer=&_r=0

(n.d.).RetrievedJuly27,2014,from
http://www.corestandards.org/Math/

(n.d.).RetrievedJuly28,2014,from
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

McTighe,J.(n.d.).UbDinaNutshell..RetrievedJuly28,2014,from
http://jaymctighe.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2011/04/UbDinaNutshell.pdf

McTighe,J.,&Wiggins,G.(2012).UnderstandingbyDesignFramework..RetrievedJuly27,
2014,from
http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf

Meyer,D.(n.d.).DominoSkyscraper.
DominoSkyscraper.
RetrievedJuly27,2014,from
http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/dominoskyscraper/

Meyer,D.(n.d.).PixelPattern.
PixelPattern
.RetrievedJuly27,2014,from
http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/pixelpattern/

RhizomeguidetoDale'sConeofExperience.(n.d.)..RetrievedJuly27,2014,from
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:zjUytEKrAGoJ:rhizomenetwork.files.word
press.com/2010/12/dalescone_web.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjCWhszb
ddjgIkwsUHMQZkxs8uLzhPSQhVxwUjUgi33IzMQnvsXynlSGxoQpTlhG8u9TzbuVBBX
qdzIchioKdE8R5luSPQJS4pcX5dOmgetv98x3arycOXBfB10uiPkqc8be&sig=AHIEtbQxn
vVEgQpT2BTJmgHJfH9cfJml1Q

VisualPatterns.(n.d.).
VisualPatterns
.RetrievedJuly27,2014,from
http://www.visualpatterns.org/