Designing Math Projects.

It is easy to design projects for our students but it is much harder to design projects that are rich in mathematical ideas and interesting.  One of the go to projects I learned during student teaching was to have students design a game based on the math they studied but looking back, it really didn't do much for deeper thought.  Many choose board games modeled after the ones they knew with math problems instead of other things.

A math project should not be assigned just to assign something.  It should be designed around a driving question and a focus on a specific math concept because these projects need to utilize critical thinking skills.  It should also require the student to use 21st century skills, have both formative and summative learning, and include a variety of assessments.

Furthermore, students need to see the work as meaningful consequently they should have an opportunity to select how they will fulfill the project through choice.  They also need to use technology much as they would out in the work world and they should be able to really investigate the question so they find a new answer, a new product, or a new personal connection.

In addition, they should be asked to publicly share their final product because it motivates them to produce a higher quality result.  The presentation could be in the form of a gallery walk whether physical or digital, or place it in a blog, somewhere more people than just the teacher will see it. This also means they will know who their audience is.  In English, students are told to think of who their audience is and the same thing should be done in math.

At the end, students should include a reflection piece to discuss what they learned, how they learned it and what they accomplished by doing the project.

In the end be sure to tie projects to standards, create a rubric with clear expectations, have open-ended problems, look at both process and content when grading, determine the skills needed and how to provide scaffolding for the students who do not have them all, and place the accountability with the students.

These ideas can be used to either create your own or apply to any project you are looking at for your students. If the project does not have all of the above, maybe it won't provide as good a learning opportunity as it might.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.