Math Centers part 2

 This past Friday, I talked about what is needed to think about when using centers in middle or high school math classes.  Your centers might not be physical centers as one would do in elementary.  Instead they might use technology to complete centers.

One thing to remember about math centers when dealing with older students is that you can have the groups do one center each day.  So it might take the whole week to rotate through so the students had a chance to visit every center.

1.  Matching activities are excellent for math centers as they can be done with lot's of different topics such as order of operations, simplifying expressions, connecting equations with graphs, or connecting transformations with the equation.  There are so many ways this center can be done.

You can have students match the equation with the graph for so many different types of equations from simple one step, to natural logs, to trig.  Then they can practice simplifying expressions by matching all the correct steps from the choices on the table.  Or practice matching distributive property with the beginning and ending equations or expressions.  You could even have a matching exercise that matches reasons with steps in an equation.

2. Ordering activities can be used to order integers, fractions, or decimals.  The ordering activity could also have students take the steps and order them correctly so the problem shows every step from start to finish.  You could even use an ordering activity to review the steps involved in graphing something.

3.  Assign some sort of game, either via pen and paper or via an online site.  One game I like to use has two pair of dice in two different colors.  One color represents positive numbers while the other color represents negative numbers.  Students roll two positive dice to get the two numbers to fill in the blanks ( x +  )(x +  ) before they practice multiplication of binomials.  They repeat with two negative numbers and then one of each.  This could also be done with cards.

4.  Ask students to create a visual representation of the concept using manipulatives.  Once they have the representation, they can take a picture and post it to Flip grid or similar program. Research indicates that students when they create a visual representation on their own, have bridged between concrete and abstract.

5.  Have a vocabulary center focusing on the vocabulary associated with the current unit.  They can do a Freyer model for each word or perhaps create a video to illustrate the word.  In addition, make sure something at this center allows students to discuss the different meanings of each math word. For instance, product is the result of a multiplication problem but it also means something that is made by a company and sold.

6.  Every so often, put in mathematically based art so students see that math can easily be found in art.

7.  Have students create a short video showing pictures with short explanations of where math is used in real life such as in carpentry, they use the 3-4-5 triangle to make sure corners are square, measurements using standard or metric, fractions for screw sizes, etc.

What is in each center is limited only by your imagination.  If you don't have time to set things up, you can find some ideas already prepared at pay for use sites but if you do a look at the internet, you'll find ideas.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.