Ferrets

This is the week most of the high school goes out to camp on the Tundra.  I stayed behind to work with those who did not want to go out or who chose not to go out.  Since I have all grades 9 to 12, I decided to do an exercise from the Futures  Channel. They usually have one or two activities available for free to try out.  I found a lovely activity on the Black Footed Ferret.

I loved it because it comes with the lesson plan and everything I need to work with the kids.  I followed the lesson plan which looks like it will take two periods to finish.  Today, we looked at the video and students discussed what things might help increase or decrease the ferret population.  The last 10 minutes was spent going over the factors that effect the population.  As mentioned before most of my students are ELL and so we discussed each factor in detail so tomorrow it will be easier.

 Tomorrow, we will do the actual math and fill out the chart for 5 years of population growth.  The math is easy enough that I think most of my students will be able to do it without too much trouble.  I'm already planning to let them use the calculators on their phone.

What is great is there will be a chance to have students make conclusions based on the population chart they've filled out.  This is cool.  I've asked the librarian to get the DVD set so I can regularly use in class. 

The futures channel

Our school has  been hosting a basketball tournament since Wednesday afternoon and it will finish tomorrow afternoon.  Throughout the tournament, I've spoken with students about the uses of mathematics in the real world and most kids laughed in my face.  I need to show them more examples of how math is used in real life.  This is where The Futures Channel comes in. This is a website which has all sorts of videos that show how math is used in real life.  When you go there, they highlight two or three videos.  Most videos are between 3 and 7 minutes.  I've shown several covering designing and making backpacks, creating sunglasses, becoming a zoo keeper and making bicycles.  In each video, they interview a person who shows how the math is used in their line of work.  There is usually a follow up activity for the students based on the video.  Although most videos are available by subscription, there are a few available for free and they change regularly.  The cost is not too bad at $13  per month but they also have an option of getting many of the videos on DVD so you have copies available for use at the school.  I highly recommend integrating these videos into the classroom.