Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010

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Sherrie Graham-Greene, who teaches at SCAPA Bluegrass, prepares to launch a model car in the Kim's Komet experiment. In anchored instruction, students first solve a problem in a computer-based format and then apply what they learn in related hands-on projects.

About two dozen middle school teachers wrapped up their summer break launching model cars and riding a homemade hovercraft. And this fall, they will bring those exercises into the classroom to help students better understand fractions and improve their math skills.

The technique known as anchored instruction is especially useful for students who have trouble with typical word problems. In this approach, they first solve a problem in a computer-based format and then apply what they learn in related hands-on projects.

“This gets the kids up and moving around and solving a problem that’s meaningful to them,” said Brian Bottge, a professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling at the University of Kentucky.

Teachers from 17 schools across the state attended his two-day training, which gave them a foundation for leading several units of anchored instruction. Participants received daily lesson plans, software, videos and the hands-on problems. A team of UK professors and graduate assistants will provide continuing classroom support.

“The partnership with UK and Fayette County Public Schools provides classroom teachers the unique opportunity to work with university partners using real-life mathematics in the classroom, which is exciting!” said FCPS math specialist Natalee Feese.

Bottge and his resource team will also monitor the teachers and students to gather data for a study. One key factor is student engagement; another is how teachers adapt the material and respond to unexpected wrinkles.

“There’s a lot of flexibility because their kids will be so different. It’s such a mix,” said project manager Linda Gassaway.

In FCPS, 10 of the 12 middle schools as well as The Learning Center at Linlee are among the UK partners. Most participants, like Cindy Short of Morton, are special education resource teachers.  

“It’s going to be very useful as the kids actually design, build and calculate. It makes math real,” she said. “It’s refreshing to have something (new) we can apply and see and do.”

In one project, students use PVC pipe to craft a rollover cage for a leaf blower-driven hovercraft. After sketching it on graph paper, they create models out of drinking straws. Using scale, grids and ratios, they then figure out how to cut the lengths of pipe. The kids also must price their supplies and stay within a budget. These math units address several of the Kentucky and national math standards at once, such as computation with whole numbers and fractions, proportional reasoning, measurement and algebraic thinking.

Anchored instruction is much like problem-based learning, a popular method used in medical education and other professions. Teachers use probing questions to guide student understanding of authentic problems, allow the kids to work together in small groups to test their solutions, and provide explicit instruction on skills and concepts as needed.

One important advantage is that students are immersed in the problem contexts, so they are not as hampered by difficulties with math and/or reading. Motivating hands-on projects such as building skateboard ramps encourage kids to grasp an overall problem, identify relevant information and devise a solution that makes sense.

Bruce Maybriar, math teacher at The Learning Center, noted how kinesthetic projects also develop team-building skills. And Tansy Mullins, a first-year resource teacher at LTMS, said this technique could curb behavioral problems if the students are fully engaged in the classroom. 

Another exercise called Kim’s Komet, which uses small cars and various ramp configurations, is reminiscent of soapbox derby races. The toy cars – with wooden bodies and plastic wheels – vary slightly by weight and design. At the beginning and end of the straightaway, an infrared detector measures the time, in thousandths of a second, for the cars to travel the length of the track. Using these times, students chart their own graphs showing the speeds of their cars for each release point on the ramp.

One scenario involves a loop-the-loop. “If the car goes too slow, it’ll never make it around. If it goes too fast, it’ll go flying off,” Gassaway explained.

Kim’s Komet helps develop kids’ informal understanding of pre-algebraic concepts such as linear function, line of best fit, variables, rate of change (slope), and reliability and measurement error.

The FCPS teachers are excited about the prospects of anchored instruction in math.

Sherrie Graham-Greene of SCAPA Bluegrass noted that since her classroom time is more flexible at the beginning of the school year, “I’m going to start as soon as I can.”

Resources:

Brian Bottge, principal investigator

Linda Gassaway, project manager