In these first weeks of school, I chose to use Estimation 180 in my high school algebra 2 classes. I teach advanced students. One might expect them to be proficient at many different math skills based on their abilities. It is clear that estimation is not a strength :) BUT they love the activity! They ask to do Estimation 180, and if I forget to use it for a few days, they remind me!
Recently I built a whole lesson around estimating the number of candy corn candies in the bag - from Estimation 180. (Parents sent in individual packs of candy corn for us to enjoy as we worked through our exploration.) I wrote about my plans here and here.
First we made our own guesses ... how many scoops fill the jar. This time, I asked students to share their reasoning before I revealed the solution. I also shared my reasoning. I stressed to students that blindly guessing without some point of reference was not the point of the task. Because Estimation 180 is fun and a non-graded activity, some students had been "just guessing." When I would ask them how they determined their guess, they could not provide any reasoning. So with this task today, I made my expectations clear ... I expected sound reasoning and as small a percent of error as possible.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-eGlqCylm07RwCrAsTWh1Al5o678eUayVt4unRii8ci9feqKgQ7zQ9GnIlppU72FHqNjrczIX7Q22RxpNU3pOhWwrMSZ9K_Qi8Lb4o4NrM6IC2aLZW8uz_7D495ejUClulvEFeR0m7g/s1600/brain-gears-md.png)
Estimation 180 provided the perfect context for collecting and analyzing data. Going forward, I plan to use Estimation 180 to work on students' reasoning skills. Eventually I'd like to challenge students to come up with their own ideas to submit to the site!
Beth - I was contemplating this very activity with candy corn! The blogosphere is becoming telepathic - thanks for leading the way with it. I have had my container of candy corn sitting out and the kids keep asking, "Are we going to estimate those?" The suspense is delightful!
ReplyDelete@valarion #MTBoS