Arms-on with Metrics

In the constant search for activities to make math more engaging for adult learners, I came upon this simple science experiment from Midwestern State University (activity two in Metric Measurement and the Scientific Method)

I began with telling everyone that I had observed that most people have a wingspan that is the same as their height.  If that is true, then perhaps there exists a proportion of arm length to total height.  From the guide above, you propose arm length as 40% of total height.  Then students have to convert their height into inches, then centimeters.  I had them measure arm length (they had to define how they would measure this) in inches and then make the conversion to centimeters.  Finally, they had to determine the deviation and the percent from the expected 40% and then use mean to determine how they would refine the hypothesis after their observations.

I found this activity gave them hands-on, engaging ways to learn metric conversions with measurements that made sense to them, and they were able to use percents, find the mean and use scientific method with data about themselves.

The full lesson plan for those who are interested:  Measurement in the Metric System

The ELL end of year celebrations made the Muscatine Journal on January 2, 2016.  See the article at MCC ELL end of semester celebration.

MCC Scholarships

Students can now begin applying for MCC Foundation scholarships for the 2016-2017 academic year.

The online form is available at:  www.eicc.edu/scholarships

Paper applications are also available in various locations on campus and in the President’s office. 

Deadline date is MARCH 1, 2016.

Teaching ELL Pre-literacy to Adult English Learners

I found the hand out on Developing Phonological Awareness that I got from the Iowa Culture and Language Conference (ICLC) 2015 to be very useful in teaching the ELL pre-literacy class we are now offering in Muscatine.  Most of the students who are attending this class are illiterate not only in English but also in their own language. 

Phonological awareness is the awareness of sounds and speech that a person makes or hears.  Here are the different types of phonological awareness in English:

1. Word Awareness is the knowledge that words have meaning. Example: a student needs to know that the spoken word dog represents a creature that has four legs and barks before he or she can understand the meaning of the printed word dog.
2. Rhyme Awareness is the understanding that certain word endings sound alike, and therefore contain the same sounds.
   
3. Syllable Awareness is the awareness that words are divided into parts, each part containing a separate vowel sound.
   
4. Phonemic Awareness is the awareness of the smallest units of sound in a word.

Acquiring English as a Foreign Language

I presented my master’s thesis at the MIDTESOL 2015 conference in October. The foci of my presentation were on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories, curriculum design, and instructional strategies for teaching adult English learners.

SLA theories provide insights into how adult English learners acquire a new language. The foremost goal of any ELL course curriculum and instructional strategies is to assist English learners in acquiring the ability to communicate in English. Therefore, the available SLA theories should be examined when exploring second language development and learning outcomes of adult English learners. Here are some of the insights that I keep in mind when I teach my ELL students:

• Collaborative learning encourages learners to use prior knowledge and experiences to construct new knowledge 
• Adult learners accumulated a growing reservoir of experience which is rich in resources for the purpose of learning 
• They acquire the grammatical features naturally, when learners are engaged in a meaningful use of the language
• Comprehensible input is important for second language acquisition

• Modified instruction should include elaboration, slower speech, gesture and provision of contextual clues 
• Language competence acquisition occurs when second language learners acquire language one step beyond the level language that has been acquired by the learners.

The Magic Behind Flipping Numbers When Dividing Fractions

While many of you may know how to divide a fraction, how many of you understand why you use the steps that you do?  At the Adult Numeracy Institute they gave me an excellent explanation, so I turned that into a video that you can watch below.

Turn Fractions Into Visuals

Growing up I was taught math in the traditional way.  The teacher gave me some symbolic notation such as 1/2 * 1/4 and then gave me a step-by-step process to follow to the solve the problem, and then we moved on to the next thing with more notation and procedure.  At ANI they present how that should be just one of three approaches.  We need to add in visual models and real world situations and experiment with starting in one of those modes instead.

Attached is a worksheet "Operations with Fractions" that asks the student to make pictures out of fraction problems.  Take a look, give it a try and reflect on how it goes.