Advanced Mathematics

While doing my level one experience through the University of Northern Iowa I had the privilege of working in the third grade classroom of Mrs. Marshall. During this time I led a group of six third graders who were advanced in mathematics. These were students who already knew how to perform the concepts being introduced in the normal classroom setting and were ready for more challenging problems. The project I had the students do was look at a picture sheet of four gardens and the different numbers of crops being grown in these gardens. They then had to read through complex word problems and determine which garden the problem was talking about. The skills necessary to complete these problems were multiplying, adding, and subtracting skills.

During this activity the students got the problems right at about a 85% rate. I noticed that the hardest part of the assignment for them, was knowing when to use the right concept (multiplying, adding, or subtracting). To help them in this area I explained to them that certain words in the problems could serve as clues. Some examples of these include, or means to subtract, total means to add, and by means to multiply. The students found these tips very helpful while reading through the word problems. After giving them these tips I felt proud that I had in a very small way helped them better grasp the material I was presenting them.

I think that in the future I might explain the material more thoroughly ahead of time instead of in the middle of the project. By this, I mean I would explain maybe what the overall goal of the lesson was and also the hints that I waited until later to give them. I did feel that the lesson was a success and the students got out of it what they needed to. I also feel that this project was something that I could use in the future to help students who were advanced in math.