Problem-Centered Inquiry

I let my students work on word problems that had no numbers plugged in. They had a list of several numbers to guide them and had to select from the set of numbers. The next time I do this, I will give them word problems with no numbers and let them come up with answers. Then, I will let them make up their own word problems and see if working through this process would help them understand the relationships of different numbers and also let them see how addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division work together. They were much quicker than I thought they would be.

Concept Development Model

Well. I really liked the concept development model better that the concept attainment model. Our concept was Things to Measure. I did not give them any guidance on what direction to go but they ran with it. They focused on linear measurement. Every item they listed was measured with a ruler or yardstick. They then grouped them by items measured by inches, feet, and yards. It was cool how they were able to distinguish the difference between measuring a chocolate bar in inches with a ruler verses a football field in yards with a yardstick. They then came up with the generalization that different items would be measured with different measurement tools. I then evaluated them on coming up with items to measure by weight. They were able to go through the process by themselves.