This week we took part in what is known as a Math Congress!
A math congress requires that the teacher provide the students with a math problem. It should be noted that it is essential for the math problem to be: a required curriculum lesson and be at a level or phrased in a way were there is an equal entry point for students. In a math congress, students are divided into groups were they come up with a way to solve a math problem. What's unique about this is that students are encouraged to come up with their own way of solving a math problem and they then illustrate their conclusion on chart paper. Also, students do not simply have to remain in the same group, they can move around from group to group---the objective here is to have students find a way that they are most comfortable with and also engaged with.
The math congress was such an amazing experience for me. That is, I found that there is a great deal of collaboration and of camaraderie for example: I was having a challenging time comprehending the solution reached by the group. So, instead of getting frustrated, my group went through the solution step by step; and rather than just give me the answer, my peers facilitated my learning. I thought that was very interesting. From observing other groupes in my class, I came to the conclusion that the essence of a math congress is communication! Every group was actively engaged in the lesson and all were trying to come up with different solutions.
As mentioned above each group also has to illustrate their solution through a combination of: images, words or numbers, this is crucial to the tracking of the students thinking. This is very important because it allows not only the teacher to determine how the students got to their answer, but also for the student themselves to reflect back at their solution.
Once everyone is done their problem, then groups go to other tables where the solution is not the same and they explain their thinking. It is a very meaningful experience as a learner because once you see other peoples approaches, it makes you really appreciate an individual's work and thinking! That is what happened with me, the group that showed us their solution explained that they used the rates as their means of solving the problem. I thought this was so amazing because I and the rest of my group, after figuring out our own solution, had a difficult time finding a different one. Here is our math congress example:
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