ERIC Number: EJ1415706
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0025-5769
EISSN: EISSN-2330-0582
Available Date: N/A
Model It! Designing a Gingerbread House Community
Dionne Cross Francis; Serife Sevinc; Ayfer Eker Karakaya; Verily Tan
Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12, v117 n1 p17-23 2024
Providing students with opportunities to build, and test and revise ideas, can help them develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In this article, the authors describe how core measurement and geometry concepts were embedded within a "Model It!" task. They replicate an industry-based, interdisciplinary problem, but only focus on the mathematical ideas here. Twenty-six Algebra 1 students worked on organizing gingerbread houses within a community and designing the path and operation of a mini-trolley tour. Starting work on these tasks required that students keep the task specifications in mind. With guidance from their teacher, the students sub-divided their modeling work into creating three designs: (1) trolley path design, (2) gingerbread community design, and (3) a two-dimensional (2D) model of the gingerbread community to fit the resort ballroom.
Descriptors: Secondary School Mathematics, Geometric Concepts, Problem Solving, Creative Thinking, Design Crafts, Design Requirements, Site Development, Cooperative Planning, Science Process Skills, Algebra, Mathematics Instruction
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191. Tel: 800-235-7566; Tel: 703-620-9840; Fax: 703-476-2570; e-mail: publicationsdept@nctm.org; Web site: https://pubs.nctm.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

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