Topic for week of March
12, 2012:
Use of Bubble Maps –
Bubble Maps allow students to describe (using adjectives only) a topic that is
placed in the middle circle. What topic did you place in the middle
circle and what words or phrases did your students use to describe that topic?
Was their frame of reference accurate or did you have to guide their
frame of reference? Did your students have a higher or lower knowledge of
the topic than you expected?
Going a bit further –
After the students have provided many adjectives to describe your topic, have
the class come to a consensus of the two best adjectives.
Please post your blog
response to this topic by Friday, March 16, 2012.
I used a bubble map to explain vertex form of a quadratic equation. I was able to connect the different components of the equation in this form as well as show behaviors of the parabola based on the information obtained from the equation. This was very usefully as an introductory tool for quadratic eqautions in vertex form.
ReplyDeleteI used a bubble map type thing with my Geometry students. I know you are supposed to use adjectives only, but I broke the rules. I was introducing ratios/proportions and asked them for examples of ratios that we may actually use out in the real world. "Rates/Ratios" was the word in the middle. Examples included boys to girls, mpg, mph, rpm, and even apr. I had to guide their frame of reference in making the connection that miles per hour is a rate, after that they ran with it. Mission complete.
ReplyDeleteI used a bubble map with my Fast Track students to introduce Systems of Linear Equations. I had linear equation written in the middle, and then we talked about things we knew about linear equations. (Hard to do just adjectives-so I broke the rule also.)
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing, I related it back to the systems of linear equations by saying it's two linear equations instead of just one.
I had to do a little guidance, but students did better than I had thought they would.
We used a bubble graph to show the translations of Quadratics in Vertex form. We put the vertex form and the parent function in the center and then completed the bubble graph by described how all the variables would effect the parent function.
ReplyDeleteI used a bubble map with my fast track students to talk about inequalities. I have the word inequality in the middle, and then talked about things we knew about them. They used words like greater, less, open, closed. Its hard to use just adjectives so I broke the rule just a little. I used it really to review for their test to make sure they knew the main ideas about inequalities. They really didn't understand why we were doing a bubble map though. I dont think they liked it very much. I feel like it really wasted some of my time reviewing with them.
ReplyDeleteI used a bubble map with honors calculus to describe all the ways to do curve sketching. This went very well to help students organize and remember the many ways that we use to do curve sketching. The students did not make much of a response to the bubble map - lukewarm reaction. I still think that it was a good organizational tool for them.
ReplyDeleteDid a bubble map on proportions and their geometric applications
DeleteIt allowed students to see connections
It was successful
Students learned quickly and retained the material
Would use it again.
Thank you all for trying the maps and posting to the site. I hope this helps the students understand the concepts you are teaching them.
ReplyDeleteSorry I wasn't here to post on Friday. I tried the bubble map with my geometry class and put the word parallelogram in the middle. Instead of using adjectives on the outside, I had them fill in the properties of parallelograms into those bubbles and then we decided as a class which two properties most people associated with parallelograms. This ended up being that opposite sides are congruent and opposite sides are parallel. I think this worked okay, but I will do this in the future with a different type of map. Maybe brace or tree map.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest...I think bubble maps may be the least useful type of thinking maps in mathematics. Anyway, I'm going to give it a try. I want my Pre-Cal students to be able to look at the equation of a function and have a general idea of what the graph looks like. I am going to write "Families of Functions" in the middle bubble and in the bubbles around it write the following function types "Linear, Quadratic, Cubic, Absolute Value, etc" (slightly breaking the rules of a bubble map, I guess) and ask my students for an adjective to describe each graph. My hope is they will tell me "U-shaped" or "Parabolic" for quadratic functions, "v-shaped" for absolute value functions, etc. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
DeleteI also had a bubble map with quadratic graphs. I think it helps students see the individual parts as a whole and how everything relates. If I were to actually follow the rules and use adjectives, I agree with Lynn that it is not very useful in a math class.
ReplyDeleteI used a bubble map for students to determine adjectives associated with functions. The goal was to try to help the students link what they knew with a fundamental topic in math.
ReplyDelete