6 Lesson Plans

Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
MTH 496 Tanzania Portfolio
Nick Schreiber November 1, 2013
Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Lesson Plans
Nicholas Schreiber
Big idea of the lesson or mathematical concept: Specific Learning Outcomes: Standards the lesson addresses
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Students will learn about Geometric Mean and will be creating the equation to find the geometric mean.
By the end of this lesson students will be able to find the Geometric Mean of a series using the equation given in class. Form Three Sequences and Series 5.1.2 The student should be able to identify an arithmetic progression (AP) and a geometric progression (GP). 5.1.4 The student should be able to find the general term of a GP 5.2.3 The student should be able to calculate the geometric mean of a series. Students must understand the concept of geometric progressions, and arithmetic progressions. They should be able to visualize how a series increases or decreases.
What definitions, concepts, or ideas do students need to know in order to begin to work on the task? What misconceptions might students have? What errors might students make? What might be problematic for students? What might you do to address this? How will you introduce students to the activity so as not to reduce the demands of the task? What will you hear that lets you know students understand the task? How will you engage the students in the lesson? What questions will you ask students who are struggling? What questions will you ask students who are
Some misconceptions the students might have are with choosing the proper words for each series. It is easy for these students to mistake vocabulary words in English because there is no Kiswahili translation for the technical terms in English. In addition to using the wrong terms, it is possible for the students to use the wrong processes for each series because there is confusion as to what definition applies to which word.
The lesson will begin with a review of geometric progression, and asking the question What is the definition of MEAN? Getting students to identify with the idea of finding the average of a group of numbers allows for an easy transition to find the average of a series, which increases a certain rate. Students will be given a series of numbers and asked to find the mean of the numbers. We will ask students to give the steps they take to find the mean of a set of numbers. This is in the hope that by beginning with a basic mathematical process we can possibly move on to finding the geometric mean and what that number actually represents. Another misconception is using the wrong equation for the wrong problem, for example using the equation for arithmetic progression instead of
What does each letter in the equation represent? How would you label each number in the series? What do we mean by consecutive? Can you a create a problem where you would need to find the geometric mean to solve it?
Nicholas Schreiber
getting it?
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Can you create a series and teach to the class how you found the geometric mean? Learning Activities (in order) 1. Give an example of a geometric progression 1, 3, 7, 8, 10 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 2. Since a represents our first number and r is our rate of increase what numbers in this Ask students to give the values of a and r. Ask students to recall the equation for finding the . 3. Present students with a sequence of numbers and ask them to find the average of the numbers. Ask a student to respond with their answer and tell the class the method in which they found the average. 4. The teacher will begin the lecture on geometric mean, making sure students are following along with what is being written on the chalkboard. 5. The teacher will provide students with 2-3 example problems making sure to guide students through the first of the example problems. Then allowing students to work on example problems themselves. After each problem, the teacher will check for understanding by walking around and checking students work, as well as calling on students to come to the board/stand and provide their answers. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: Textbook, chalkboard, chalk Student Resources: Exercise book, writing utensil, textbook (if possible) Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Future plans: Students will be asked to solve a set of problems from their exercise books and to show their work for their solutions. If it is noticed that many students are answering correctly to the problem set, it allows the teacher to see it is time to move on. Next class we will use a mix of exercise problems previously given to students and new problems to review todays lesson.
Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496 Lesson 1 Reflection
Tanzania Portfolio
1. What parts of the lesson were more effective? What went well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? It was effective being able to see the students previous instructor teach a lesson so we could see what methods were effective in her instruction. This being our first lesson, it was helpful to take note of things that worked for their teacher and ways we could implement American teaching into a Tanzanian classroom. We wanted to do our best making sure students had all the notes copied down since many of them did not have the text book. Especially during lecturing we wanted to make sure we wrote everything on the board for the students to copy in order to have the proper notes. I feel this went well because we noticed all students were following along and answering questions when called upon, informing us they were with us in the lecture. 2. What parts of the lesson were less effective? What didnt go as well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? Since this was the first lesson we taught, I felt like we rushed through at a pace that would be normal for American students. Looking back now, I would have liked to pace our lesson slower possibly asking more example questions for students to complete or even giving an exit slip for the students to complete to check for understanding.
3. What aspect of the lesson did not go as planned? How did you address this? Provide support? Especially when giving a lesson about an equation, math teachers are always keen to teach the concept of the equation rather than teaching a procedure. Similar to some American students, the students in Tanzania were not receptive to thinking about the concept of the geometric mean. This is understandable due to the language barrier as well as the method they had been previously instructed. Therefore, it was difficult for us to teach the concept rather than the method. We realized that they were
Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
comfortable receiving a procedure and following a process, which after awhile we caved and had to teach to their strengths.
4. If you were to teach this lesson again, what would you change or do differently? Why? As I mentioned earlier, I would definitely plan for a longer lesson and pace my instruction a lot slower for students to catch up. Also, I would have liked to provide an exit slip or quiz for the students to complete so I could go home and assess their understanding.
5. What insights did you gain from this lesson? First lessons rarely ever go according to plan, and it is ok for that to happen. In order to have a positive attitude on teaching you have to be able to reflect on your teaching and tweak your instruction.
Nicholas Schreiber
Big idea of the lesson or mathematical concept: Specific Learning Outcomes:
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Students will learn how to find the sum of terms of a geometric progression.
By the end of this lesson students will be able to find the sum of terms of a geometric progression using the proper equation. This equation will be given in class and the students will be guided through it.
Standards the lesson addresses
Form Three Sequences and Series 5.2.3: The student will be able to derive the formula for the sum of the geometric progression. Students must understand what a geometric progression is as well as what each variable in the equation represent in order to properly use the equation.
What definitions, concepts, or ideas do students need to know in order to begin to work on the task? What misconceptions might students have? What errors might students make? What might be problematic for students? What might you do to address this? How will you introduce students to the activity so as not to reduce the demands of the task? What will you hear that lets you know students understand the task? How will you engage the students in the lesson? What questions will you ask students who are struggling?
Since the equation will be derived in class, it is understandable for the students to follow along as to why we are doing the steps we are doing. It might be confusing for them to see us give them a large addition problem, and then shrink that into a smaller manageable multiplication problem. Cues can also be provided for students to know when to use the equation for geometric sum and geometric mean.
The topic will be introduced in the following method: How would you find the sum of a small set of numbers (5 digits?) What if we wanted to find the sum of a large amount of numbers? Use examples that get progressively more difficult to where students are asking for an easier way to solve these types of problems. There will be example questions provided in class that teachers will give guided instruction to either the entire class or individuals. Students will have the opportunity to work on problems themselves as well as together with the class.
We got a wrong answer, are we using the equation properly? How would we label the numbers in this series? What information is given to us? What information do we need to figure out? Where are we supposed to start?
Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
What questions Can you create a simpler way to describe the geometric sum? will you ask Can you translate the process into Kiswahili for the students who are students who are struggling to understand? getting it? Learning Activities (in order) 1. Review questions from the previous lesson will be written on the board for students to copy down and solve. Students will be asked to share answers with the class and possibly approach the board to share work. 2. Lecture will begin on the geometric sum, including what variables represent. 3. Once lecture is concluded, example problems will be gone over in class with students following along. Exercise problems from the book will be assigned for classwork for students to do independently or with a partner. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: Textbook, chalkboard, chalk Student Resources: Exercise book, writing utensil Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Future plans: The students will be asked to solve exercise problems. Not only will they be asked to provide the correct answer, but they also must provide reasoning for their answer in order to prove there was actual learning in the lesson. Students will review these lessons at the time of their examinations.
Nicholas Schreiber
Tanzania Portfolio
1.
What parts of the lesson were more effective? What went well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? Since this was the second lesson we taught, the students were a bit more comfortable with our presence in the classroom. I noticed there was more of willingness for students to help each other on example problems, which really made our ability to check for understanding a lot easier. We were able to work with more students individually since students were helping each other without being asked. What parts of the lesson were less effective? What didnt go as well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? There was definite confusion on which form of the equation to use, which related to their lack of understanding the concept behind each of the equations. Since their knowledge was strictly procedural it was difficult for them to differentiate between the two equations.
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What aspects of the lesson did not go as planned? How did you address this? Provide support? We had originally planned to spend more time explaining how to derive the equation, but realizing the students were not responding well to the abstract idea of the equation. However, instead we felt based on our previous lesson to provide the equation to them and then go over example problems. We definitely had to be flexible in deviating from our original lesson plan and start fresh.
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If you were to teach this lesson again, what would you change or do differently? Deriving the formula is extremely important and if we had more time to spend on the lesson I would have liked to spend 2 days understanding why the students are using this equation.
Nicholas Schreiber 5.
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
What insights did you gain from teaching this lesson? You have to be willing to change your lessons based on the students in your class, while the lesson plan we originally developed might have worked with the students who were getting it, we had a range of abilities in our classroom so we had to accommodate for the general population.
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Students will learn about how to find the distance between two cities using their latitudes and longitudes.
What definitions, concepts, or ideas do students need to know in order to begin to work on the task? What misconceptions might students have? What errors might students make? What might be problematic for students? What might you do to address this? How will you introduce students to the activity so as not to reduce the demands of the task? What will you hear that lets you know students understand the task? How will you engage the students in the lesson? What questions will you ask students who are struggling?
By the end of this lesson students will be able to find the distance between two cities using either their latitudes or their longitudes. They will be able to determine the angles of certain points on the Earth using the Greenwich Meridian and equator. Form Three The Earth as a Sphere 6.1: Definition of Terms: The student should be able to define circle, chord, radius, diameter, circumference, arc, sector, center and segment of a circle. 6.2.2: Calculate the Central Angle 7.1.1: The student should be able to describe the equator, great circles, small circles, meridian, latitudes, and longitudes 7.1.2: The student should be able to locate a place on the Earths surface. The student should be able to understand the concept of a sphere, how a sphere is a three dimensional circle. Students should also be able to view degree measurements as a coordinates (x,y). Students should be able to correctly identify the Greenwich Meridian and the equator as well as the 4 different hemispheres. Considering this lesson discusses mainly the definitions of the earth as a sphere: - latitude - longitude - Greenwich Meridian - equator Many of the misconceptions will come with choosing the proper definition and degree measurement of the line. There is also the possibility for the students to mistakenly choose the wrong hemisphere due to language barriers. Using a soccer ball to visualize the lines of latitude and lines of longitude. We will then describe using our visual aid, how we might find the distance between two cities who were on the same line of latitude. Assuming Grand Rapids and Arusha are on the same line of latitude how would we find the distance between the cities? We will also be stressing the proper definitions of these words, since there is the language barrier to deal with we want to ask students to translate the definitions into their own language to make sure all students understand the differences between the hemispheres. We hope to engage the students in the lesson as we talk about our differences in the location of our two cities. Possibly talking about weather differences in the two hemispheres, etc.
Do these two cities share a common latitude or common longitude? Are these cities in the same or different hemispheres? Based on the hemispheres they are in should we add or subtract their degree measurements? Which line is the equator? Which line is Greenwich Meridian?
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
What questions Can you create a way to find the distance between two cities if they do not will you ask have neither a common latitude or common longitude? students who are getting it? Learning Activities (in order) 1. Students will use a soccer ball as a visual to describe and possibly review the vocabulary terms necessary for this lesson. 2. Time for a class discussion will be given about the differences between the two cities of Grand Rapids and Arusha. 3. Students will be presented with the definitions they will be using for the lesson. First students will provide the definitions in their own words, then the teacher will present the formal definitions for the terms. 4. Using a diagram on the board, the teacher will draw out two cities on the board located on a common line of latitude or a common line of longitude. Students will then be asked how they would find the distance between the cities, given a certain degree measurement equates to a certain measure of distance. 5. Teachers will guide students few 2-3 practice problems before allowing the students to work in pairs to complete problems on the board. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: Soccer ball, textbook, chalkboard, chalk Student Resources: exercise book, writing utensil Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Students will be able to determine the distance between two points on a sphere using a proper distance-degree ratio. They will be able to answer questions concerning distances on their upcoming exams. After this lesson they will be given example problems to be completed and reviewed in the next lesson. How would we find the time difference? Incorporating time different between latitudes and longitudes.
Future plans:
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Nicholas Schreiber
Tanzania Portfolio
1. What parts of the lesson were more effective? What went well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? I felt like when we were able to tie in the personal connection between our two cities, the students responded a lot more. They were more intrigued in the lesson once we had discussed stories from our home. In terms of the content I felt like they were more willing to participate and respond during the lecture making the lesson go a lot smoother. 2. What parts of the lesson were less effective? What didnt go as well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? When checking for understanding, we could tell that students were struggling with the definitions of the vocabulary terms. We attempted to get the students to translate but there seemed to be a difference between the moments when we asked the students if they understood and finally when they answered the questions. The students said they understood the words, however, this didnt show when we asked them to find certain lines of latitude or longitude.
3. What aspects of the lesson did not go as planned? How did you address this? Provide support. The original plan to have the students find a general rule for finding the central angle based on the hemispheres each point existed in and whether you should add them or subtract them. However, I felt as though the students were not reacting to that thought process and when I attempted to derive this general rule, the students were not responsive to it. This meant I had to guide the students along a lot more than anticipated.
4. If you were to teach this lesson again what would you change or do differently? Why? I would have tried to bring in more visuals and instead of jumping right into the examples, attempt to create the general rule at the beginning of the lesson rather than the end.
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
5. What insights did you gain from teaching this lesson? Language in this lesson was an extremely difficult hurdle to get over because it was a very vocabulary based lesson. While the other lessons we had taught were more procedural and equation based, here the students had to have a firm understanding of the vocabulary in order to do well, which proved to be difficult. It showed me how important it is for students to have a firm understanding of vocabulary before moving into examples.
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Students will learn about find the arc length of points on a sphere.
By the end of this lesson students will be able to find the arc length between points on a sphere using the equation for arc length given in class. Form Three The Earth as a Sphere 6.2.1: Derive the formula for the length of the arc using the central angle. Students will need to know the definition of a central angle, as well as how to find the angle distance between two points on a sphere. They will need to use the angle measurements found between two points on a sphere to determine the arc length.
What definitions, concepts, or ideas do students need to know in order to begin to work on the task? What misconceptions might students have? What errors might students make? What might be problematic for students? What might you do to address this? How will you introduce students to the activity so as not to reduce the demands of the task? What will you hear that lets you know students understand the task? How will you engage the students in the lesson? What questions will you ask students who are struggling? What questions will you ask students who are getting it?
Students misconceptions will be similar to when they had to find the angle between two points on a sphere. There will be confusion as to which hemisphere we are in, as well as what type of line we are looking for (latitude difference or longitude difference). Since this is important for finding the angle measure used in the arc length equation, students may get discouraged when they get the wrong answer because they are using the wrong central angle measurement.
The lesson will begin with a review of finding the central angle from the previous lesson. We will provide a few example problems of finding the central angle between two points on a sphere. We will then introduce a discussion on how to find the distance between two points, asking the students what could be real-life ways to measure the distance. Hopefully we can get the students to think broadly about how to find the distance: Walking Driving Flying If these are ways of transportation to get from city to city how could we measure these distances? Students will be given the equation to find the arc length and example problems will be given in class while the teachers provide individual instruction where necessary. Are we using the equation properly? Looking over our answer is there anything that we might have to change in the way we solved it? Did we find the central angle properly? Ask students to solve questions using radians and have them convert degrees to radians
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Learning Activities (in order) 1. Teacher will write two example problems on the board as a warm up for the students. Students will be given 5-10 minutes to work on the problems individually then the teacher will guide the students through the problems, checking for understanding throughout. Teacher will ask students to come to the board and show their work. 2. Using the examples used at the start of class, a discussion on arc length will begin. Teacher will also begin lecture on arc length. 3. Example problems will be given to students in class as guided practice. Teachers will walk around the room to check for understanding at this point. 4. Students will be provided practice problems as homework at the end of the hour. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: Soccer ball, exercise book, chalkboard, chalk Student Resources: Exercise book, writing utensi Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Future plans: Students will be given practice problems in class for them to check their understanding. If they are understanding the process of finding the arc length, it will show in how well they are answering their practice problems. The next standard asks students to learn about circle theorems, finding some way to incorporate that into a buffer lesson.
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Nicholas Schreiber
Tanzania Portfolio
1. What parts of the lesson we more effective? What went well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? I believe the lecture portion of the lesson went really well today. Since we have been a constant presence in the classroom for a few weeks I definitely feel comfortable with my pacing through my lessons. Speaking slower and repeating myself is becoming second nature, in addition to asking students to translate my lesson into Kiswahili. I can tell that even though the content may be difficult, my lecture style and pacing is helping students who are struggling progress better. 2. What parts of the lesson were less effective? What didnt go as well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? As we always seem to see when the students are given an equation it is difficult for them to choose the right numbers to represent the proper variables. This definitely has to do with the language barrier we see between our students. I could see this when checking for understanding from students by asking them guided questions and they would respond with the incorrect answer. 3. What aspects of the lesson did not go as planned? How did you address this? Provide support. In terms of planning, I feel like I did not have enough planned for them. I may have overaccommodated for the pace of the lesson, and when the students went through the lesson faster than planned I did not have anything for them to work on. I had to address this by giving them extra time in class to finish their homework, and tried to bribe them with some incentives to finish the homework during the hour. Incentives being I would play soccer with them after school. 4. If you were to teach this lesson again, what would you change or do differently? Why? I would definitely plan more, and make sure that I have more than enough information for my students to get through. 5. What insights did you gain from teaching this lesson? It is better to have a lot of activities planned and not get to the last couple rather than have a lot of extra time at the end of the hour to fill with something last minute. 17
Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Students will learn about the concept of great circles.
By the end of this lesson students will be able to calculate the distance between two points on a great circle using their latitudes and longitudes. Form Three The Earth as a Sphere 7.2.2: The student should be able to solve problems related to navigation Students should have a firm understanding of a great circle and the concept of radius. Since we will be utilizing both concepts in order to calculate the distance between points.
As we saw in the previous lesson about latitudes and longitudes, students will have common misconceptions about which great circle we are attempting to calculate. Also since we will be providing the students with an equation to find this distance, we will also assume there will be misconceptions on which number in our problem represents which letter in the equation. Typically what helps students is by constant guidance through problems as well as checking for understanding from the students. While they are working on problems, make sure to check their work and fix any incorrect answers. The lesson will begin with a review of great circles, which was covered previously. We will ask students to provide us with the definition and translate those definitions for the class. An example of a great circle problem will be covered at the beginning of the lesson. While students are working on individual problems, teachers will walk around the room checking students work and making sure students are not making those common mistakes.
What is our formula to solve for the distance? What does mean in the problem? (insert variable here) What is the furthest two points on a sphere can be from each other? What if both points are on the same great line but in different hemispheres?
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Learning Activities (in order) 1. Teachers will draw examples of great circles on the board for students to copy. The sketch will be labeled with the proper parts of the great circle that are important for students to find the distance between two points. 2. Through lecturing the teacher will explain the parts of the great cirle that are important and through the lecture the teacher will give the equation to find the distance between two points. 3. Example problems will be given in class for the students to work on. A few problems will be put on the board for the teachers to guide the students through, then students will have time to work on example problems on their own. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: exercise book, chalkboard, chalk Student Resources: exercise book, writing utensil Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Future plans: Student responses to the example problems given in class will help the teachers assess whether the students understand the lesson or not. Not only must the student provide the correct answer, but they must also be able to give an explanation for their answer as well. Next class will be a review of this lesson.
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Nicholas Schreiber
Tanzania Portfolio
1. What parts of the lesson were more effective? What went well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? The visual sketch of the diagram of a great circle seemed to play the biggest part in the comprehension of the students. They were able to effectively utilize the labeled diagram to pick out the right pieces of the puzzle for the equation. We were able to see this when we asked students to respond to questions they were able to respond quickly and correctly. 2. What parts of the lesson were less effective? What didnt go as well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? Since these examples can get quite monotonous with the students, we went over problems that were extremely similar to the problems in the exercise book. Therefore, since the problems were so procedural it was hard to tell if there was legitimate learning going on or rather the students were simply copying down the process. 3. What aspects of the lesson did not go as planned? How did you address this? Provide support. We noticed we had to review latitude and longitude more than expected, since the way their class schedule was structured the students had a 3+ day break between math classes on certain days. So we had known there would need to be a review of the previous lessons, however, we did not realize it would need to be so extensive. We went with it though, and decided it was more important to do a thorough review before moving onto the new content. 4. If you were to teach this lesson again, what would you change or do differently? Why? In retrospect it would have been nice to teach this lesson with less days in between the lesson on latitudes and longitudes, that way students still have that concept fresh in their mind. However, since their class schedule is a mixed-block schedule it was difficult plan for this. 5. What insights did you gain from teaching this lesson?
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Review is so important, even if it is a quick quiz at the beginning of a lesson, or an exit slip at the end of class. Students should always be seeing previous problems multiple times, even when it is not the basis of the current lesson in order to review.
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Students will learn about small circles, also known as parallel latitudes.
By the end of the lesson the students will be able to calculate the radii and the circumference of small circles. Form Three The Earth as a Sphere 7.2.2: The student should be able to calculate distances along small circles Students need to understand the concept of sine, cosine, and tangent. They must also have a prior understanding of circumference and how to find the circumference of a circle.
The concepts of sine, cosine, and tangent are confusing concepts for students in America, therefore, we have to assume these concepts are going to be even more confusing for students in Tanzania because of the language barrier. Also because students do not have access to calculators, there will be a longer processing time for students to find the cosine, sine, and tangent of angles. Whereas students in America can quickly find this information.
The lesson will begin with the teachers comparing small circles and great circles, similarities, differences, etc. Since angles are going to be used again, there will also be a review on finding the angles between points on a sphere. Since reviewing these topics is important the teachers will try to tie in as much information from the previous lessons into the current examples in order for the students to make connections.
What is the definition of ? (cosine, sine, tangent) How do we find the circumference of a circle? What is our equation for circumference? How do we find the radius of a circle? What is the difference between diameter and radius? Is there a way we can use the circumference of a small circle in terms of navigation from Arusha to Grand Rapids? (assuming both cities lie on the same small circle)
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Learning Activities (in order) 1. Example questions will be used as guided practice for students from our previous lessons, these will be examples about latitude and longitude and finding the angle between points. 2. Also we will review the definitions of circumference, diameter, and radius, which students will copy down to use in their thought process when answering example problems from the exercise book. 3. Teachers will begin lecture on small circles, using properly labeled diagrams to show the important parts of a small circle as well as the definition. 4. Teachers will guide students through 2-3 problems, constantly asking students to respond as a way to check for understanding. Once teachers have gone through guided problems the students will have 2-3 problems to work on individually or in groups. Teachers will walk around at this point checking students work. If teachers see that there are a lot of students making the same mistakes, the teachers will bring the class back together to discuss common mistakes they are seeing. Then students will continue to work on example problems. This process will be done possibly multiple times while students are working. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: exercise book, chalkboard, chalk Student Resources: exercise book, writing utensil Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Future plans: Possible exit slip at the end of class to be turned in to check students understanding. In addition to the exit slip, teachers will be constantly checking student responses on their exercise problems. Next class will be a review of this lesson.
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Nicholas Schreiber
Tanzania Portfolio
1. What parts of the lesson were more effective? What went well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? Again diagrams were an important part of this lesson, using the diagrams students were able to relate the circumference of the latitude and the length of the circle. They also were able to make connections between lessons they had learned in the past about the circumference of the circle. Both of these connections really helped the lesson flow. 2. What parts of the lesson were less effective? What didnt go as well in your teaching? What evidence can you provide? The concept of sine, cosine, and tangent were extremely difficult for the students to master. This is understandable because until we taught this lesson they were used to just going to the back of their books and looking up the angle measurement and providing the number, there was no real conceptual learning about each of these trigonometric functions. Because there was more procedural learning about these functions it made it difficult for them to choose between the three once we had begun the lesson. Students were mixing up sine, cosine, and tangent and using them in the wrong contexts. 3. What aspects of the lesson did not go as planned? How did you address this? Provide support. While planning for the lesson we were confused as to how the students would be finding the sine, cosine, and tangent functions since we were used to having the calculator tell us the answer. We later found out about the reference pages in the back of the book where the students got their answers. This definitely through us for a loop while moving through instruction and we had to accommodate for the time it took for students to check the reference page properly. Also we had to learn how to use the reference page in order to help students if they got the wrong answer, which was something we had not planned for. 4. If you were to teach this lesson again, what would you change or do differently? Why? I would have definitely liked to review how to use the reference table in the exercise book at the beginning of the lesson. Possibly including this reference page into the review
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
of sine, cosine, and tangent. This would have made things move a little smoother through the trig portion of the lesson. 5. What insights did you gain from teaching this lesson? This was a lesson where I definitely saw how technology can impact a classroom, with the use of calculators students in American classrooms can move through lessons a lot quicker because of the technology at their fingertips. Because our students in Arusha did not have that capability we had to plan for a lot more waiting time and processing time than we had expected.
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Adapted Lesson Plans

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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Students will learn about the Earth as a sphere, as well as latitudes and longitudes of the Earth.
By the end of the lesson the students will be able to calculate the angle distance between two pints on a sphere using latitudes and longitudes. HSG-GMD.A.1 Give an informal argument for the formulas for the circumference of a circle, area of a circle, volume of a cylinder, pyramid, and a cone. HSG-C.A.2 Identify and describe relationships among inscribed angles, radii, and chords. Students will need to first have an understanding about circles and spheres, they will know formulas of how to find circumference of spheres. They must also have a prior understanding of angles and how to find angle measurements using different methods (measuring, calculating, etc.)
Since students will be learning vocabulary, it is always possible they are going to associate definitions incorrectly. They may use lines of longitude when they are asked to lines of latitude, etc.
The lesson will begin with the teachers using balloons to create globes and creating lines of latitude and longitude. Students will draw a ship on their balloon and the teacher will ask questions about how we would determine where their ship is on their balloon. Through questioning students will hopefully see that we need some sort of marker to tell us where the ship is (ie, latitude and longitude lines. This will hopefully connect students to the use of spheres (the globe) and circles (latitude and longitude lines).
Where is your ship at in relation to your partners ship? How can we be more accurate about describing location of your ship? In what direction do lines of run? (latitude & longitude) What if we wanted to find the distance of two points on the same line of latitude by digging into the earth? (Trying to get students to view the line of latitude as circle and we can create a chord between the two points on the circle).
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Learning Activities (in order) 1. Teacher will provide students with a balloon and markers. Students will blow up their balloons and draw a picture of a ship somewhere on their balloon. This will lead students into the investigation of lines of latitude and longitude. 2. Students will be asked to draw different shapes on their spheres and compare the placement of their shapes in regards to other students. They will be asked to find the angle difference between their shape and their partners shape. 3. Using the angle difference students will create a list of rules of how to find the angle measurements for the following scenarios based on their observations: When two points are in the same hemisphere When two points on different hemispheres When two points share a common latitude/longitude When two points do not share a common latitude/longitude 4. A challenge problem will be posed for students if we could find the distance through the earth to find the distance between two points how could we find that. (Want students to create triangles using the center of a circle and two points on the circle) 5. Use the web applet http://www.mathopenref.com/circlecentral.html to show the central angle of a circle. 6. Class will end with a concept check (exit slip) to test their knowledge on the vocabulary as well as an example problem from the exercise book. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: Balloons, markers, white board, interactive white board Student Resources: balloon, marker, notes Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Since this is more of a class discussion, the assessment will be of the students engagement in the activity. If students are more in the lesson, then it will be assumed they are following along with what the class is discussing. Finally the exit slip at the end of class will allow me to see if students understand the concept I would like them to get, how to find the angle difference between two points on a circle. Moving onto chords of a circle and circle proofs.
Future plans:
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Big idea of the lesson or mathematical concept: Specific Learning Outcomes: Standards the lesson addresses What definitions, concepts, or ideas do students need to know in order to begin to work on the task?
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Students will learn about the arc length of points on a circle
By the end of the lesson the students will be able to calculate the arc length between two points on a circle and properly use an arc length equation to determine that. HSG-C.B.5 Derive using similarity the fact that the length of the arc intercepted by an angle is proportional to the radius. Students will need to have an understanding of how to previously find the angle measurement between two points on a circle (latitude/longitude). They will also need to have an understanding of radius in order to properly use the arc length equation ( ) .
What Since most of the lesson will be spent trying to derive the parts of the misconceptions equation, students may get lost as to what part of the equation we are might students deriving and why we are deriving it. Once we have finalized our equation have? What errors there may be misconceptions on how to use the equation properly as well as might students algebra misconceptions. make? What might be problematic for students? What might you do to address this? How will you The lesson will begin with the teacher using an applet to show how the arc introduce students length relates to the central angle of a circle. We will ties this into the to the activity so as previous lesson about finding points on a circle and the distance between not to reduce the them. Since we want students to see a better way we can find the distance demands of the between two points by finding the central angle and also the radius of the task? What will Earth. you hear that lets you know students understand the task? How will you engage the students in the lesson? What questions What does each value of the equation represent? will you ask What does n represent? r? students who are struggling? What questions How would we find the central angle of two points on a sphere that do not will you ask share a common line of latitude or longitude? students who are getting it? Learning Activities (in order) 1. Teacher will open up the following two applets to show the relationship between arc length and central angle. Arc Length: http://www.mathopenref.com/arc.html Central Angle: http://www.mathopenref.com/circlecentral.html
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2. Teacher will begin to lecture about how to derive the arc length formula. Students will participate in a discussion as they follow along with prepared notes. 3. Students will be given example problems in class to work on. Teacher will provide guided practice problems for the class, and then students will be given time in class for individual work. 4. Students will end class with a concept check asking them to find two cities on different continents and find the arc length between them. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: Interactive white board, applets Student Resources: Notes, writing utensil Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Since we will be discussing how to derive this equation it will be important to have student involvement during our discussion. Students will be participating in frequent turn and talks when the teacher poses questions, therefore, assessment will be taken as to which groups are participating more in the discussion. Once the equation is derived and practice problems are given during class, student assessment will be checked by the teacher as I walk around the class while students work. Finally the concept check will hopefully tie in the knowledge gained in the past two lessons. Review of this lesson.
Future plans:
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Students will use lines of latitude and longitude to create triangles, which they will then use trigonometric functions to solve for unknown values.
By the end of the lesson the students will be able to create triangles by locating two points on a circle. Using trigonometric functions they will be able to solve for missing values of those triangles. HSG-SRT.C.8 Use trigonometric ratios and the Pythagorean theorem to solve right triangles in applied problems. HSG-SRT.D.11 Understand and apply the Law of sines and cosines to find unknown measurements in right and nonright triangles. Students will again be using prior knowledge about finding the measure of the central angle of a circle. The will also need to utilize the concepts of sine and cosine to find missing angle measurements.
Most of the students will have misconceptions when it comes to using the Law of Sines and Law of Cosines properly. This can be combated by constant examples in class, as well as using visuals for students to see how to find unknown measurements using these two laws. I will have to determine if my students learn better with a procedure or with concepts. This will let me know how I need to teach them to best accommodate them.
The lesson will begin with examples of circles and using the radii the teacher will create triangles where all the measurements are unknown. This will lead into a discussion as to how we would find these unknown measurements. Students will be asked to pull from all their prior knowledge to come up with creative ideas to solve for these triangles. We will create geometric polygons within circles and then create triangles within those polygons to possibly spur more discussion on how to solve for the unknown measurements. We will then introduce the concept of the Law of Sines and Law of Cosines to find the measurement of missing sides. Students will be shown an applet on both of these laws as visual aids.
What values are missing? What equations do we have to solve for those measurements? What information is given to us? Which law would be easier to use? What is the minimum about of information we need to solve for all the unknown values of a triangle?
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Learning Activities (in order) 1. Teacher will open up with creating triangles within circles while asking students how they would find the measurements of the unknown angles. Students should have a prior knowledge that all triangles have angles that measure up to 180 degrees. 2. Next the teacher will give 2-3 practice problems about finding the sine and cosine for review purposes. Then the teacher will begin lecture on the law of cosines and the law of sines. Students will begin by copying down notes. 3. Teacher will bring up the following applets for students to visualize these laws: http://www.mathopenref.com/lawofsines.html http://www.mathopenref.com/lawofcosines.html 4. Teacher will guide students through 2 example problems and then students will be given practice problems to work on in class while the teacher walks around checking for understanding and providing individual help. Resources needed / used Teacher Resources: Interactive white board, applets Student Resources: Notes, writing utensil Assessment Tasks and Criteria: Example problems given in class will be the basis of my assessment. I will also be providing a concept check at the end of the hour in order to prepare for the next lesson to decide if we need to review more or if the class is ready to move on. Dependent on the results of the concept check.
Future plans:
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Notable Differences
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Notable Differences and Similarities Between Education Systems in Tanzania and the United States
History of Education This document will serve as a reference for those interested in the differences and similarities between the education systems of Tanzania and the United States of America. I shall provide background information on the history of education in both countries and continue to dive deeper into the current issues that separate the two countries systems. Utilizing historical legal references as well as personal experiences I will attempt to paint a realistic picture for the reader so they may fully understand the life of students and teachers in Tanzania. Public education was non-existent in Tanzania prior to its independence in 1961. Prior to this moment only Christian missionaries and the British government ran schools, even then this was extremely exclusive to students (Samoff & Carrol, 2007). In 1961 the work force of Tanzania struggled with 85% of its adults being illiterate, having only 2 engineers, 12 doctors, and roughly 30 arts graduates (2007). Since the education system was run by the missionaries and the British government, education was really only gained by those who could afford it, thus creating a large education gap between the upper and lower classes. Once Julius Nyerere became the first president of Tanzania, he implemented the Arusha Declaration in 1967 as well as the Musoma Declaration in 1974, both documents included massive changes in the education system in Tanzania. At this point Nyerere was focused to push Tanzania into a socialist-era creating ties with Mao Zedong of the Peoples Republic of China. Both of these documents sought to transition all aspects of life in Tanzania into a socialist age.
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The main goal for the change in education was to make it more accessible to students. Since the previous education system was so segregated it was essential for Nyerere to provide education to everyone. This transition was visible since in 1960 only 11,000 students were enrolled in primary school, which then increased to 47,000 by 1980 (2007). The goal of providing more education to students was achieved as enrollment continued to grow to the 2000s. However, while the goal of providing more education to students was achieved, this steady growth created a new problem where the schools students attended could not handle the large increase in students. More and more students were attending schools but there was nothing being done to improve the instruction from teachers, as well as fixing up the already dilapidated buildings, which housed the students. There was such a large commitment from Nyerere to improve education but the country did not have the funds to do so. Currently 78% of males are literate as well as 76% of females (Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/tanzania_statistics.html). However, while the country is casting a large net in terms of primary school involvement, which is at 98% for both males and females (Unicef, 2007-2011), there is significant drop off from primary school to secondary school. Currently secondary school involvement is around 24% for males and 26% for females (Unicef, 2007-2011). This is a vast difference from the involvement of American students. The history of American education began in the colonial era after the American Revolution. Before this time schools were segregated between boys and girls, where boys were taught skills that would help them in life (building, farming, etc.). While girls were taught skills geared towards the home life. This is a logical education system given the
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aspects of life that were important for early settlers. However, after the American Revolution the government saw the need for a more advanced education system. Horace was important to the development of Common Schools, which gave students education past the primary school level. While this was important to begin the transition to higher levels of education, Common Schools still did not allow students to attend any type of university. In 1867 the Department of Education was created in order to help states create better schools. After the Department of Education was created, America saw its first public college, Joliet Junior College was opened in 1901. Once schools were in place for the groundwork of education, John Dewey introduced a pedagogy that would focus on how the students were to be taught. He believed education should focus both on what it is important for students to learn as well as teaching in a way that interests the student. In addition to John Deweys pedagogy, Jean Piaget publishes The Childs Conception of the World, which allows teachers to learn more about how children learn rather than what. American schools began to see continuous growth through the 20th century, especially with the abolishment of slavery and the case Brown vs. board of education, which saw the integration of all public schools in America. The United States was moving toward public education for all students. No Child Left Behind was implemented in 2007 and created more intense standardized testing for schools as well as placing more accountability on schools and teachers for their students performance. Finally in 2009, the Common Core State Standards were created in an effort to equalize standards taught in all schools in the country. Common Core standards are still being debated in each state, as there is little data to prove or disprove the effectiveness of this change. Currently
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education in America is dealing with a new issue in learning how to educate immigrants who speak little or no English. Teachers are expected to teach all students in one language that might not benefit them because of their cultural background. This is a very different and similar issue going on between Tanzania and America where schools in Tanzania are struggling to decide on whether instruction should be in English or Kiswahili, debating on which language will benefit students more in the workforce. Standards Standards in education are necessary for all schools to remain equal in terms of what they are teaching students in their schools. It allows for schools to place benchmarks and goals for their students to reach based on how well they are performing on standards. Standards in schools began to be implemented in 2007 after the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed and forced more strict requirements for schools to receive funding based on their performance on standards. Today Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCE) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are main American standards used today by teachers. While they are not a strict list in terms of the order in which subjects must be taught, they allow a framework for teachers to choose from and implement in their lesson plans. Recently Math and English have seen a transition from the GLCEs to the CCSSs and states are currently voting on whether to implement the common core or remain with the standards from NCLB. These standards are extremely formal, in which teachers can access them at any time as well as find lesson plans or books that are geared toward following these standards. With the advancement of schools
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into the technology age, standards are always available for teachers at the touch of a screen or click of a button. When we began our instruction in Tanzania we were not aware of any type of mathematical standards for our students. We were provided a textbook in which the teacher followed in order of the chapters of the book. We knew this would be vastly different from textbooks in America, where standards are built right into the lesson so teachers are aware of the standards they are teaching their students for that particular day. However, we later were told there was a book of standards for all Forms in Tanzania and upon purchasing a set from the local bookstore we realized the standards were vastly different from the standards in America. An example of a standard for Form Three Mathematics in Tanzania Form Three Sequences and Series: 5.1.2 The student should be able to identify an arithmetic progression and a geometric progression. While this standard is clear in terms of what is expected of the student during their examinations, it does not require any real learning besides a procedure for the lesson. Students are simply asked to identify an arithmetic progression and geometric progression and answer questions using the process they learned in school. Input unknown values in replace of variables and solve for an unknown. There is no depth of learning where the student is being asked to conceptualize the idea and use it in a different context. For example, a standard for mathematics in reasoning and equations would be,
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HSA-APR.C.4 Prove polynomial identities and use them to describe numerical relationships. For example, the polynomial identity (x2 + y2)2 = (x2 y2)2 + (2xy)2 can be used to generate Pythagorean triples. We can see there is more learning that must go on rather than just a procedural knowledge of polynomials work. The differences in our standards was seen when we instructed the classroom and noticed we were focusing more on the procedure of problem rather than having discussions on where they came from, why we use them, and other contexts which we could use them in. These are aspects of teaching mathematics that teachers in America have grown accustomed to incorporating into their classroom. History of Mathematics Mathematics in America has grown extensively from its beginnings in the 1960s and 70s where colleges were seeing enrollees coming to their school with poor math skills because the instruction at the lower levels, and the standards teachers were using were either extremely basic or non-existent. During World War 2 it was seen that soldiers coming to training were also not adequate in terms of their mathematical level and therefore, were being instructed during their army training periods in math and basic bookkeeping in an attempt to provide basic mathematical instruction. After World War 2 there more and more people felt it was necessary for a change in math instruction in schools and the 60s saw the implementation of New Math, providing calculus courses at the high school level. In the 40s and 50s there was a constant decrease in the amount of students who were enrolled in math courses and the New Math movement sough to keep students involved in math longer. However, the
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fad of New Math was over in the 1960s and the Back to Basics movement and saw A.S. Niells book Summerhill published. Niell stated that students should be allowed to choose the mathematical content they learn, because if the student chooses to learn a topic they will learn it regardless of how it is being taught. While this was an interesting idea that saw success in certain areas, it failed in the lower income schools with students who had limited resources. The 80s saw the beginning of mathematics standards, which began with the focus of mathematics moving towards problem solving rather than procedures. An Agenda for Action showed there needed to be a shift in the focus of mathematics and how it was being taught in schools. This was a major step towards the implementation of the NCTM Standards in 1989, which focused on students learning the basic skills of math and set them to higher math standards. Now America is seeing a shift in mathematics instruction again with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in all states (while it is currently not implemented in all states, that is the future plan for the standards). The Common Core standards are moving towards more conceptual learning of mathematics and its use in real life. Approaches to Teaching Mathematics While in Tanzania we were immersed in a very different mathematics classroom than we were used to in the U.S. All of the instruction and learning in the classroom is lecture based, where students are copying down notes and examples from the board and then asked to perform the same steps on their exams. At first we were discouraged as to how students were supposed to learn in that manner but upon reflection, felt that if students did not have money to purchase a textbook, going to school and copying the
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notes from the text would be more beneficial to them as a student in terms of studying. This form of instruction was not only seen in the mathematics classroom but also in other classes such as physics, chemistry, and economics, all subjects that use mathematics in their content. However, in mathematics classrooms in America we have seen a transition from the generic lecture model of mathematics, where the teacher will go over example problems on the board for students to copy into their notes. This method of instruction coincides with the standards American students were supposed to perform. Early in American education and Tanzanian education as well, students are asked to perform procedural math, so the instruction was given to them procedurally. However, with advancements in technology and the mathematics standards in America, teachers are forced to utilize different teaching methods in their math instruction. The first smartboard was introduced in the classroom in 1991, and with the introduction of projectors that connect to the teachers computer, teachers are expected to use a wider range of technology in their instruction. Smartboard technology allows for different apps to be used as visuals for instruction as well as a way to show student work. Instead of teachers simply lecturing on a topic, students are expected to be involved in the teaching process by either teaching other students, or collaborative work with others. This collaborative work was not seen in Tanzanian classrooms, and when we tried to get discussions going during class students were very confused as to what was expected of them. Since they were more used to instruction that asked them to copy their own notes and work independently, it was difficult for them to transition to a more collaborative learning method.
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Not only is the method of instruction changing for mathematics in America, but also the role of the student in the classroom. The new fad in mathematics classrooms today is having a flipped classroom, where students are expected to go home and watch online videos of math lectures and then come to class where the teacher will answer questions and provide group work for students to work on. It would be impossible for teachers to implement a flipped classroom due to only 12% of the country having the ability to access the Internet (Unicef). School districts are pushing for more technology in the hands of students, in addition to their cellphones, iPads, etc. they already own. Schools are attempting to become 1:1, where each student owns a piece of technology that will be imperative to learning in the classroom. Teachers are now expected to be more accessible to math students, whether it be through videos they create that students can access online at home. Also teachers must provide more activities for students to utilize technology in the classroom. This utilization of technology is in stark contrast to the mathematics classroom in Tanzania, where the most technology a student had was a quarter used to draw a perfect circle. The techniques used in American classrooms to involve students in mathematics through technology could not be directly translated to the Tanzanian classroom. Teachers in Tanzania have only experienced one method of instruction in their scholastic life so it is logical to think this would be the method they instruct their students. Teacher Preparation Teacher preparation in Tanzania is extremely different from the preparation done for teachers in America. Many of the teachers we spoke to at our schools did not view teaching as a career but rather a stepping-stone for them to move onto other more
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lucrative careers. One teacher at Sekei, Miss Elisabeth, was teaching while waiting for her examination scores to get into university. Her plan once she attended university was to become a doctor, so during her waiting time she was teaching Biology at Sekei Secondary School. While her potential career choice warranted her the ability to teach in a biology classroom, she had no prior formal teacher certification. However, there were some teachers who had planned on remaining teachers for the rest of their lives. Mr. Shayo, an English teacher at Sekei, spoke of how he had always wanted to be a teacher his whole life and took the opportunities to make it happen. The decision to become a teacher is obviously different between America and Tanzania, where American college students have made the decision to dedicate their lives to teaching and take courses, which prepare them for the teaching life. However, Tanzanians use teaching as an extra source of income in addition to other jobs they might have. Typically teachers in Tazania do not see themselves teaching for more than a few years before moving onto university where they will eventually choose another career path. In terms of pre-service teaching, students at Grand Valley participate in a 4-5 year program, which includes 3-4 years of content learning and 1-2 years of intensive teacher training. Teacher training includes 15 weeks of teacher assisting, where the student is present in a classroom for a half day of school. They may teach for 2-3 weeks but instruction time is minimal. This compares to the student teaching semester, where Grand Valley students are expected to teach 8-10 weeks of a full-load of class. They will take over all of their cooperating teachers classes, which includes, grading, classroom
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management, etc. By the time Grand Valley students graduate from the College of Education, they are more than prepared to begin their first teaching job. Pre-service teaching in Tanzania is significantly less than in America. Teachers are expected to participate in a 1-2 year pre-service program, during which they will develop content knowledge and teaching skills. Upon completion of the program they will participate in 6-8 weeks of actual in class instruction before they are certified. The pedagogy these teachers learn is similar to the pedagogy their teachers taught them in, so there is no real advancement of ideas in education for teachers to improve upon. This is different than education in America, which is always changing and finding new successful ways to improve instruction in the classroom. The reason for constant improvement in American teaching is because of the extensive professional development teachers must continue to go through even after they have graduated and been certified. Throughout the year at the teachers school, the district will put on professional development days for teachers to collaborate on new techniques they might have learned that seem to work in their classrooms. During our time spent in Tanzania, we were not old of any sort of professional development that goes on for teachers. This is unfortunate because teachers can graduate from their pre-service program and are never evaluated after. They are not required to improve on their skill unless they choose to do so on their own. Whereas American teachers are constantly being evaluated and being asked to adapt their teaching methods to the new innovations going on around them. Teachers in America are held more accountable because of the demand for student success, if teachers are underperforming the district is allowed to remove the
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teacher from their position and seek a new one. However, in Tanzania, we saw that teachers were allowed to show up late, or not show up at all to school and there would be minimal, if not any, punishment done to the teacher. The lack of accountability might be a reason why so many people see teaching as a job they can have for awhile that is stress free and relaxed while they earn money to move on to different opportunities. Therefore, teachers in Tanzania do not face the stress of always having to perform well because they are not planning on staying in the school for a long period of time. In contrast to the American teacher who always feels the pressure of performance because it could mean the loss of their job in an already difficult job market. Overall, the differences between American and Tanzanian education systems are vast and while we were only able to experience these differences for a short time, upon returning to American schools it is obvious the differences in instruction, formation, and development of each system. I feel that the Tanzanian education system is making strides, considering the country is only 50 years old and has made huge improvements in education since their independence I wouldnt be surprised to see a higher level of education in Tanzania in the next 20-30 years.
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Annotated Bibliographies
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Asimeng-Boahene, L. (Uknown). Gender inequity in science and mathematics education in Africa: The causes, consequences, and solutions. Education (711-728). The articles main goal is to address the issue of gender inequality in African Education. Lewis, uncovers many of the issues why females are less likely to have interest in, and be successful in the fields of math and science. Whether these issues are due to cultural treatment of the different genders, women are viewed as more subservient than independent or also because families have different views of women and their roles in the house. Early childhood development, family expectations, societies view of women, and gender stereotypes are main points Boahene uses to shed light on the issue of gender inequality. While Boahene states there are a lot of studies that have been done concerning gender discrimination in schools, there has yet to be any definitive stance taken about why it happens. Lewis doesnt simply state the reasons why gender inequity exists in Africa, he also delves into the consequences should this inequality continue to take place. Since girls are so discouraged from entering into mathematics and science fields, Africa has essentially taken a large population of students, who could potentially be successful in the right environment, out of contention for competitive careers. Instead of just addressing the issues and consequences of gender inequality, it is essential that there are potential solutions to prevent these consequences from happening. While there are many solutions Boahene provides, all them center around a common theme that classroom
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environments need to be more inviting and accommodating, teachers needs to encourage female students to enter into math and science careers, and finally there need to be more female role-models in math and science careers for women to look up to. I believe this is a extremely well thought out article about the issues in gender and education. While there is a slight bias due to the fact that it is written in more of a western mindset, it does not overpower the reader with a western point of view. Rather, it addresses the ideology already in place in African culture and relates those beliefs to provide logical reasons why this inequality would exist.
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Mbilinyi, M. (2003). Equity, justice and transformation in education: The challenge of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere today. HakiElimu working paper series (1-8) This paper addresses the issues in education that Mwalimu Nyerere attempted to fix during his time as President of Tanzania. Nyerere began his restructuring of Tanzanias education system by first implementing policies that would bring equality in education to all students. His intentions were good, in that he stressed in order to make positive changes in education, it must first be available to all students. Steps to attain this goal included, abolishing school fees essentially making schools free (aside from uniforms, textbooks, notebooks, etc). Immediately this brought about a sudden increase in enrollment at the elementary and secondary levels. More policies were created to improve other aspects of the education system after school fees were abolished. The Musoma Resolutions of 1974 were established to follow through on many of the other necessities of universal education (school buildings mainly). While there were many changes made to the physical nature of education (more students enrolled, small improvements on school buildings) there were still not many changes made to the instruction of teachers. So more policies were implemented to better train teachers for these new classrooms, where they would experience a higher amount of students. Nyerere also made it so that Kiswahili was introduced as the national language of instruction, in an effort to create a sense of national unity. Having a unified language, he hoped, would allow for a greater sense of pride in Tanzania. However, these implementations of policy seemed to only create different issues. There were overflowing classrooms, teachers who 49
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were unable to handle the size, teachers who werent getting paid well enough to implement the types of pedagogy Nyerere was asking for, and a rift between public and private schools. Private schools, where students would be taught in English, and for all intents and purposes, were more highly regarded than those students who went to public (poorer) schools.
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Semali, L.M., Kincheloe, J.L. (1999). What is indigenous knowledge? Voices from the academy. Indigenous knowledge and schooling (209-223). The chapter of this book dives deeper into the link between what is called Intellectual and Spiritual Formation. The author is of the Chagga tribe and uses his tribe as the focal point for this research. The chapter studies the 4 facets of Chagga beliefs and how those beliefs impact the Indigenous Knowledge. In summary there is indigenous knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation in an attempt to make the next generation better. This passing of knowledge is done because the Chagga believe they have the responsibility to make their next generation better than theirs. This is similar to our society, where parents will make decisions for their children because they want to give them a better life. The Chagga believe you must always be improving on your life, physically, intellectually, and morally until you die. This is another reason why the Chagga believe they must hand down their indigenous knowledge in order to improve their children, it is their main goal in life to always be improving and their forefathers knowledge is an important step in terms of their personal growth. The third facet teaches the Chagga they must believe they are internally connected with the community they live in. They are not simply a guest staying in a village, the village is theirs and it is a part of them as much as they are a part of it. The fourth facet elaborates on the third, saying not only are individuals a part of the community they live in but on a larger scale they are also intertwined with the universe they live in. Chagga must always continue to grow and improve within the world they live in, their religion is as so intertwined with 51
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their lives that it becomes the basis for all the decisions they make. However, it is not about whether or not they are praying properly or following traditions, they simply must continually improve their lives and if they succeed in this venture then they have lived a good and full life.
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Samoff, J., Carrol, B. (2007). Education for all in Africa: Still a distant dream. Comparative education the dialect of the global and the local (357-388). The are many issues that Tanzania has encountered when it comes to providing public education for all students. Beginning in the 50s and 60s when the country first gained independence, Julius Nyerere was left with a small amount of individuals in necessary careers making it difficult to create noticeable change in the country. He had attempted to make huge plans to provide public education to all students but he hadnt the resources to make his dream a reality. This was a similar problem for other African countries as well, which is addressed in the article. African countries were quick to make changes that brought about sudden improvement but the increase in success could not be sustained over a long period of time. A similar problem effects all African countries when it comes to creating new advancements in education, theres not enough money to fully adopt new changes. Yes, there are people in Africa who are willing to support the governments plans to better their education systems but the governments do not have enough money to implement these policies to their fullest extent. While the countries are using a large portion of their national GDP, this large amount is still not comparable to the thousands of dollars (US) that are spent by other western countries. Therefore, the problem with African education becomes a little clearer, they want to improve education so much that they are willing to spend as much of their money possible on improving it, but it is still not enough. This setback is where Samoff begins to highlight how foreign aid could benefit African education. Yes, the government has enough to keep 53
Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
schools in decent condition, pay teachers, and support students. However, foreign aid can benefit African education by providing money to allow for innovation in classrooms and better resources. Overall, Samoff highlights the major issues that do not allow African countries education systems to develop as well as other countries.
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
Samoff, J. (1990). Local initiatives and national policies: The politics of private schooling in Tanzania. Private versus public education (377-391). The article talks about the privatization of education in Tanzania, describing to the reader what it means to be a private entity and how that effects the quality of the school. Since the education system in Tanzania is very hierarchical, many schools choose to become privatized so that they are able to avoid some of the decisions made in education by politicians. However, Samoff shows that sometimes this is not as effective. He brings light to cases where there are some public schools who can remain autonomous while still conducting themselves within the policies set by the government, and they are more successful than some of the private schools. A second issue that can arise with privatizing schools, is that it continues to create the divide between rural communities and metropolitan areas. There are government schools everywhere but they are not all the same. A public school in a small village is not going to get the same attention as a school in Arusha, or Dar Es Salaam. Then, if those schools in the city are overcrowding, the quality of instruction is going to decrease because the teachers are not trained well enough to handle the large classroom sizes. Tanzania is now at a point where students are successful only if they can afford it. The country is still attempting to implement many of the ideas Mwalimu Nyerere wanted for education, public education for all students. The country has made strides to attain this goal, however, there seems to be a disconnect between as to how that goal will be attained. Whether through privatizing schools, or creating new ways to improve on public schools. 55
Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
This article provided an excellent history into the privatizing of schools in Tanzania, and how that effected the entire education system of the country. Samoff enlightens us to how politics can have such an influential impact on the education system, even if it may not be the right decisions.
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Nicholas Schreiber
MTH 496
Tanzania Portfolio
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Nicholas Schreiber

MTH 496 Tanzania Portfolio

Nick Schreiber November 1, 2013

MTH 496 Lesson 1 Reflection

Standards the lesson addresses

MTH 496 Lesson 2 Reflection

MTH 496 Lesson 3 Reflection

MTH 496 Lesson 4 Reflection

Students will learn about the concept of great circles.

MTH 496 Lesson 5 Reflection

MTH 496 Lesson 6 Reflection

Adapted Lesson Plans

Students will learn about the arc length of points on a circle

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