Phase V
Focus Group Report
Although the focus of my project is still the same in the way that I would like to integrate science into math using real world problem issues while students work cooperatively in discussions and activities, I won’t focus it on food wastage, but on the big picture such as having my students understand the short and long term effects of an unhealthy diet on their minds and bodies. Also, I will narrow down some of my key ideas from six to three to better focus on clue ideas that in the end will lead students to understand the importance of good nutrition.
When conferring with my colleagues, and when conducting the focus group with my students, I noticed that I received suggestions about implementing different activities rather than making changes to my plan. Some of the teacher’s suggestions incorporate math activities such as comparing different servings of snacks like a cupcake versus an apple to measure the difference in calories;how much sugar is required to make a cookie; have students bring snacks they eat and make a comparison to what snacks have more calories, carbs, sodium and present the comparison to their classmates;how long or how far you will need to run to lose some calories and convert the distance into yards and feet; use ratios to find discrepancies or equivalences between different snacks: Ex ( ¼ of cookies has as many calories as ½ of pie); use fractions to find out what is equivalent when reading recipes; and organizing percentages of calories from highest to lowest in a pie graph. Suggestions from a Language Arts teacher presented different scenarios where students discuss various cases and examples of unhealthy diets and determine in which one a person is more likely to suffer serious health problems as a consequence of the bad diet.Other ideas included watching a video about healthy food;taking one total scenario case like such as how obesity leads to all kind of diseases , breaking it down by gender and by age group; and having students researching and making a presentation that includes data that prove their findings and have students writing a three paragraph composition about their conclusions.
On the other hand, my students proposed hands-on activities related to using experiments in class, such as finding how much sugar is contained into a can of pop; making pancakes in class and converting measurements into fractions, percentages and decimals during preparation; getting pies to work with fractions and having pizza to identify ingredients given as fractions, percentages and decimals. My students emphasized that good behavior should be taken into account for a grade as well as how well they follow directions and work in a group. They also suggested that converting correct percentages should be part of their grade.
The changes I will consider making to my ImagineIT plan are to narrow down my key ideas to three, and concentrate more on what my students know about what nutrition is and what the implications are when there is a lack of an adequate nutrition. Also,I want to show my students how they can still enjoy the food they like in a healthy way by discussing and learning how to make small changes in their diet to balance their nutrition. I think my students don’t understand the connection between what they eat and the possible consequences on their own health.Also, some of them relate the problem to not having money to buy food, not because they are eating unhealthy food. Some of my students suggested activities disconnected to the big issue that is the short and long term effects that eating unhealthy foods will have on their minds and bodies. They proposed activities that will imply making and eating pies, pizzas, and pancakes to learn how to use percentages, decimals, and fractions.
Finally, a topic that I want to keep from my original plan is the one about understanding how to buy products; knowing what is a good deal and when is a good time to buy fruit and vegetables. This will help them clarify the importance of picking seasonal products that are good for them and at the same time help their families to save money.
I can see that most of my students want to explore real world situations where math is involved especially with cooking. They expressed their desire to do it at some point. Also, I was surprised that my students mentioned that they should be graded on how they behave during the activities and how well they work together. They added that they should write all the percentages, fractions and decimals correctly in order to get a good grade.
And last, I would like to use the scenario case using the obesity topic as a lead activity broken into different subtopics to help students understand real world consequences of getting unhealthy nutrition. I think this is a real issue that is being experienced by students from Chicago Public Schools.
When conferring with my colleagues, and when conducting the focus group with my students, I noticed that I received suggestions about implementing different activities rather than making changes to my plan. Some of the teacher’s suggestions incorporate math activities such as comparing different servings of snacks like a cupcake versus an apple to measure the difference in calories;how much sugar is required to make a cookie; have students bring snacks they eat and make a comparison to what snacks have more calories, carbs, sodium and present the comparison to their classmates;how long or how far you will need to run to lose some calories and convert the distance into yards and feet; use ratios to find discrepancies or equivalences between different snacks: Ex ( ¼ of cookies has as many calories as ½ of pie); use fractions to find out what is equivalent when reading recipes; and organizing percentages of calories from highest to lowest in a pie graph. Suggestions from a Language Arts teacher presented different scenarios where students discuss various cases and examples of unhealthy diets and determine in which one a person is more likely to suffer serious health problems as a consequence of the bad diet.Other ideas included watching a video about healthy food;taking one total scenario case like such as how obesity leads to all kind of diseases , breaking it down by gender and by age group; and having students researching and making a presentation that includes data that prove their findings and have students writing a three paragraph composition about their conclusions.
On the other hand, my students proposed hands-on activities related to using experiments in class, such as finding how much sugar is contained into a can of pop; making pancakes in class and converting measurements into fractions, percentages and decimals during preparation; getting pies to work with fractions and having pizza to identify ingredients given as fractions, percentages and decimals. My students emphasized that good behavior should be taken into account for a grade as well as how well they follow directions and work in a group. They also suggested that converting correct percentages should be part of their grade.
The changes I will consider making to my ImagineIT plan are to narrow down my key ideas to three, and concentrate more on what my students know about what nutrition is and what the implications are when there is a lack of an adequate nutrition. Also,I want to show my students how they can still enjoy the food they like in a healthy way by discussing and learning how to make small changes in their diet to balance their nutrition. I think my students don’t understand the connection between what they eat and the possible consequences on their own health.Also, some of them relate the problem to not having money to buy food, not because they are eating unhealthy food. Some of my students suggested activities disconnected to the big issue that is the short and long term effects that eating unhealthy foods will have on their minds and bodies. They proposed activities that will imply making and eating pies, pizzas, and pancakes to learn how to use percentages, decimals, and fractions.
Finally, a topic that I want to keep from my original plan is the one about understanding how to buy products; knowing what is a good deal and when is a good time to buy fruit and vegetables. This will help them clarify the importance of picking seasonal products that are good for them and at the same time help their families to save money.
I can see that most of my students want to explore real world situations where math is involved especially with cooking. They expressed their desire to do it at some point. Also, I was surprised that my students mentioned that they should be graded on how they behave during the activities and how well they work together. They added that they should write all the percentages, fractions and decimals correctly in order to get a good grade.
And last, I would like to use the scenario case using the obesity topic as a lead activity broken into different subtopics to help students understand real world consequences of getting unhealthy nutrition. I think this is a real issue that is being experienced by students from Chicago Public Schools.