Lesson 3: How can we use our creativity, scientific skills, and math skills in our group portfolios?
By Saveth Soun
Outcome: The student will participate in STAD teams to complete Color Blending Portfolio. The portfolio will contain eleven pages (based on four students per team). These are the contents of the eleven pages in order: cover, table of contents, hypothesis statement and mathematical figures (ratios and conversions), pie chart, graph, four reflective essays (from each of the four team members), color blending summary, outcome and analysis (include name of created color). The teams will present their portfolios to the class.
Conditions: The lesson will take approximately four days.
Anticipatory Set: Have on display in the front of the room a completed portfolio that teacher had previously completed. Stimulate excitement in class by allowing students to page through it as they are coming in. Announce to class the progress of each STAD team. Use this to help build competition and excitement into the lesson.
Lesson Development: Day #1: Have students go into their STAD teams and announce that each team will be creating their own color. Give out the guidelines and step by step instructions at this time. Each team is to work together in creating the ratios, percentages, and conversions for the color. This is the part of the portfolio that involves applying math skills (therefore, this needs to be accurate or the rest of portfolio will be affected). Therefore, each team must check with teacher after these mathematical computations are made before advancing to the actual color blending step. After teacher approval, each team forms a written hypothesis. After hypothesis is made, the team creates pie chart (showing percentages) and graph (showing grams).
Day #2: The teacher motivates the class by doing a color blending activity at beginning of class (should be similar to one day on Lesson 2). The teacher asks class for responses of the relevance of ratios and conversions in the workplace. Teacher announces and points out that teams will be creating their own colors today. The teams interpret their charts and graphs at this time and perform actual color blending of invented color. Each team collaborates on the outcome of the color blending. They analyze and compare the outcome to their hypothesis. Each team gives a name to created color and stores it in glass container. These colors are then carefully labeled and stored in safe area in classroom.
Day #3: The teams finish up their portfolios today by doing their covers, table of contents, and individual reflective essays (approximately two paragraphs in length). The color blending summary is selected from the papers done from Lesson #1. The team decides which summary to use.
Day #4: The teams will present their portfolios to the class. Each team will have two members come up to the front of the class to make five-minute presentations.
Materials: Paints, scales, empty glass containers, white unlined paper, lined paper, student notebooks, pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils
Modifications: Another day may be necessary to finish up presentations due to absences.
Assessment: Academic Rubric, Life Skills' Rubric, Portfolios. Each student will receive an individual group and a group grade.
Standards: Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools / Mathematics Content Standards, grade 6, Number Sense, 1.2 and 1.3. Mathematics Content Standards, grade 6, Algebra and Functions, 2.0.