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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Estimation180 site

Its official: I've launched estimation180.com

The Google doc was a temporary holding place for my daily estimation challenges. I'm proud to announce that I will be updating my daily estimation challenges through this site. The site is way more interactive than a Google doc spreadsheet... and quite possibly, more fun too. You can make estimates, share your reasoning, see how others estimate, and more.

The goals of the site:
  1. Document my daily estimation challenges.
  2. Create opportunities for teachers & students to build number sense together.
  3. Share!
What you can do:
  1. Click on a picture.
  2. Read the question.
  3. Look for context clues.
  4. Make an estimate.
  5. Tell us how confident you are.
  6. Share your reasoning (what context clues did you use?).
  7. See the answer.
  8. See the estimates of others.
The most important part is step #6. It's so valuable to a classroom when students share their logic or use of context clues when formulating an estimate. After you make an estimate, feel free to give us a brief description.

I've posted the first 15 days and will continue to update the site. Go do some estimating, build some number sense with your students and throw me some feedback if you find any glitches or ways to improve it. I want to sincerely thank Fawn Nguyen, Nathan Kraft, Chris Robinson, Michael Pershan, Dan Meyer, and Steve Leinwand for any help, inspiration, and/or feedback you've given me regarding estimation180.com You all are amazing!

Happy estimating!

7 comments:

  1. I love your estimation180! Last year, I did something similar with physics students and the metric system. Every week I asked them to estimate height (m) & mass (kg) of 1 celebrity, a large object, and a small one. Those kids will never forget Angelina Jolie's mass in kg, Jake Gyllenhall's height in meters, or the approximate mass of a new VW Bug. You remind me I need to continue this work with my new students.

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  2. I came across your site a few weeks ago and have found myself rolling through your 101qs, your videos, and estimation. Brilliant stuff. I have searched, then found myself down a rabbit trail, but can you help me understand how you use the act 1-3 clips. I was inspired to make my own version of one this weekend, but then was not sure how I wanted to include it into my normal teaching time...
    I am a middle school math teacher.
    Thx in advance

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. First check out my play-by-play with Elmo's Microwave Travel post this past summer. http://mr-stadel.blogspot.com/2012/07/elmos-microwave-travel.html
      Second, sign up for #globalmath this Wednesday (10/10/12) http://www.bigmarker.com/GlobalMathDept where Dan Meyer and I will discuss implementing the 3 Act lesson in the classroom.
      Third, check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9sYzMG-43k
      I plan on recording a lesson in my classroom very soon so others can get a general idea. I hope this helps!

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  3. I used estimation 180 today with my Algebra I students as part of their warm up. I used the cheese ball one because I was hungry at the time and they looked good. The kids LOVED it. Their first question was, "Did you (me) really go to Wal-Mart and take that picture?" The second question was "Do we get cheeseballs if we estimate correctly?" Then, they finally got down to the task. There was some really good math conversations going on...without me!! THANK YOU for putting this site together. It is awesome. I will be using it often.

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    Replies
    1. Very fun! Yes, my kids did the same thing with my recent candy corn estimates. Do we get candy corn if we get close? I'm glad to hear the site is useful and ecstatic to hear about the conversations going on in your class! Isn't it fascinating to listen to students?

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