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Sunday, December 6, 2015

Productive Struggle [part 1]

I want to know more about "Productive Struggle".

Let me be more specific:
If students are allowed to reasonably struggle with a math task, I want to know more about a teacher prescription of actionable steps to:
  • move the learning forward and 
  • avoid a meltdown level of frustration
I built a Productive Struggle Desmos Activity if you would like to share your thoughts and learn from others interested in this topic.

Robert Kaplinksy recently gave a wonderful Ignite Talk on Productive Struggle. Communication was a big part Robert's message. I want to think more (in part 2) about communication as one of the actionable steps in that prescription.

Struggle,
1128

Part 2 is here.

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7 comments:

  1. Bryan BazDecember 7, 2015 at 2:42 AM

    Andrew, that desmos activity is absolutely fantastic. It is simple, it is enlightening, it is a wonderfully creative and inspiring use of the (rapidly evolving!) activity builder format. Well done.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 21, 2015 at 4:40 PM

      Thanks Bryan. I'll post the Overlay of everyone's graphs in Part 2.

      Delete
  2. Bryan BazDecember 7, 2015 at 2:46 AM

    I'm curious also what peoples' graphs will tend to look like and if patterns will emerge over time.

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  3. AnonymousDecember 7, 2015 at 5:01 AM

    Strong questions. Looking forward to others' responses.

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  4. Robert KaplinskyDecember 7, 2015 at 8:16 PM

    So your hope is that students will reflect on the relationship between struggle and frustration? I like that because I can see how they would get conflated. So then they could use this activity as a conversation starter? Maybe show various graphs and talk about what they mean?

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    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 21, 2015 at 4:41 PM

      Great ideas. I think it's a way to start the communication I'll be referring to in Part 2.

      Delete
  5. UnknownJanuary 1, 2016 at 6:54 AM

    Wondering if/how you could integrate perseverance here Andrew. Does a high level of one or the other negatively or positively affect student productivity? Where is the perseverance "sweet spot"? Both frustration and struggle play a pivotal part in perseverance but how much of each?

    ReplyDelete