Month: June 2018

Math and Maritime Place-Based Learning – M2BPL Re-thinks Math Workshop

Posted on June 22, 2018 Updated on June 22, 2018

Math and Maritime Place-Based Learning

Rig up the mast, batten down the hatch and come sail away with the educators at the Blue Heron School in Port Townsend, Washington as they embark on their exciting project: Math and Maritime Place-Based Learning – M²PBL. The district’s Maritime Discovery Schools Initiative (MDSI), implemented in 2014, is guiding their transformation by encouraging teachers to change instructional pedagogy, increase student engagement, and experience connections between classrooms and business partners. This proposal develops 30 teachers over three years.

What exactly is the Math and Maritime Place-Based Learning – M2PBL?

Research has shown these educators that students benefit highly from using a Math Workshop (MW) model.

When executed successfully, MW models support a culture of underlying beliefs:

all students are capable of quality thinking;
participation through hands-on activities and discourse builds student thinking;
and
through true engagement, all young minds can make real sense of mathematics.

An engaging environment is also the premise for Project Based Learning (PBL), where students use 21st century skills to learn collaboratively while working on projects to benefit themselves and others. The M²PBL proposed a structure for K-8 teachers to collaborate and design sense-making math environments tailor made for their students.

Through deepening knowledge of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) – particularly in Number and Operations, Measurement, and Geometry – teacher teams (K-2, 3-5, 6-8) focused on:

1) Number Talks (NT), a workshop element where students apply and verbally share strategies to solve and improve mental computations (number fluency),
and
2) PBL projects to apply students’ growing math strategies and conceptual knowledge. The MDSI promotes community partnerships between the school district and maritime-related industries.

As exciting as this is for the teachers, when the students get involved it brings it to another level. The educators are partnering with Port Townsend Sails, a local business specializing in “quality sails for traditional and modern rigs.” Teachers, students, and employees will collaborate to explore authentic mathematics on-site in the sail loft. There, and in classrooms, student mathematicians will count and measure to possibly build boats, design sails, and and/or navigate!

What were the goals for M²PBL?

They had two primary goals to accomplish in year one. They wanted answers to the following questions:

How do Number Talks increase the quality of students’ number fluency?
Does authentic application of number fluency deepen student learning in project-based mathematics?

Eleven teachers initially met for professional learning in an elementary group and an intermediate group; each grade level met for two full days (early fall and mid-winter).

Those teachers recorded 10 half-day visits into classrooms (using a substitute) which totaled to around 15-20 visits arranged during planning times and/or with colleagues to “step out” for a short period to observe. One teacher also requested a grade level team observation one morning, so three teachers not technically a part of the grant this year joined in on observations of Number Talks. This was a productive way to share knowledge around fluency outside of the core group. Teacher texts, classroom fluency instructional materials, and PBL supplies were purchased. Items included: student journals, chart paper/markers, wood (for boats), bird feeders, bird ID texts, meter tapes, weights, calculators (specifically for order of operations), and math manipulatives for Family Math Night (dice, spinners, etc.). There, two classes taught fluency activities to parent/students, and the activities went home for continued learning. In-kind donations included dowels (masts), sail cloth (from PT Sails), sand paper/wood pieces for sanding blocks from the high school shop. Volunteer support was received from parents (chaperones), the Schooner Martha captain and family, the Northwest Maritime Center/Wooden Boat Foundation shop personnel, Carol Hasse and crew of Port Townsend Sails, the PT High School STEM/maritime students, and parents to help first graders drill boats for the mast and to tack sails to masts.

What were some of the challenges?

As we can see, they’ve been busy this year. But like all new project ideas, they are not without challenges. The biggest challenge was the collaborative work that required teachers to be out of their classrooms. One participant asked that her grade level team be able to collaborate around classroom observations, and that was accomplished. It’s also been more difficult than anticipated to get teachers to keep up with data collection. But they are already coming up with ideas on how to improve next year. Things like: 1) Supporting a full day of professional learning around math fluency/PBL for any teacher not involved in year one who volunteers (sub time/materials stipend); 2) Supporting grade level teams to collaborate around math fluency through collegial visits/observations (sub time); 3) And finally, approaching Port Townsend Rigging Company as an additional maritime partner to help expand and grow the program for years to come.

All in all, it’s an exciting project to see come together. We’re all waiting with bated breath for this ship to come back to harbor with tales of their next success.