Written by This year I am experimenting with a different method of telling the story of statistics this year.
We began the unit by watching Girl Rising. It is a moving series of vignettes and statistics that tells the stories of girls all around the world and the challenges they face. Collaborating in English and Math class, we had the students reflect on and discuss how the numbers and stories appeal to the head and heart of the viewer to promote empathy and activism. This then became our motivation for the unit.
Students were asked after the film to choose one word that was representative of their mindset after watching the film. Below is a word cloud of some of the most common responses.
I will make my best effort to ensure that as a class we are always going back to these ideas that the students have decided are the important real-world impacts of the collecting and analysis of statistics. In a Math lesson on effective sampling/data collection methods and bias, we worked backwards from the statistics heard in the film and compared and contrasted different ways one could determine those statistics. In English class, they will find statistics that relate to the theme’s in their novel to further understand and empathize with the stories.
Math class lately has been a little more inspired and the students and I are enjoying the unique connection between Math and English – inspiring change.
We held a screening of this documentary at our school last year – what an incredible film!
The project you are working on with your class sounds fantastic! It is such an effective way to use math to analyze and discuss real-world, social justice issues. I have no doubt that this unit will inspire change. Awesome work!
Andrew what a terrific idea to connect learning across curriculum. ‘Statistics’ is such a horrible word isn’t it? Or is that just me reliving the nightmare of a first year psychology course? But the connection to English through the concept of empathy is perfect! And, of course, I use statistics all of the time in English Class to ignite emotional responses. In fact, statistics have been an important tool for me in my own action plan as I compel the students to build a reading life. My wheels are spinning. Thank you for that!
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for this check-in. Building off of our discussion last month, this is a great focussing blog to help keep you on track too. Some ideas to keep these words at the forefront on your students’ minds:
“Kindness invasion” retooling where you have them write down their word and why they chose it. Throw it around and share with the class.
Along the lines of @aharding and @dneville‘s explorationg of mindsets, you could have them do some mindfullness activities around these words at the start/end of class.
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
garth.
So exciting to read about what our lovely Grade 8 students are up to down the hall…I weirdly enough had no idea this was happening and I really love it. I wonder if there is some kind of sharing that could happen in our MS halls?