Wiki's in the math classroom

Entry #7

I have learned the value of being able to collaborate with peers throughout my life, ok, really starting in college. If it wasn't for some of those study groups I'm not sure I would have made it through Abstract Algebra. As a teacher I value the opinion and in put from the math teachers I work with daily. Through reading Wikinomics I have learned their is a whole world out there available to me to get this kind of support, encouragement, and knowledge from online. :)

This is also true for my students. They can and will learn from each other as well if not better than from me. I also know that one of my students' greatest weaknesses, is communicating mathematically. Throughout this course I have learned that wiki's are a great way to get students collaborating and communicating for the betterment of the entire class. So, I was off to research how to use wiki's in math classes.

Wow, this was the hardest topic to research yet.

What I first discovered was that what most math teachers are calling wiki's are actually blogs. There are some really nice blogs out there, see links to them in some of my earlier posts, but they are not wiki's. But I did find 2.

Here is a basic math wiki from what appears to be a 7th grade class. There are 3 assignments posted where pairs of students had to answer the questions and post their responses. http://dedworthmaths.pbwiki.com/

Another wiki I was told about was done for a 7th grade class by a math teacher I work with. http://allaboutu.wikispaces.com/ This was her first year doing a wiki and had students post helpful tips and useful math websites that they could access from home for help.

The most useful site I found lists ideas for wikis for various content areas.
http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

Their math ideas include:
"A calculus wiki for those wicked-long problems so the class can collaborate on how to solve them(a “wicked wiki”?)"

A wiki for students to share their method of solving a problem. "What a great way to see the different approaches to the same problem!"

"Applied math wiki: students write about and illustrate" where math is found in the real world.

"Procedures wiki: groups explain the steps to a mathematical procedure, such as factoring a polynomial or converting a decimal to a fraction."

Other ideas not just for math class include:

"What I think will be on the test wiki" I really like this idea because it will make students concern and think about concepts they themselves didn't think would be on the test. And I could leak a couple of my own if students missed some good ideas.

"An FAQ (or NSFAQ- Not So Frequently Asked Questions) wiki on your current unit topic." Have students post questions they have about the content and their peers produce the answers.

This article gave me other ideas for wiki's in the math class:

illustrative wiki. Students can find illustrations of various types of math concepts, for example, illustrations of congruent polygons found in the real world.

What's on the Net: Students post websites they enjoy or have found useful about the content being studied. (There are a lot of math game sites I know my kids enjoy and we always discuss the probabilities of success of various game strategies.)

After having little success searching on my own I went to Will Richardson's delicious site. http://del.icio.us/willrich/wiki He has an article list entitled How I Use WIki's written by Vicki A. Davis. http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-i-use-wikis-what-do-you-do.html This listed that wiki's can be used as lesson summaries, collaboration of notes, concept Introduction and Exploratory Projects, and as Individual assessment projects. All of these ideas I can easily see being applied to a math class. The Lesson summaries for example, I would modify to be unit summaries, and assign my students into groups. One group would be in charge of summarizing key vocabulary terms, another group would supply key examples of worked out problems, another group would provide illustrations of key concepts, etc. These groups could be rotated throughout the year so that no one person has the same responsibility for multiple units.

What I really want to try out this year for my 10th grade Geometry students is an midterm and final exam review wiki. Each student would be assigned a group based on their individual strengths. Each group would be responsible for a particular chapter. And the completed class project is an excellent review for the entire exam. I would also add a FAQ portion for those students who still have questions after reviewing another groups summary. Students from the entire class would be free to answer those questions. What a great way to differentiate instruction also. Those students with stronger abilities would be responsible for the harder chapters.

Within each group, students could designate responsibilities based on strengths again, having one students provide meaningful examples of concepts, on student in charge of illustrations, another in charge of vocabulary, etc. However, the whole group is responsible for the entire chapter, so they will be motivated to check over each others work and add to it as necessary.

Wikis: what a way to motivate and engage students in a content (math) that many find boring while strengthening their math, communication, and even technology skills.

Current issues: how to use wikis to engage students and strengthen their skills in math classrooms while strengthening their math communication skills

Possible solutions: FAQ's (both asked and answered by students), chapter and exam reviews, share problem solving methods and compare these approaches, "What I think will be on the test", What's on the Net