Shaking Things Up!

We're knee-deep into our investigation of plate tectonics and how seismic activity can be a powerful force in changing the landscape of our planet. Our discoveries naturally led to an earthquake engineering challenge where students were presented with an opportunity to design, create, and test a variety of structures that could potentially withstand an earthquake. We utilized real-life structural design strategies that would help minimize the effects of an earthquake, including cross-bracing, tapered geometry, and base isolation. This experience led to many interesting discoveries about structural engineering challenges in fault zones. Students were later asked to analyze their data from the test phase of the challenge and draw conclusions about which materials and structural techniques offered the most successful outcomes. Look out world - we've got some future civil engineers ready to roll up their sleeves and relocate to the San Andreas fault zone. This week's guest bloggers share their engineering experiences. Enjoy. 

One of the structural techniques I used was cross-bracing. It worked well because the structure wouldn't rock - it would just stay in place because of the line stabilizers. Base isolation helped too, because it helped separate the structure from the foundation so that the shaking motion didn't cause any damage.   - @RUUUUFFF 

Two of the structural techniques I used were cross-bracing and base isolation. Base isolation really helped because it made the structure stable because the springs absorbed the impact of the earthquake. Cross-bracing helped as well because it helped minimize the impact of the side-to-side motion.    - @Oreo17

If I were to change my design, I would definitely use base isolation and cross-bracing because they both seemed to make the structure more stable.   - @SoccerDog14

I used base isolation and cross-bracing to minimize the damage caused by the side-to-side motion of the earthquake. Base isolation helped absorb the energy of the earthquake and crossing bracing helped make sure the building was strong and did not fall.     - @Iamadog97

One of the structural techniques I used was base isolation because the springs did a good job of absorbing the energy of the earthquake. I put blocks between the foundation and the springs to be sure the structure did not touch the ground. We even tried putting marshmallows between them for extra padding, but they fell out. Even so, base isolation was a very effective structural technique.   - @DollyParton101

I used base isolation, cross-bracing, and tapered geometry, but I would not use tapered geometry again. Base isolation worked because the springs absorbed all of the impact of the earthquake. Cross-bracing worked pretty well because it helped most of the foundation stay together during impact. Tapered geometry was the worst technique because it completely fell apart during impact.    - @PumpkinPie

Meaningful Mathematical Discourse

When we take the time to engage in meaningful conversations (productive dialogue) about our math experiences and encourage students to participate, we're nurturing a supportive culture of questioning, reflection, and understanding. 

One of the key factors in math achievement involves supporting math language development. This includes asking critical questions, encouraging students to seek clarity, and accepting our failures as opportunities for real growth. In doing this, we're motivating and encouraging students to work together to facilitate productive mathematical conversations. Engaging in meaningful mathematical discourse offers students an opportunity to reflect on their math knowledge and understanding, make connections with prior knowledge, identify patterns, hone in on their reasoning skills, and develop their higher-order thinking skills. As teachers, it allows us to observe and evaluate their mathematical understanding and development so that we can better support their math growth as we address gaps in student understanding and refine and redirect their approaches to reasoning and problem-solving.

Students are enjoying the opportunities to present their ideas and mathematical strategies to one another. As they seek out, listen to, and value the ideas and perspectives of others, they are able to maximize their own learning while supporting the growth and achievements of others. This is one example of what taking ownership of mathematical knowledge looks and feels like in The Hive. 

This week's guest bloggers reflect on these experiences. Enjoy.

When it comes to math, I feel like I am heard and understood. The conversations that we have in math are really helpful and are simply explained. I was not so good at long division when I first started, but now the fog is clearing and I am really getting better at it. I appreciate having the ability to ask classmates questions and being able to explain our thinking to each other. Like they say, it's about the journey, not the destination.     - LoonDog1

Our class math conversations help us improve our understanding of math because sometimes I don't understand what we are doing, so it helps to keep the conversation going. On the 16th, I really just didn't understand our area model division work, but I heard @TennisMan18 say, "It's not the same. It's division." and it made so much more sense after that. My teacher also told me that we could talk the problem out with someone so I worked with some classmates. They also helped me understand it better. I want to give a shout-out to @Gummy_Worm, @TennisMan18, and @TheRing for all the help the gave me.    - @SODA

Our math conversations help us improve our individual math skills. One of our recent conversations about multiplication word problems was a noisy conversation, but it was noisy for a good reason because we were really helping each other out.     - @PotatoPie

Our conversations about math over the last few weeks have helped make so much more sense out of multiplication and division. During the first week, I didn't understand it at all. Then, in the second week, we started partner work and it started to make more sense. My partner was encouraging me to stick with it until I got the hang of it and she helped me through it. Four hands are definitely better than two.    - @CookieDog

Our conversations about math are helping me improve my understanding of multiplication and division because I am more likely to get it right if I slow down and talk it out with a peer.     - @Rosita

Our conversations about math help us improve our understanding of math in a way that lets the light bulb in my head go DING! It's so easy to make sense of anything we talk about and it's not just our teachers that help make sense of it, it's other students like @ApplePie, @TennisMan18, @DollyParton101, and @SODA.    - @RUFF!!

Our conversations about math are amazing. My teachers make me feel special and important. When I have questions, they answer them in a way that I understand. We are able to talk it out. Just the other day, we were going over multiplication word problems and thanks to our discussions, I knew how to break it down and solve it. I also want to give shout outs to @ApplePie and @RUFF!! because they helped me understand math better when they share their thoughts and strategies.    - @DollyParton101

Our conversations about math help us understand math better because when you listen to others' ideas, you can see how to do something from a "different angle". If you only use your own strategies, you stay single-minded. Listening to other strategies helps you know how to do things in different ways. Math without collaboration is like a fish out of water.    - @TennisMan18

Since the beginning of the school year, we have had many conversations about math that really bring our understanding of math to a new level. The conversations about double-digit multiplication really, really helped me. The conversations are the reason I know how to do it.    - @ApplePie

The conversations about division helped me improve my understanding because I did not realize that you could use a multiplication chart to help with division.   -@Fortnite

Understanding math is one of life's biggest challenges. Lately, we have been talking, checking, and working with each other. I had a misunderstanding this week and @ApplePie showed me what I was doing wrong. It's a good experience when you can learn from each other. Anyone can achieve as long as they have friends to guide them.    - @SecretPie

Our conversations about math along with working in partners helps me understand math better. In fact, @ribbet was actually the one who taught me how to do long division. He helped me with a few problems and then said, "Try this one on your own."   - @HockeyGirl14

Our math conversations help us build our understanding and see our mistakes as chances to grow. It's good for us and helps us become better mathematicians.    - @Avocado234

It feels good to collaborate in math because I like to work together. Working together makes me really think about what I am doing and I like talking out hard problems with other people. It helps me improve my math skills.      - @Oreo17

Our conversations about math help me improve my understanding of math because my teachers and friends help me understand math really well. During RTI, my friends and I usually do math problems on the whiteboard tables and the conversations that we have have gone a long way to help me understand math better.      - @ribbet 

Our conversations about math help us improve our understanding of math because we ask questions and share answers. It's good to share your strategies so that if you have one strategy that doesn't work, there's always another one to try.    - @TheGK15

A Veterans Day Tribute

This weekend, we honor our nation's veterans by remembering their service to our country and thanking them for their tremendous self-sacrifice. We spent time learning about the importance of this holiday and what it truly represents.  

Here's the thing: Most of us won't ever have to pick between our lives and what we love the most, like family and friends, but we all have a choice to care deeply about something - something greater than ourselves. Veterans are heroes. They show us that living a great life means being ready to take chances - believing in things, staying committed, and loving others, even if it means taking some risks. Today and every day, let's choose to honor our veterans by choosing to live for the things that they would die for: for our families, for one another, and for our country; for freedom, for justice, and for peace.

Below is a special video message from our students to our nation's greatest heroes. With gratitude, Students and Teachers in The Hive 

Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid; they have earned our undying gratitude. Americans will never forget their sacrifice.                           

                                                                    - Harry S. Truman

Deeper Learning With Hexagonal Thinking

Speaking of hives, honeycombs, and hexagons... 

Teachers get so excited when they discover new frameworks for discussion and critical thinking.  A few years ago, we stumbled upon the hexagonal thinking framework and immediately recognized the potential it had to get our students thinking deeper about their learning. We love utilizing this type of collaborative thinking framework to offer students an opportunity to make sense of complex topics or ideas. 

Hexagonal thinking is a flexible, tactile approach to getting students thinking about connections they might never otherwise make, while making a conceptual understanding of ideas visible. Here's the gist. In small groups, students are provided with a set of hexagonal tiles, each tile containing different ideas or words written on them, which they work collaboratively to arrange so that related tiles are next to each other - essentially building a web of connections. This strategy is designed to get students engaged in discussion and negotiation of the tile placements. As they move the tiles around, it prompts them to consider connections that they hadn't previously discovered. This approach challenges students to demonstrate higher levels of understanding by explaining the relationships between ideas using evidence. 

Our students' first experience with Hexagonal Thinking this year was related to North America's geography - specifically the Caribbean islands. We saw some groups of students making deep connections to their learning and asking each other relevant and meaningful questions during their discoveries, while others seemed to struggle with the abstract. In a debrief, we shared our community experience and discussed ways to make this type of thinking work even better. Students found it to be a very powerful thinking tool and we will definitely be using it again. This week's guest bloggers reflect on their experience with this. Enjoy. 

Hexagonal thinking is like a puzzle that you have to put together. It was tricky because even when we thought we made a good connection between hexagons on one side, sometimes there was no connection on the other sides, so it made us think more about how to make multiple connections. Our group made a lot of progress and we made it work.     - @TheGK15

I enjoyed collaborating with my team and attacking the challenge that was in front of us. The shape made it hard to make sure every side was touching something that connected to the word. That was a little hard. This experience made my brain grow.    - @Rosita

Hexagonal thinking makes you really think about what connections you are making and what you're putting down. You have to make sure all of the words connect in some way so you have to think hard. You also have to work together and listen to each other so that you can make good connections with your team.    -@Oreo17