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Last week we published limericks that students wrote in Targeted Tutoring at Kump Education Center to develop their skills for language arts, and this week we will consider the ways that students may learn math skills while dying or hunting Easter eggs.
Writing limericks gives students practice in counting syllables and using rhyming words and dozens of colored eggs may help students think about fractions.
Whenever adults engage in meaningful conversations with children, real learning can emerge. This interpersonal stimulation of ideas is the natural process for good parenting and teaching, and it is something AI really cannot do yet.
Indeed, I seriously hope that we will not get to the point where children learn only what is available on the computer.
I believe that most learning happens in real time and space when students apply what they are learning to solve meaningful problems or do interesting projects.
Last week students wrote limericks using rhyming words to practice phonics, and counting the syllables in each line to develop spelling skills for multisyllabic words. This week they are working with dozens of plastic eggs that we bought after Easter last year. A box of eggs is like a treasure chest of magical math operations.
The number twelve is such a great source of opportunities for learning fractions because it can be divided evenly by 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1. It may be one reason why English culture focused on selling things by the dozen because of this remarkable property making division easier. When you think how to divide three dozen colored eggs for example:
In the first dozen egg box:
If you dyed 1/2 of the eggs pink, how many eggs would be pink?
If you dyed 1/3 of the eggs yellow, how many eggs would be yellow?
If you dyed 1/6 of the eggs green, how many eggs would be green?
In the second dozen egg box: If you dyed 2/3 of the eggs gold, how many eggs would be gold?
In the third dozen egg box: If you painted stars on 3/4 of the eggs, how many would have stars?
Answers for the first box: 1/2 of the eggs would be 6 pink, 1/3 of the eggs would be 4 yellow, 1/6 of the eggs would be 2 green.
Answers for the second box: 2/3 of the eggs would be 8 gold eggs, and 4 of other colors.
Answers for the third box: 3/4 of the eggs or 9 eggs would have stars, and 3 would not.
On the other hand, when we bought eggs made in China, they came in packets of 10 not 12.
Cultural differences may make decimals easier for children in China who use base 10.