Unit Plan Draft

EDCP 342A Unit planning: Rationale and overview for planning a unit of work in secondary school mathematics

Your name: Mark LeBlanc
School, grade & course: Panorama Ridge Secondary School, Grade 10, Foundations and Pre-calculus

Topic of unit (NOTE: This should be a unit you will actually be teaching on practicum!):

Relations and Functions

Preplanning questions:

(1) Why do we teach this unit to secondary school students? Research and talk about the following: Why is this topic included in the curriculum? Why is it important that students learn it? What learning do you hope they will take with them from this? What is intrinsically interesting, useful, beautiful about this topic? (150 words)   Relations and functions are the basis of analytical math whose applications are vast, especially within STEM. These ideas are fundamental to any kind of mathematical modelling and are therefore applicable to any field of research where mathematical modelling might be employed. Practically, in terms of academics, it serves as an entry point to upper year math which in turn, is the entry point of STEM fields for post-secondary school. More generally, the study of relations and functions provides a powerful framework for conceptualizing various processes and quantifiable relationships. At this level of study, the topic can easily be framed in terms of its applicability – a mathematical lens through which to view the world. However, more abstract representations of this topic’s ideas serve as a glimpse into set theory which may inspire interest in pure mathematics.

(2) A mathematics project connected to this unit: Plan and describe a student mathematics project that will form part of this unit. Describe the topic, aims, process and timing, and what the students will be asked to produce, and how you will assess the project. (250 words)   The unit project will involve students researching a topic of interest involving the relationship between two continuous, quantitative variables. This can be a well-documented research topic, or something revolving observations from their own lives and experiences, or some experiment which they conduct themselves. Examples will be provided for students to serve as rough templates. The aim is to have students develop an understanding of the applications relations and functions, and how mathematical modelling is a useful tool with regards to the research of a given topic. Students will be asked to produce a brief power point presentation which introduces the topic, briefly discussing its relevance. In the presentation, they will be required to describe the two variables involved in the relation, the domain and range, and whether the relation is a function. They will be required to represent the relation in terms of a table, graph. If the relation is a function, they will be asked to represent the function as an equation as well, identifying the type of function. If the relation is not a function, students will be required to represent the relation in another way of their choosing. They will present their project to the class and submit the PowerPoint to the teacher. The project will be introduced about halfway through the unit, with class time being dedicated to working on the project each day, with the introduction of new concepts. Assessment will be based on a rubric TBD.

(3) Assessment and evaluation: How will you build a fair and well-rounded assessment and evaluation plan for this unit? Include formative and summative, informal/ observational and more formal assessment modes. (100 words) General, informal formative assessments will take place throughout the course in the form of teacher interactions with/observations of students as they work individually and within groups. More formal formative assessment will take place in the form of quizzes throughout the unit. Summative assessment will involve a unit project and unit test.

Elements of your unit plan:

a)  Give a numbered list of the topics of the 10-12 lessons in this unit in the order you would teach them.

Lesson	Topic
1	Sets and Set Notation
2	Relations and Mapping Diagrams
3	Domain, Range, Functions
4	Quiz & Function Notation
5	Sequential Patterns as Functions
6	Discrete and Continuous Variables (Unit Project Intro)
7	Quiz & Modelling pt. 1
8	Tables, Equations, and Graphs
9	Modelling
10	Quiz & Types of Functions
(11)	Unit Project Presentations
(12)	Unit Test

b) Write a detailed lesson plan for three of the lessons which will not be in a traditional lecture/ exercise/ homework format.  These three lessons should include at least three of the following six elements related to your mathematical topic. (And of course, you could include more than three!)

 

These elements should be thoroughly integrated into the lessons (i.e. not an add-on that the teacher just tells!)

a) History of this mathematics

b) Arts and mathematics

c) Indigenous perspectives and cultures

d) Social/environmental justice

e) Open-ended problem solving in groups at vertical erasable surfaces (“thinking classroom”)

f) Telling only what is arbitrary, and having students work on what is logically ‘necessary’

 

Be sure to include your pedagogical goals, topic of the lesson, preparation and materials, approximate timings, an account of what the students and teacher will be doing throughout the lesson, and ways that you will assess students’ background knowledge, student learning and the overall effectiveness of the lesson. Please use a template that you find helpful, and that includes all these elements.

 

Lesson 1: Sets and Set Notation

-        mathematician history research?

 

Lesson 5: Sequential Patterns as Functions

-        Open-ended problem solving in groups at vertical erasable surfaces (“thinking classroom”)

 

Lesson 9: Modelling

-        social/environmental justice