Shedding Light on the Subject: Reflection on Practice
Overview
Video snapshots are examined to study the effects in the classroom. The focus of this investigation is on the use of the inquiry process in a mathematics classroom and the mathematics that unfolds. Additional information is provided throughout about the nature of the class and implementation. The videos are not intended to suggest that this implementation represents "best practices", but to provide actual classroom observation for the purpose of discussion.
The components of this reflection on practice are:
These components are not independant and you may want to move among these components which are available as links at the bottom of each page.
The students in the video segment are in a specially designed calculus course for students majoring in the Life Sciences (Zoology, Biology, Vetrinary Medice, etc.). The course emphasizes the inquiry process to produce mathematical models for biological and physical situations. Calculus concepts and skills are developed from these contexts.
The activity has been done with students in grades 7-14 using different methods of analysis. Interestingly, the video segments presented here for the initial components of the lab are representative of students thinking in classes as early as algebra I.
Two video cameras were used in the taping. One camera was focused on a chosen group of students by the instructor. Another camera was used to capture the classroom activity as a whole.