Habits of Mind Activities 1

Module 1 Application Assignment

Habits of Mind Activities

Samantha DiMatteo

Marygrove College
Habits of Mind Activities 2

Activity 1: Bag of m&ms

Habit of Mind: Doing-Undoing.

1. You have been given a bag of m&ms. You ate twelve of them after lunch today.
Two of your closest friends asked if they could have some. You decided to split the
remaining amount evenly amongst the three of you. You then ate ten more m&ms
on your way to this class. You shared half of the remaining amount with your
neighbor. Lastly, you ate four more candies before deciding to save the rest of the
bag for later. You have twenty-four m&ms left, how many were originally in the bag?

2. Your result to the preceding problem should reflect the approximate amount of
candies contained in a 7oz bag of m&ms. Now consider the 2oz bag of skittles that
you have been issued by your Mrs. DiMatteo. Count the number of Skittles in the bag
and then develop your own problem in which your partner has to work backwards to
determine how many Skittles were originally in your bag. Switch your question with
your partner and then attempt to identify how many Skittles were originally in their
bag.

Activity 2: Bungee Jumping

Habit of Mind: Building Rules to Represent Functions.

Directions:
- Vertically tape your tape measure to the wall. Place the 0 on the floor.
- Measure the length of the un-stretched rubber band with no weight.
Habits of Mind Activities 3

- Hook one washer to the clip at the end of the rubber band.
- Hold the other end of the rubber band against the wall and drop the washer.
- Continue to move slightly up the wall until the washer barely makes contact with
the floor when it is dropped.
- Subtract the stretched length with the original length of the rubber band to
determine how much the band stretched with one washer. (For example: if your
original rubber band measured 28 centimeters, and the washer caused it to stretch to
31 centimeters, the total stretch for one washer would be 31 28 = 3 centimeters).
- Record the stretched length next to the appropriate weight on your chart.
- Repeat this process for 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 washers.

Technology Component:
- Open a new Excel spreadsheet.
- Create a table of values. X-values will represent the number of washers (weight) ,
and y-values will represent the stretch of the cord.
- Use a scatter plot to visually represent your data.
- Label the axes of your graph.
- Print your table & graph

Weight (# of 0
washers)
Length of Stretched
Cord

stretch

weight

(1) Is there a pattern in the graph? ______________________________

(2) What type of function is represented by the data? _______________

(3) Can you write a function to represent the data? _____________

Activity 3: Tile Patterns

Habit of Mind: Doing-Undoing & Building Rules to Represent
Functions

1. You have been given a set of tiles. Using the blue side of each tile construct the
patterns that are drawn below.

Figure 0 Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

Figure 4
Habits of Mind Activities 4

a. Work backwards to identify how many tiles would appear in the original figure
(figure 0).

b. Determine how many tiles would appear in the next figure (figure 4). Draw your
results in the space provided above. Hint: you may want to flip the tiles over that
differ from the preceding step (to the green side of the tile); this will make the
pattern of change easy to identify.

c. Write a general rule to represent this pattern. Use f to represent the figure number
and t to represent the number of tiles.

d. Arrange the tiles on your desks to create your own linear pattern. Switch seats
with your neighbor. Try to write a general rule for the pattern that they created.
Then discuss and confirm each others results.

Driscoll (1999) explains, Effective algebraic thinking sometimes

involves reversibility (p. 15). The first habit of mind that I created an activity

for was doing-undoing. In this activity students have to determine the

original number of m&ms that were in a bag after they had been partially

consumed and shared with others. Working backwards is the most

reasonable approach to this problem because it reveals the final amount of

m&ms in the bag, and therefore this concrete number is a good starting
Habits of Mind Activities 5

point to begin to work towards a solution. For the second part of this activity

students will be provided with their own bag of Skittles and they are asked to

use the number of Skittles in their bag to construct their own problem that

would encourage the working backwards approach. Driscoll (1999) notes,

Any effective lesson or set of lessons will use a blend of question types (p.

5). When implementing each of these activities I would focus on a variety of

questioning techniques, but my main focus would be on relevant guided

questions similar to those addressed in Driscoll (1999) text. For the first

activity I may ask students: How can we use the end result to begin to help

us solve this problem? How is this number related to the one that came

before? What is the opposite of the operation used to arrive at this number in

the sentence? Each of these questions can guide students in the right

direction while still allowing them an opportunity for their own personal

discovery of the mathematics behind the solution. At the conclusion of this

activity students will attempt to solve a problem that was created by one of

their peers. It is during this portion of the activity that I will be able to assess

whether or not this activity was successful. I will observe the complexity and

accuracy of each of the problems that my students develop; and also observe

which students were able to approach the problems efficiently and correctly,

and which students were challenged by the task.

My second activity helps students discover a linear relationship

amongst real life variables. Students will recreate a scenario that represents

the correlation between a bungee jumper and the stretch of the cord. The

materials will include a measuring tape, rubber bands, metal clip, and

weighted washers. Students will collect a list of data that reveals a linear
Habits of Mind Activities 6

function. They will express this data using a table, graph, and an equation.

Driscoll (1999) states, mathematical context is another consideration in

teachers use of classroom questions to elicit algebraic thinking and, over

time, to foster the development of algebraic habits of mind (p. 5). Questions

that I may use to aid in my students comprehension may include: How are

things changing? Does my rule work for all cases? How can I describe the

steps without using specific inputs? Now that I have an equation, how do the

numbers in the equation relate to the problem context? Each of the

preceding questions will support my goal of helping my students develop the

habit of mind to build rules to represent functions. Driscoll (1999) states,

Critical to algebraic thinking is the capacity to recognize patterns and

organize data to represent situations in which input is related to output by

well-defined functional rules (p. 2). The students ability to answer my

questions and demonstrate this linear function using a table, graph, and

equation will help me to assess their understanding.

Van de Walle, Karp and Bay-Williams (2013) explain, algebraic

thinking is composed of different forms of thought and an understanding of

symbols (p. 259). This third activity helps the students draw conclusions

about the relationships between one figure and the next. It also asks them to

identify a pattern so that they are able to work backwards and identify the

figure that would exist prior to the first one in this sequence. Students would

be given tiles that are blue on one side and green on the other. They are

asked to use the tiles to construct the series of figures depicted on their

papers, identify a pattern, and then create a general rule for expressing this

pattern. If students make the tiles that are added from the preceding figure a
Habits of Mind Activities 7

different color it makes it easy to identify that five tiles to each figure to

reveal the next figure in the sequence. Similarly, working backwards implies

that five tiles are removed to arrive a previous figure. Since this final activity

uses a combination of doing-undoing and building rules to represent functions

it is important that my questions support both of these components. Driscoll

(1999) states, It is valuable for teachers to be aware of the variety and

breadth of intension behind classroom questions and to seek, over time,

patterns of questioning that are balanced across the range of intention (p.

4). Some questions that may be asked include but are not limited to: Is there

information here that lets me predict what is going to happen? What steps

am I doing over and over? How is this number of tiles in figure 3 related to

the number in figure 2? How can we check to see if our rule is accurate?

These questions can help students identify a pattern and create a rule to

reflect that pattern. I will be able to clearly assess my students

understanding by observing the number of tiles they place in each figure and

by observing that they were able to create a function that represents a

general case.

As an educator my goal is to create an academic environment that

fosters understanding. Through a combination of well developed activities

that support each habit of mind and carefully implemented questioning

techniques students will be able to work towards a genuine comprehension of

the material.
Habits of Mind Activities 8

Resources

Driscoll, M. J. (1999). Fostering algebraic thinking: A guide for

teachers, grades 6-10. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Van de Walle, J. A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2013).

Elementary and middle school mathematics methods: Teaching

developmentally (8 th ed.). Pearson: Boston.

Vennebush, G. P., Marquez, E., & Larsen, J. (2005). Embedding algebraic

thinking throughout the mathematics curriculum. Mathematics Teaching in the

Middle School, 11(2), 86-93.