Summer Time Sickness Exponentially

(Photo by Dr. Tasha Sturm)  Some people, including my husband, just shake their heads.  It’s summer time, what are you doing?…  Oh, I’m just looking around on Twitter, looking for ideas for next year….  it IS only 7 weeks away!!!!   And since we don’t have a pool that would lure me into the warmth of the 100 degree sun along with  the coolness of the water, I’m on the couch, clicking away on this laptop….  which I LOVE!!! –  Thanks to Texas Regional Collaboratives and We Teach CS… I now have a perky purple computer to do my “research.”   Two of my summer weeks involved learning, and appreciating Computer Science.   In Texas, as I suppose every other state, there is a push for students to appreciate and learn computer science skills…   UTD offered a courses on Python, Scratch, Alice, and JavaScript and challenged me and my mindset for an exponential growth of learning.  But, that discussion is for another day…..

I am looking to PBL my way into exponents this year for my Algebra Students.  I am dabbling with the idea of bacteria and patterns.  Having read segments of  Chaotic Fishponds, by Richard Elwes,there is an excerpt that might be a jumping off spot.  Also today, I came across Everyday Einstein  with Sabrina Steirwalt after reading a Scientific American Article, “Does Soap Really Kill 99.9% of Bacteria” .  So, with this, I am going to get to work on a problem for my kids…  I love the quiz about the # of germs on my cell phone – seriously gross!-and will be able to bring this into my Math 8 class as we discover the excitement of organizing numbers with Scientific Notation and exponents as well.

Stay tuned for more on the results of my mental conundrums with this PBL and where I go from here….  Love any thoughts that you’d like to share as well!