Which One Doesn't Belong?: A Shapes Book

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What's the reason why this domino doesn't belong? Ah, yes, I had noticed the same thing that some of you noticed… What are the favorite colors of students in this class?” would produce categorical data with some variability. There’s also an accompanying teacher’s guide, with teaching ideas across the grades from kindergarten to high school. (Look inside the guide here.) NSW Department of Education's information on curriculum taught in NSW schools, Aboriginal education and communities & personalised support. Skills NSW helps post high school students find courses in vocational training across a wide variety of industries and course providers.

In the upper right corner of the screen, a green starburst appears with text: Which one doesn’t belong? Learn about the NSW education department, who we are and how we operate. Explore our people, accountabilities, jobs, opportunities and much more. We started off with the first set of figures and I asked everyone to think silently about which figure didn’t belong. I called on Noah to share his thoughts. Noah chose a figure and explained why that figure was different than the rest. Information about working in or operating early childhood education services including outside school hours care. Plus, information for parents including how to choose a service and supporting your child for their transition to school. This bold-color shapes book is, as the author had hoped, “a resource that can make a meaningful contribution to geometry instruction” (p. 16) but can also reside in an elementary school library. It allows for meaningful conversations, unanswered questions, and deep dives into the subtle and complex similarities and differences between shapes.

Shape 60

What is the average class size at this school?” would produce numerical data with some variability. The question that you ask determines the type of data that you collect and whether or not there is variability in the data collected. In earlier grades, you learned that there is variability in a data set if not all of the values in the data set are the same. These are examples of statistical questions because they are answered by collecting data that has variability: Makes sense, doesn’t it? But, is it mathematically correct? I don’t know. My students gave me some pretty good arguments justifying their reasoning! We decided we needed to do some research on the word scalene. Does it only apply to triangles? It's the only one that's half of ten. Three is less than half of ten. Eight is more than half of ten, and, well, 11 is more than ten in total. Oh, OK.

I thought the WODB activity might generate some interesting conversations and serve as a review for our geometry unit which we were concluding. So we gave it a try! I think it would also be very interesting to have the students write their own reflections. Did they find this activity interesting and why? What do they think they learned from this activity?I started sharing WODB activities with my students because I was struggling to find ways to get all of my students engaged, especially those who struggle with mathematics and are reluctant to participate. Mmm, what are you thinking? Mmm, so, this would be a good time to get out your paper and pencil and see if you could write down an idea for why each one of those dominoes you think...sorry, why one of those dominoes doesn't belong. And then...yes, I know. Give students 2 minutes to write a question of their own that could be answered using data from the class. After giving students time to discuss the questions in their groups, pause for a whole group discussion. A speech bubble out of the yellow shape appears that reads: This one shows a doubles fact. It’s the only one to show a double.]

Did you think about that too? Oh, you had a different reason for why that one. That's really cool. Keep a hold of that. You'll need it later. What about this one? Danielson writes, “I made this book to spark conversations, thinking and wonder” (p. 36). He has succeeded. I enjoyed using this book to facilitate conversations with first and fourth graders. Students were engaged and were eager to communicate their ideas and listen to others. I noticed improvement in their ability to craft mathematical arguments in support of their choices. In the end, the fourth graders composed their own set of shapes to challenge others with “which one doesn’t belong.” I also shared the book with colleagues and even brought it out at a family party. For each of the 4 questions, write a survey question that will help you collect data from the class that can be analyzed to answer the question.These are examples non-statistical questions because they are answered by collecting data that does not vary: But I knew what the student meant, and so did the rest of the class. When I asked him to explain, he said a scalene triangle is a triangle with all three sides having different lengths. A scalene quadrilateral, therefore, is a quadrilateral with all four sides having different lengths. And this one? Has three, mm-hmm. So if you had to make an argument or case for why each domino doesn't belong, who would you argue for does not belong? Oh, that's really nice. So, can I make a case now for why each one doesn't belong? Yes, we did that. Under the starburst, a blue text box appears with text: Can you make a case for why each one doesn’t belong?] Speaker