Class Dojo

I used Class Dojo today!!  It is super!! I have altered the categories so that I can use it to check their homework (are their notes from watching my videos complete?) and I can mark if they are explaining to their group and/or up at the whiteboard showing the group solution.  It is very easy to use and I feel like I will have something more concrete to put into the gradebook regarding their participation in class.  The "fun" part is that each student shows up as a little monster on the screen (you can show it in real time on a projector screen) and  they were like small children looking at the monster they were assigned.  I had to pause while they marveled at what they were.  I have to say though, I saw some students break free of the velcro that keeps their butt attached to their chair and explain/write on the whiteboard.  It was fabulous!!

The stats students turned in their infographic projects today. Many of them had them submitted last night so that I was able to let them know if they didn't link them correctly.  I had 99% submission today (all but 1 student), and they were excited about their projects!   I love when they are excited about showing what they learned and made.  That never grows old for students!

We did a great exercise on why we randomize today (finished from yesterday).  Using "random rectangles" I had the students calculate (a) the average area of their favorite 10 rectangles (b) the average area of the 10 they thought were representative and (c) the average area of 10 their calculators chose using randominteger.  Then they put up the values for each on their whiteboards and everyone entered the data into their Stats editor on their graphing calculator.  I had them draw a boxplot and give me the class average. What is so "cool" is that the graph doesn't look perfectly symmetric until they use the randomized data, and the average is not close to the "true" average until they use the randomized data.

Something that I liked that I did today was: students had taken video notes on experimental design last night.  It covered types of sampling and types of bias.  So I had them give me 3 types of bias with their own examples of each on the whiteboards.  Then I followed that up with "give me the information I need to know about how to collect an SRS". After that I gave them a list of 20 male names and said "I want a sample of 5. Tell me a strategy you can use, then use it and give me the 5 your strategy picked." After they had all used their graphing calculator to randomly select, I put up a table of random digits and had them tell me how to use that.  It was a good exercise to see if they understood what they had copied in their notes.  I will definitely use this strategy again!