Many years ago, our sixth grade math instructors began to see that some students were acquiring math skills at a faster rate than their peers. They were outperforming their peers on both local, state and national benchmark exams. It was evident that they needed more mathematical challenges.
Parents of these high flyers questioned the pace and asked about enrichment opportunities. However, as we all know, classroom differentiation is often difficult to manage. Teachers argued that it wasn’t wise for students to learn a completely different curriculum when the expectations for mastery of the current content was crucial to success in pre-algebra classes in grade seven. Hence, a weekly enrichment math class was born. And while it has taken on several different names, it is currently referred to as “Math Lab”.
Grade five teachers are largely responsible for identifying those in need of math enrichment in grade six. They take into account classwork, tests/quizzes, work habits, and state test scores. These students then take math class together in grade six. It is important to note that our building does not “track” the student body as a whole. However, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics suggest the following is required to create, support, and sustain a culture of access and equity in the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Achieving access and equity requires that all stakeholders—
ensure that all students have access to a challenging mathematics curriculum, taught by skilled and effective teachers who differentiate instruction as needed;
monitor student progress and make needed accommodations; and
offer remediation or additional challenges when appropriate.
A Position of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
How does this work? Students receive the same math instruction as their peers, but the content is delivered in four days a week, rather than five. The fifth day is reserved for Math Lab, an opportunity to apply these math skills in project based learning. Most of the class time is devoted to four highly engaging units: My Personal Budget, Awards at the Box Office, Eating Around the World, and Rescue the Roadkill Cafe. All units require deeper learning while allowing for student voice and choice. My Personal Budget can be found here. The other three units have been adapted from Next Lesson, my absolute favorite resource for project based learning and performance tasks.
My Personal Budget: How can you create a balanced personal budget that will show your family that you are responsible enough to handle your own finances? Students use in-depth inquiry to make decisions on their career choices, rent options, car purchases, and other miscellaneous expenses. Students use skills in percentages and adding and subtracting decimals.
Awards at the Box Office: Does winning an Oscar make a film more profitable? Do more profitable films tend to win Oscars? Students use real data from Oscar winners from the past to answer these questions. They use skills in rounding, division, place value, and ordering and distribution.
Eating Around the World: How do eating habits differ in other countries? Students use What the World Eats to research what people eat in different countries of the world and how their eating patterns have changed in the past 50 years. They develop a detailed presentation on how they have changed and share their inferences on why these eating habits have changed. They use skills in ratios and proportional relationships.
Rescue the Roadkill Cafe: How can we keep the Roadkill Cafe from failing? Students work in small groups to form a restaurant rescue business that will recommend how the Roadkill Café can improve its menu and improve the cafe’s profit. They present their improvement plan, citing their mathematical reasoning, and make recommendations to the owners. They use skills in ratios and proportional relationships and multiplication and division of fractions.
Math Lab has been a highlight in my career. I love that we can provide the enrichment that so many students need while showing them that math can be fun! I find much joy in watching the students analyze data and information to make choices on the outcomes of these projects.