IGNITE Student Engagement in Math: 3 Simple Strategies for Making Content Memorable

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A Math Teacher’s Resource Guide for Incorporating Easy-to-Use
Technology to MOTIVATE and EMPOWER 21st Century Learners


Simple Strategy #1: Novelty
“Novelty creates a stronger opportunity for new learning and pathways in the brain.”
Eric Jensen

Novelty captures the brain's attention!
Our brains are wired to pay attention to new things. If you think about it, this makes
perfect sense. We are constantly bombarded with new and incoming information. Our
brains have to prioritize what is most important for our survival. So anything that is new
or different gets top priority. When it comes to teaching, this is HUGE!!! If we want
something to really make an IMPACT on students, we need to first make sure that
we’ve got their attention.

So what does this mean for math teachers?
“An environment that contains mainly predictable or repeated stimuli lowers the brain’s
interest in the outside world and tempts it to turn within for novel sensations.”
David A. Sousa

We can use Novelty to capture student's attention and eliminate boredom.
Novelty also strengthens memory! When things are different they have
a tendency to stand out in our minds. If things are always the same, they just blend in
with everything else. In this paragraph, you probably noticed “capture student’s
attention”, “eliminate boredom”, “Novelty also strengthens memory”, and “You need to
use lots of Novelty if you want your content to stand out!” right away because they
appear differently than everything else. The same thing happens when we experience
math content in different ways. You need to use lots of Novelty if you want your
content to stand out!

It’s helpful to use Novelty when introducing new material. Think about how much new
input students brains receive each day. Unfortunately for us, most of our student’s
brains probably don’t put math at the top of their list! So, we’ve got to do something to
make new content stand out. Using Novelty when introducing new concepts helps to
create contrast from other content. Novelty also makes math topics and concepts stand
out from each other.


Using NOVELY in the Math Classroom:
Here are some ideas for using Novelty in the Math classroom:

 When introducing a new topic show a video clip that relates to the concept.

Example 1: Before introducing Pythagorean Theorem, you could show a video of
someone flying a kite. Ask students how high the kite is and have them
speculate about how you figure out the height. Really use this to build
anticipation!

Example 2: Video tape your track team and show this video before teaching a
lesson on Statistics.

FYI: These days it’s really easy to find videos. YouTube, TeacherTube, and
Vimeo are 3 great sources for finding videos. You can use the links below:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/

Teacher Tube: http://www1.teachertube.com/

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/

Tip:

If YouTube is blocked at your school, or you just don’t want the ads and
comments to be present, you can use VuSafe or SafeShare.TV to filter the video.

VuSafe: http://www.m86vusafe.com/

SafeShare.TV: http://www.safeshare.tv/

In addition to filtering YouTube videos, SafeShare.TV also allows you to crop the
videos. This is great if you only want to show part of the video.

 Bring in an object that relates to the concept being taught.

Example 1: If you’re teaching a lesson on Volume you could bring in a fish tank.

Example 2: If you’re teaching Pythagorean Theorem, you could have your
students fly kites and use Pythagorean Theorem to find the height of the kite.


 Have students make up songs or dances to go along with a skill or concept
you're teaching.

 Use a new kind of manipulative.

 Use a new method for putting students into groups.

 Have students interview each other about the topic they are learning.

Example: Have students pretend to be a talk show host or news reporter. They
can write the questions they’d ask about the topic. Then have them take turns
interviewing their partner about the given topic. As an extra incentive, they can
make videos that will be shown to the class later. (Students love to watch each
other on video. They are also more vested in creating a quality product if they
know it will be viewed by others.)

Tip: If you have students make videos of their interviews, you can place them on
your class website or blog.

 Have a guest speaker or teacher.

Example 1: If another teacher in the building teaches the same thing as you, try
trading classes for a day.

Example 2: Ask the principal, counselor, or someone else in the building to
come in and work through a problem with students.

Example 3: Have a community member come in and teach a lesson or talk
about how they use math in their job.

 Have students text their parent about the topic/concept their learning. Imagine
the surprise if one day you ask students to take out their cell phones!


 Tell a story that relates to topic you're teaching. Story telling is a very powerful
way to bring meaning to learning, as well as, introducing some novelty.

Example: Tell a story about an experience you had on a Farris Wheel before
teaching a lesson on Circumference.

 Use a new type of technology.

These are just some ideas for introducing Novelty into your lessons. The key is to
always be thinking about what you can do to introduce new experiences into the
learning environment.

Remember, something is only novel for a short
time, so we have to continually find new ways to
introduce novelty into our lessons!


Simple Strategy #2: Experience Before Label
N

Our Brains Strive to Make Meaning!
Most of the time we introduce new concepts by telling students what they’re going to
learn, and then we provide some type of experience for the learning. For example, we
tell students that they’re going to learn how to divide fractions. Then we have them do
an activity with manipulatives to give the experience of dividing fractions. But, if we
want to make learning more memorable, we should reverse this
process. We should actually have students do the activity with
manipulatives BEFORE we mention the Label dividing fractions (see
example). It seems odd at first, but when you try this you’ll be surprised at the results!

When learning new things we try to make sense of the new information by associating it
with prior experiences and knowledge. These associations are also what help us
retrieve memories later. By providing experiences before putting labels on learning,
we give a context for meaning. When we do this for our students, we also level the
playing field. Our students come to us with very diverse backgrounds. Often, we
teach things thinking all of our students have the background to make meaningful
connections. However, in many instances, it doesn’t take long to realize out that isn’t
the case. Providing experiences before giving labels allows ALL students the
opportunity to make meaning by attaching their learning to this prior experience.

There are also some added benefits to teaching this way. When you provide
experiences before labeling the learning, students become curious about what is
happening. They begin to wonder what they’re learning and the anticipation builds.
Curiosity and anticipation are two of the best states for learning! You will find that
your job becomes much easier. Students are more engaged in learning and they’re
primed and ready for the Label. When this technique is done really well, your
students will practically beg you for the Label!

Start providing Experiences before assigning Labels to new learning. You should try
to do this as often as possible when introducing new concepts. Providing these
common experiences will not only help students make meaning of their learning, they
also help students retrieve the learning later. If you find that it seems like your students
have forgotten something they learned previously, just remind them of the Experience.
They’ll likely be able to remember because the association will help them retrieve the
memory.


Share these Common Experiences with the math teachers that teach the grade above
yours. If you’ve provided Common Experiences when teaching certain concepts in 7 th
grade, the 8th grade teacher can refer back to these Experiences when they need
students to remember a particular concept. This will help to save a lot of the frustration
we feel when we think students should know something. Often, it’s not that they don’t
know or haven’t seen the concept; it’s that they can’t retrieve the memories. By
referring to the Common Experience, many students will be able to make the
association to prior learning.

Using EXPERIENCE BEFORE LABEL in the
Math Classroom:

Here are some ideas for providing Experience Before Label in the
Math classroom:
Most of the ideas for using Novelty in the Math classroom would also apply to providing
Experience Before Label.

 When introducing a new topic show a video clip that relates to the concept.

Example 1: Before introducing Pythagorean Theorem, you could show a video of
someone flying a kite. Ask students how high the kite is and have them
speculate about how you figure out the height. Really use this to build
anticipation!

Example 2: Before teaching a lesson on area, show a video of a dog tied to a
stake. Ask students how much room the dog has to roam around. Ask students
what factor(s) determines how much room the dog has to roam (the length of the
rope).

Example 3: Before introducing Volume, show a video of someone swimming.
Have students guess how many gallons of water the pool would hold.

FYI: These days it’s really easy to find videos. YouTube, TeacherTube, and
Vimeo are 3 great sources for finding videos. You can use the links below:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/

Teacher Tube: http://www1.teachertube.com/

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/


Tip:

If YouTube is blocked at your school, or you just don’t want the ads and
comments to be present, you can use VuSafe or SafeShare.TV to filter the video.

VuSafe: http://www.m86vusafe.com/

SafeShare.TV: http://www.safeshare.tv/

In addition to filtering YouTube videos, SafeShare.TV also allows you to crop the
videos. This is great if you only want to show part of the video.

 Bring in an object that relates to the concept being taught.

Example 1: If you’re teaching a lesson on Surface Area, bring in boxes and have
students paint or color each side with different colors. They could use the same
color to paint corresponding sides of the box.

Example 2: If you’re teaching Pythagorean Theorem, you could have your
students fly kites and use Pythagorean Theorem to find the height of the kite. Or,
bring in a ladder and place it against the wall.

Example 3: Before introducing Measures of Central Tendency, take out your cell
phone and send a text message. Make a big production about stopping class to
send a text message. You could even make up a story about having to send a
Text to the Principal. If this is not something you would normally do, it will create
an Experience that students will remember! Follow this up by discussing how
many texts you and your students send each day.

 Make up a dance that has motions which go along with a skill or concept you're
teaching. Teach students the dance without any putting any labels to the
motions. After students have practiced the dance several times, provide the
Labels for the motions.

I’ve used this before when teaching Order of Operations. I made up arm
movements that represented Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division,
Addition, and Subtraction. After teaching the “Dance”, I explained what each
motion represented and how it applied to Order of Operations. When doing
something like this, remember to really set it up in a way that builds Anticipation.


 Use manipulatives before giving the Label.

Example: Have students measure and cut string into ½ inch sections, before
telling them that are Dividing Fractions.

 Have a guest speaker or teacher.

Example: Before teaching Rates and Unit Rates, have a local Artist come in a
talk about how long it takes to create one piece of art and how they determine
the cost. They can show several pieces of their work and tell how long it took to
make each piece. Students can calculate the hourly rate for each piece of art.

Tip:

If you can’t get an artist to come to your class, video tape them. You can achieve
a similar effect, and you’ll have the video to use later.

 Tell a story that relates to topic you're teaching. Story telling is a very powerful
way to bring meaning to learning.

Example: Tell a story about an experience you had on a Farris Wheel before
teaching a lesson on Circumference.


Simple Strategy #3: Location, Location, Location!

Our Brains Love to Make Associations!
Have you ever heard the expression, “Location is everything!”? Well, we could say the
same is true when it comes to creating long-term memories. Memories are formed by
making associations. The more associations we make, the stronger the memory. As
seen in the previous 2 strategies, it’s possible to create situations in order for students
to make associations for their learning. We can also create associations by anchoring
content to particular locations. For example, if you always stand in the same spot every
time you mention Ratios, students will associate that spot in the room with Ratios.

There are a few different ways that you can use location to impact memories. One way,
as mentioned above, is to anchor the content to a specific location. Another is to have
your students change their physical location. For example, if you’re about to say
something that is really important about Ratios and you want students to remember it,
have the entire class come to the front of the room. Tell them the important information
then have students go back to their seats. By having your students come to front of the
room, you have created an association for the new information. Students will remember
being in the front of the room when they first learned about Ratios.

Whenever we want to make content more memorable, we can use location to create
associations to the learning.

Review your Grade Level Standards and pick topics/concepts that you think are
important. Think about how you can “Anchor” these concepts to some location in or out
of your classroom. Consider whether it would be more beneficial to change your
physical location or the student’s physical location when discussing the concept. If you
want something to really stand out, consider moving to a location outside of your
classroom. The more drastic the location change, the more the memory will “stand out”.


Using Location in the Math Classroom:

Here are some ideas for using Location to anchor memories in the
Math classroom:

 Trade classrooms with another teacher.

Example: If you’re teaching a lesson on using Finite Differences to find the
equation that represents a pattern, ask another teacher if you can trade classes
for the day. This will create an association for your lesson on Finite Differences.
When you discuss Finite Differences in the future, you can say “remember when
we did ______ in ______ classroom.”

 Teach a lesson outside, in the cafeteria, in the gym, or anywhere else in the
building. Again, students will associate this lesson with the location. This is also
a way to add some Novelty to your class. If you don’t normally teach outside of
your classroom, the difference will stand out even more!

 Place content posters in different locations around the room. Stand next to or
underneath the poster each time you talk about the topic.

For example: Make posters for Mean, Median, Mode and Range. Place them
next to each other on a wall. Every time you talk about Mean, go and physically
stand underneath or next to that poster. When you talk about the Median, go
and physically stand next to that poster.

 Use the four walls and the four corners of your room to anchor content.

Example: Anchor each of the four Fraction Operations to a wall or corner of the
room. Teach Adding Fractions from the front of the room, Subtracting Fractions
from the back of the room, Multiplying Fractions from the right side of the room,
and Dividing Fractions from the left side of the room.

 Have students change seats for a day or a week. Or, just for an activity!


Example: If you’re going to spend a week teaching about Similar Figures, assign
students new seats just for that week. Have students who normally sit in the
front move to the back, etc.

Added Benefit: Having students move to a different area of the room changes
their perception. It can change the way they see and hear things in the room.


Bonus: The Evolution of a Lesson

Circumference: The Evolution of a Lesson

The example below demonstrates how I took a lesson on Circumference that was not
and make it Memorable. This evolution took place over several years of my teaching
career. In Scenario 3, you’ll notice a HUGE difference in the way I taught the lesson.
The best part is that my students benefited by gaining deeper understanding and
better retention of the concepts.

It’s important to note that this was done with students at Title I schools.

Scenario 1: Rote Learning (Not Memorable!)
When I first started teaching, I pretty much taught everything in a rote and abstract
manner. So to teach Circumference I would just tell my students the formula for
Circumference, show them how to input the variables, and finally I’d show them how to
solve the equation. We would do several guided practice problems and they were let
loose to practice about 20 problems on their own. There was no meaning associated
with the learning at all! There was also no Novelty involved in the way I taught
the lesson.

Scenario 2: A Discovery Lesson (Somewhat Memorable!)
After a few years of teaching, I learned how to teach math conceptually. This was
HUGE for me since I had not learned math this way! I immediately began to implement
Conceptual Development of mathematical concepts into my teaching.

Once I had this enlightenment, I began to teach Circumference differently. Here’s how I
taught Circumference:

 I would bring in different sized circular objects and string.

 Students would use the string to compare the diameter of the circle to the
Circumference of the circle.


 Students would measure the string used for the diameter of the circle and the
string used for the Circumference of the circle. They would record their findings
in a table.

Diameter Circumference ��
in inches Process in inches
(d) (C) ��

We would then repeat this process with radius.

The point was to get students to see the relationship between the diameter and
Circumference of the circle. This would lead to the discovery of Pi and the
Circumference formula.

Teaching the lesson this way was much more memorable for several reasons.

 Students were engaged in the learning process by having to actually measure
and compare the diameter to the circumference.
 By discovering the formula, Circumference had much more meaning to students.
 We had incorporated some Novelty because it wasn’t just another worksheet. It
was also different to have to measure the various circular objects.

After teaching the lesson this way, I definitely noticed an improvement in understanding
and retention rates. If students did forget things about Circumference, I could jog their
memories by just reminding them about when we measured the circular objects with
string.

Scenario 3: Adding in Some Novelty (Now it’s Memorable!)
Several years later after learning about Brain-Based Learning, I decided that I could
make this lesson even more Memorable for my students by adding some Novelty.

We basically did the same lesson as described in Scenario 2 with these variations.

 Instead of just bringing in basic circular objects like paper plates and container
lids, I decided to use different sized hula hoops.

 I made more of a production about introducing the lesson.


Introducing the Lesson:

In order to build curiosity and anticipation, I would place hula hoops at the front of room.
I wanted to make sure that they were seen when students entered the room. As you
can imagine, they were! The hula hoops definitely created a buzz, which was exactly
what I wanted.

Just by the sight of the hula hoops, my students were being “hooked”. They wanted to
know what was going to happen. In fact, they could hardly make it through the” Warm
Up” because they were so curious about the hula hoops.

When it was time to start the lesson, I would choose a hula hoop and attempt to use it.
After the laughter subsided, I would ask the class these questions.

Does it matter what size hula hoop you use? Why?
Is it easier to use a large hula hoop or a small hula hoop?

We would spend a few minutes debating these questions. Based on their prior
experience, they tended to agree that the larger hula hoops were easier to use.

Next, I would ask students what “Math” word could be used to describe the size of a
Hula Hoop. These were 7th graders so they had prior exposure to the term
Circumference. It sometimes took a few prompts, but someone would eventually get
the correct word.

After discussing the vocabulary related to circles, I would explain that we were going to
compare the relationship between the diameter and the Circumference and the
relationship between the radius and the Circumference. I would have them make
predictions about the following.

 How many diameters will it take to equal the Circumference of the hula hoop?

 How many radii will it take to equal the Circumference of the hula hoop?

 Will these relationships change based on the size of the hula hoop?

The Lesson:

I would give students the instructions for the activity and get them started. While doing
the activity, they would complete the attached recording sheet where they completed
the table and graphs. I changed the activity by not having them measure the string.
This time, they were just noticing that the Circumference was a little more than 3 times
the diameter.


Here’s a link to the Recording Sheet that students used for this activity:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/52975255/Circumference-Introduction-Hula-Hoop-Lesson

The Result:
After teaching the lesson this way, I noticed marked improvements in understanding
and retention rates! This time even my weakest students and my ELL seemed to be
able to grasp the concepts of Circumference and Pi. Overall, my students rarely had
trouble remembering that the Circumference is a little more than 3 times the diameter
and that it’s a little more than 6 times the radius. Throughout the year if it had been a
while since we had done anything with Circumference, it might seem like they had
forgotten. I would just remind them about the activity we did with hula hoops and it
would come right back to them.

So, what made the difference?
There are actually several reasons this lesson became more memorable. The lesson in
Scenario 3 involved Novelty and Experience Before Label. Students were able to
connect their learning to previous experiences they’d had with Hula Hoops and to
previously learned math vocabulary.

Novelty is definitely one of the big reasons students were able to better recall what they
had learned. By bringing in Novelty with the hula hoops, students were interested in
and curious about what they were about to learn. They were more attentive to the
learning because it was something different and fun. When students needed to
remember things about Pi and Circumference later, it was easier to recall because it
was the only time they’d ever seen hula hoops in a math class.

If you want to make learning more memorable, Novelty should be a regular part of your
daily lessons. As you begin to include more Novelty into your lessons, you’ll notice that
retention rates are not the only benefit. You’ll also notice that attention and
motivation are positively affected!

Creating an Experience Before Label by having students discover Pi, gave students a
meaning for attaching the Label of Pi. Where Pi usually an abstract concept, it became
meaningful for students because they had a context or association for the term.

This Experience Before Label also became important and helpful later in the year when
we discussed Proportional Relationships. Students had an association that helped
them realize that all circles are proportional to each other. Since they had measured
and compared different sized Hula Hoops, they knew that the Circumference of a circle
is always a little more than 3 times the diameter and a little more than 6 times the radius
regardless of the size of the circle.

Relevance and emotions also played a part in making this lesson more memorable.
Students were interested in the hula hoops, they had prior experience with the hula
hoops, and they enjoyed seeing me “try” to hula hoop. Along with Novelty and
Experience Before Label, these things really made a huge impact on student’s
understanding and retention rates.

Want more tips and resources?

Sign up to receive more FREE tips: www.loledservices.com

Read our blog: http://loledservices.blogspot.com/

You can also email Kristi with questions. kristi.grande@gmail.com

A Math Teacher’s Resource Guide for Incorporating Easy-to-Use
Technology to MOTIVATE and EMPOWER 21st Century Learners


IGNITE Student Engagement in Math: 3 Simple Strategies for Making Content Memorable

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IGNITE Student Engagement in Math: 3 Simple Strategies for Making Content Memorable