LESSON PLAN FOR SUNDIAL HISTORY
NAME: Janie McMillin
NAME OF LESSON: History of Sundials
DESCRIPTION OF CLASS: High school Pre-Calculus Class
TEKS ADDRESSED:
Pre-Calculus:
(a) General requirements.
(b) Introduction.
(2) As students do mathematics, they continually use
problem-solving, language and communication, connections within and outside
mathematics, and reasoning. Students also use multiple representations,
applications and modeling, justification and proof, and computation in
problem-solving contexts.
OVERVIEW:
Students will do a history project on the history of the sundial, this will be done in a group setting. The students will use books and internet sources to do their project. The project outline will include answers to the following questions:
1) A brief outline of the development of sundials of the ages
2) At least 3 different sundials that exist and how they work
3) What mathematical concept and formulas are used to create a sundial
PERFORMANCE AND LEARNER OUTCOMES
Student will:
1) Incorporate historical mathematical concepts with present day concepts
2) Understand the relationship of math to everyday needs and the need for math in society
3)Familiarized with using on-line resources to complete tasks
FIVE E-ORGANIZATION
ENGAGEMENT:
The teacher will ask how and where sundials were
first created. The students will
brainstorm idea about were they think this device was initially created and
these ideas will be written on the board for everyone to see. Then the next question posed to the students will be what
level of math was used to create these sundials. These ideas will also be listed.
EXPLORATION:
The class will begin a discussion over which ideas
seem valid and most accurate and tell their reasons why. The teacher should have minimum
involvement but should make sure that the students do not get off topic.
EXPLANATION:
After the discussion the teacher will assign groups,
hopefully combining students with different levels of knowledge about the
actual information for the project.
This way every group is equally balanced. The teacher will explain the format of the time line and the
expectations of the project.
ELABORATION:
While there is not much elaboration to this lesson,
students may find more information then needed. The teacher should point out that any information that is
not required for the project that the students find interesting, they can
include to enhance their final project.
EVALUATION:
The time line will be evaluated and compared to
other projects to see if they are similar. The students will also discuss their misconceptions they
initially had and what they have learned by doing the project.