You do the
Math
Presented by
Chad Markel
School Without Walls Foundation
Academy
INTRODUCTION
YouÕre
sitting at lunch and one of your friends walks in and says your best friend Larry
has been suspended again. Just then the lunch room doors fly open and Larry is screaming
ÒDays off!! IÕm out!Ó A Sentry
hears the disruption and drags him out the door. You other friend sitting at the table
says, ÒHow many times is that? 5 or 6Ó You know exactly how many times he has
been suspended from school and youÕre concerned he might not make it to the
next grade with you.
You
start to notice that there are a few kids in your class that have been
suspended a lot. You start to think
about why that might be. You want to help your friends stay in school and graduate
with you. You wonder if suspension is really the best way to deal with bad behavior?
TASK
Your
task is to create a survey for students that will help you understand why they
misbehave and try to determine what consequences would be disliked the most. You
will chart the data in a graphical form and present it to the class. You will
also develop a proposal for the school broad that address any policy changes
you think would help reduce the amount of suspensions.
PROCESS
-You
will work in groups of three.
-You
will work cooperatively on the assigned tasks.
-Your
group will gather evidence for the problem by accessing statistics and
conducting a survey using opinionpower.com.
-Your
group will be required to present your survey results to the class in a five
minute oral presentation of your findings which will include statistical
measures for your survey on public opinion, a bar graph showing the comparison
of suspension in the previous school year and a circle graph that shows the
percentage of students suspended multiple times based on the number of
suspensions.
Then
you will use the PPA website, to help you determine the policy changes you will
present to the school board.
1.
Define the
problem
Print out this worksheet to Define --- Worksheet1: "Defining the social
problem"(MSWORD)
2.
Gather evidence Print out this
worksheet to gather the evidence--- Worksheet2: "Gathering evidence of
the problem"(MSWORD)
3.
Identify causes Print out this
worksheet to identify the causes--- Worksheet3: "Identifying the cause
of the problem"(MSWORD)
4.
Evaluate a policy Print out this worksheet to
evaluate the policy---Worksheet4: "Evaluating Existing Public Policies"(MSWORD)
5.
Develop solutions Print out this
worksheet to develop solutions---Worksheet5: "Developing public
policy solutions"(MSWORD)
6.
Select best solution Print out this
worksheet to select the best solution---Worksheet6: "Selecting the best
public policy solution" (MSWORD)
RESOURCES
District Policies
(Code of Conduct)
EVALUATION
You will be graded on the PPA
worksheets, your posters, and the classroom presentation. Use the
following rubric as your guide:
Rubric
|
|
Beginning 1 |
Developing 2 |
Accomplished 3 |
Exemplary 4 |
Score |
|
Six-Step Public Policy Analyst |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of
performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and
movement toward mastery of performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of
performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of
performance. |
|
|
Poster |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of
performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and
movement toward mastery of performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of
performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of
performance. |
|
|
Oral Presentation |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of
performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and
movement toward mastery of performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of
performance. |
Description
of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of
performance. |
|
Written
by B. McGuinness. Last
updated 9/3/04.
STANDARDS
Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Standard 3:
Mathematics
Students will understand mathematics and become
mathematically confident by communicating and reasoning mathematically, by
applying mathematics in real-world settings, and by solving problems through
the integrated study of number systems, geometry, algebra, data analysis,
probability, and trigonometry.
ELA
Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and
Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for
critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will
analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a
variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral
and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English
language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and
judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.
CONCLUSION
You
should have spent your time critically thinking about the behavior of the
students in your school. You should also think about your own behavior and how
it effects your education. Many times students donÕt realize that their
behavior is their own responsibility. Consequences can sometimes help deter
student behavior but usually it is the student themselves that have to control
your own behavior. Mathematically you should be able to process and quantify
(show the numbers) most real life events for a group of people; in this case
the students in you school.