Grade 7: Three math sections each with about 15 students.

Time: 4 class periods (50 mins each)

During this project students were given the opportunity to:

• brainstorm/generate questions that would help them answer the essential question

• get answers to some of their questions in the form of a Q&A session with our guest speaker, Ms. Hankermeyer

• carry out some research about rainfall in SF, rain catchment barrels, our outdoor planting spaces and irrigation and water usage  

• do calculations to find answers to some questions 

Most of the content of this project was outside my area of expertise. There were so many unknowns, for example, the rate of water flow from sprinklers and drip systems, how to calculate rain catchment from different types of roof, not having access to information that may be helpful to figure out the water usage for our outdoor spaces. 

I did quite a bit of pre-project research to try to find resources that would be helpful for students, as well as educate me. Not having answers to so many questions left me feeling outside of my comfort zone in the classroom environment. When we got started, it was apparent that students were also uncomfortable about their teachers not having answers to many of their questions. This provided a great opportunity for us to discuss textbook versus real life problems, and how finding answers to questions often leads to more questions. Also, answers have to be based upon making certain assumptions when you don’t have all the relevant information. 

Four days was not enough time to make sufficient progress to answer our essential question. With hindsight, I’m not sure what I would have done differently, maybe lessen the scope of the essential question. I view this year as a first go around and a starting point for us to make more progress next year. I’d like to thank Karen for finding the time in her busy day to share her knowledge and expertise, and May and Michael for their help and support.