Anyone who has struggled to communicate with another person—or
even worse, witnessed another person struggling to communicate with another
person—has experienced (or witnessed) the linguistic phenomenon that people relate
to words in many different ways. Words such as “palette,” “illicit,” or “please
go get me a cup of coffee” are constantly confused, little to the fault of any artist,
bank robber, or writing intern involved. But there are some words that are so
confusing that they can hardly ever be used in conversation without immediately
invoking panicked faces, nervous sweating, or frantic wikepedia surfing. “Fractal”
is one such word, a “natural phenomenon or a mathematical set that exhibits a
repeating pattern that displays at every scale.” 1 Dr. Caroyln Otto,
from the Department of Mathematics, devotes an entire class period to the exploration
this confusing topic, and describes the lesson plan in today’s issue of “Active
Learning Activities.”
Setting: Activity
utilizing pod groups (6 pods with 4-6 students per pod)
Setup for the
activity: The activity involved the definition of fractals. The students
didn’t have any outside information about the topic beforehand. This was
introduced during class.
How the activity
unfolded in the classroom: At the beginning of class, each pod was given a
list of questions to discuss. These questions included what is the definition
of a fractal, how would we use them, and can you give an example of a fractal.
After the students turned in a written summary of their thoughts, the class
watched a PBS documentary on fractals.
After the activity:
After the video, their summaries were returned and the pods were asked to type
up a new summary on their Pod computers. I went around to each Pod to discuss
their early answers and new answers. Each Pod emailed me a new summary.
Additional comments
from the instructor: “The students were engaged at all stages of this
activity. There was a lot of communication between the students and myself as
well as attention to the film. The students were excited about the subject and
many brought that excitement to the next days of class.”
Tip provided by Carolyn Otto
Framing provided by Jon Pumper
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