Geo-Journaling

Grade 8 **Geo-Journaling with Wikis: Improving Students’ Mathematical Problem-Solving Skills Using Interactive Technology** Math, Technology  

The purpose of this project is to use technology to provide a dynamic and readily observable format for eighth grade students to document how they solve problems in math, specifically in geometry (surface areas and volume of solid figures such as rectangular prisms, cylinders, cones, spheres and pyramids). Under this project, each eighth grade student will have his or her own wiki space where they keep a math “journal”. Students will be assigned a “Problem of the Week” that will require them to apply the geometry concepts to real-world problems. Students will be required to provide a written explanation and a podcast explaining how they solved the problem. Wikis will enable a more interactive and collaborative approach to problem-solving. It will also facilitate the teacher’s ability to check on students’ progress, and comment or ask questions as the students work. Students’ work can easily be shared with the entire class, providing models of good work, a variety of ways to arrive at solutions, and promoting discussion and debate. The teacher can gear problems, comments and probing questions to either challenge or support students as needed. Wikis will be a much more powerful tool than paper and pencil journal A wiki site resource [|Using Wikis in Math Classes]