Write up

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz450c6VLSIYN2M2ZWQ1M2YtODkyNS00YjY3LWEyN2QtMDQ2ZTMwYzdmNWFl&hl=en&authkey=CNb2xbgI

Unit Plan

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz450c6VLSIYMDJmYzc3M2ItNzQ4Yy00YjQ1LTk4MzQtN2ZmYzI5ZjQ0YTIy&hl=en&authkey=CLPQ9-MP

Lesson Plan 1

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz450c6VLSIYZjg4MmVkMTYtMGI1NS00Yjc1LTk3YjYtZWJjNDBlNGI1YjEx&hl=en&authkey=CJW2nI8E

Lesson Plan 2

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz450c6VLSIYYzg1ZTg3ZDAtYmZmMi00M2FkLThkNTUtYTZjODBjNWUzMjE0&hl=en&authkey=CJCK070I

lesson plan 3

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz450c6VLSIYYWVjNWQxN2MtY2Q2OS00Y2MwLThjZDQtM2FlNDE0NDg3Nzkz&hl=en&authkey=CNaxsogK

Unit Project

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz450c6VLSIYZmY2MzhjODUtOWYyMi00MDdjLWJiYWMtYjU4NjNmNWJjMWFj&hl=en&authkey=CMfUlo8G

Math projects (Assignment # 3)

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz450c6VLSIYMzNjNmFhMzktZTlhMC00MGY1LTljN2QtODFjODA2NTc5OTA0&authkey=CIbS65oE&hl=en

Comments on Creativity, flexibility, adaptivity, and strategy use in mathematics

This article brought an interesting question to my mind. How much of what we have learned could help or hinder what we learn next? Our previous knowledge could effectively help in constructing a new knowledge and our nature as human beings is to build new knowledge on what we’ve already learned and retrieve information from the past to help us understand the present situation. At the same time, previous knowledge could obscure what we are ready to accept and learn. We become bounded with what we know.

How much is too much?

When our mind is cluttered with knowledge, we sometimes miss the obvious and when we are used to complexity, we forget about simplicity. I connect that to how sometimes kids solve a new problem in a very creative way just because they do not have any previous knowledge regarding that problem.

The French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery says:  “Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them. “

As a teacher, I believe that some basic knowledge about a topic is required. Yet, I need to take advantage of what my students don’t know and have them spend a big part of their time in a mathematics classroom exploring ideas and using heuristic problem solving. I want to encourage their creativity and their ability to challenge some rules and break some limits. In my classroom, I want to see fearless young mathematicians.

Word Problem

The problem

Ryan left the science museum and drove

south. Gabriella left three hours later

driving 42 km/h faster in an effort to catch

up to him. After two hours Gabriella finally

caught up. Find Ryan's average speed.

Is it practical?

I think it could be practical but I don’t like the idea of speeding to catch up.

Is it imagery memorable?

The presence of a picture would help the student visualise the distance to calculate the average speed.

Can it be solved with the given info?

Yes, let’s assume that Ryan speed is x then the distance they travel is:  5 x = 2( x+ 42)

X = 28 km/h

Can it be interpreted in more than one way?

It was not clear if Gabriella left the science museum to catch up with Ryan or maybe her home in that case the distance would not be the same...

It was not clear if Gabriella was driving faster than Ryan or faster than usual...

Would the kids be able to interpret it as intended?

Since I did interpret it in a different way the kids for sure would think about that too

Is there anything strange about it?

Yes, my question here: was Gabriella on a highway because unless Ryan was driving 8 Km/h Gabriella was driving above speed limit....

Another thing, I did not understand why Ryan had to travel south would the direction he took change anything in the problem solution??

How would you change it?

I would make the problem clearer

Ryan left the science museum and drove on the highway towards home.

Gabriella left the science museum three hours later, taking the same highway, driving 42 km/h faster than Ryan in an effort to catch up to him.

After two hours Gabriella finally caught up.

Find Ryan's average speed.

Two columns problem solving

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bz450c6VLSIYYjhlYzBjODQtNTNhOS00MjM5LWJhYjctNzdjOWJmZmQ1ODFl&hl=en&authkey=CIjp5p8K

Practicum stories

My first story

I really enjoyed being in classrooms with kids. But what happened is that I was not able to look at a class as a whole but as individual students and even as individual human beings and thinking that each kid has a story. They are sons and daughters and they come with a background and a history. Before I started my practicum,when I imagined classrooms, I thought of classrooms as whole group and was thinking about how will I manage a whole group of students? How will I teach a whole group of students? But now I realized that this is not how I am going to see the students I am going to teach. I was not able to see them as a group of students. actually I was not able to see them as just students, I saw more than that. I was surprised by my way of thinking and asked my self Why?  and the only reason I had was, maybe because I am a mother and I saw my own kids in every one of them. 

My second story

Most of the teachers in the school use a traditional approach to teaching. My idea about teaching is very different and far from traditional. I was worried when it is my turn to take over a class that is not mine and introduce a different method of teaching, such as games and group work, I might loose the attention of the kids and lose control especially because they are not used to those methods. Yet, I was determined to try my way and it actually worked. The kids where very excited about the new method and got engaged in the activity. To get their attention, I need only to switch the light on and off few times. I was surprised that the kids were able to adapt to the new method so quickly and that gave me the confidence and courage to do it again.

Comments on Group Micro Teaching

Class comments

Most of the students commented that the lesson was clear, well structured with a good pace that was easy to follow. The instructors were able to grab the attention of the big group. The activities were engaging and participatory. One of the students commented that the use of card board as opposed to a diagram in a book or on the board was very helpful during problem solving. Some comments were also made regarding things that need to be improved. The class mentioned that the instructors should project their voice while explaining the lesson to the whole group. The class also thought that the introduction was too simple for grade 9 students and that more examples from real life situations or variety of problems would have been more helpful.

What I have learned

The activity was very beneficial for me as we are getting closer to the short practicum. I got the chance to work on a lesson plan and think about the problems, activities and the manipulative materials that I need to use for my lesson. I appreciate the opportunity to be able to present the lesson to a group of students and get their feedback. I also got the chance to experience the difference in instruction between addressing the whole class and working with small groups.

The feedback from the class was a major part of the learning process, mainly the constructive criticism, because it focused on the areas that needed to be improved. One of the suggestions was to connect the lesson to more real life experiences. I do agree with the need to practice that in our classrooms. Math would make more sense to students when it is connected to real life experiences as well as to other subjects learned at school. 

LESSON PLAN ON AREAS OF RECTANGLES,CIRCLES AND SQUARES

	What	How long	Materials used
Bridge	Review the definitions of rectangles, squares and circles. Take several responses to get an idea of what the students know.	2 min
Learning Objective	Students will calculate the area of a rectangle, a square and a circle. Students will solve problems involving the areas of rectangles, squares or circles.
Teaching Objective	Students will be able to solve problems individually and cooperatively. Students will be able to clearly and logically communicate a solution to a problem and the process used to solve it.
Pre-test	Ask the students about the formula of areas of rectangles, squares and circles.	2 min
Participatory learning	Ask the Students to solve a problem that involves the calculations of the area of a rectangle and a circle combined. Ask students to describe in words the steps that they will need to take to obtain the answer. Students will work in small groups to find the areas by using the formulas for the area of a rectangle and of a circle.	5 min	Rectangle shaped cardboards with a cut-out circle in the middle.
Post-test	Ask students to solve a similar problem involving many circles marked on a rectangle. Compare results with other groups.	5 min	Another cardboard with many circles marked on a rectangle

Summary

Give overview

1 min

Thinking Mathematically Chap2,3

There are many ideas from these two chapters that I would use with my students during problem solving. the authors raised a very interesting thought when they mentioned that, against what some people might think, using concrete materials when solving a mathematics problem do not make a student less of a mathematician. I do agree with this point and I would strongly agree with using manipulative materials whenever it is possible in a classroom. I support the belief that a student choosing the appropriate materials to help solve a problem is part of the process of finding the solution.

Another approach that I would like to share with my students is to make them feel at ease when being stuck and help them to be aware that being stuck is part of the challenge. I want them to understand that it is only when they are solving an easy problem, they don’t get stuck. That reminds me of Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’ which the space between what we know and what we are about to learn and how learning happens within that space. When the students realize that being stuck is part of the process solving a problem, then they will not get frustrated or discouraged and they will put more effort to solve the problem.

I also liked the idea of extension which is something we are already doing in our EDCP 342. I think working on extending the problem gives the chance for students to pose their own question and challenge themselves.

Another procedure I would like to apply in my classroom is having students reviewing the process they used to solve a problem by using a different method, if possible. I would like to add here that after reviewing their solution, I would like them to look at the final answer and ask themselves “Does this make sense?”

Who gave words their meanings??

Some words could have a good or a bad meaning

I CHOOSE the word divide and the word zero.

Divide could mean a separation or a split

But, it could mean sharing or generosity

The word zero could mean loss or failure

Yet, It could make one a millionaire on a lottery ticket

But what happens when we join the two words together?

I CHOOSE the sentence divide by zero

Is it double the bad or the goodness?

Or maybe neither

Divide by zero means neither good nor bad

And has no definition in any dictionary

Because simply

Divide by zero is undefined

time writing

Divide
divide between two country I accept it in a way and don't accept it n another. divide a pizza to eat it divide the number of candy among friends devision of labor that is applicable anywhere even at home where the mom is responsible to do things and play role and the dad play another role and the kids if they are older or younger even in classrooms or at work or a society now what else devision is like yes f course mathematics learning division in math classrooms with understanding or long division where students don't understand what they are doing just finding the right answer. if we start by understanding first it would work better for later classes and older kids.

Zero
zero could mean nothing but also could mean a lot zero when added to a number it is the number multiplied by ten so no matter how people might think that zero is nothing it could have a great value and that is why we should not judge people by how they look and we should not underestimate what they can accomplish because some things might go unnoticed however they might be crucial what else I like the number zero because its a subtle however very powerful number

My response to Simmt article

I do group tutoring for high school students and when I read the article I was surprised and excited that most of the suggestions the author has, agree with the way I teach my students.

In our group, when we are solving problems, I never mention anything about a right or a wrong answer. I ask one of the students to explain the process of their thinking and ask the rest of the group if they agree or disagree and leave it to discussion. Most of the time, when a student have a wrong answer, they end up correcting themselves while they are thinking about their thinking. At the same time, they share their ideas, listen to each others’ point of views and come to realise that the same problem could have different ways of solving it.

Another technique I use after discussing a lesson, is to ask students to pose their own problems and solve them themselves. They extremely enjoy the process and, most of the time, they pose challenging problems for themselves and for the group to solve.

I support Simmt argument and I believe that our role as educators is to help students develop into independent thinkers that pose and solve problems and are not afraid to share their ideas and justify them while listening to and respecting each other point of views.

My Math Teacher

I can not forget my intermediate  math teacher. He taught me for four years and I want to admit that I learned nothing those years. I was really struggling with mathematics and barely passed every year. That teacher was rude and inconsiderate. He only liked good students and forgot about the rest. We were scared to ask questions because if it was not up to his expectations he would make fun of you. The best thing for me to do was to stay invisible at the end of the classroom. I hated mathematics and hated mathematics classrooms. But what happened in grade 10 was not expected at all. A new teacher came to school and he was teaching our grade. His approach was the complete opposite and I actually started to get interested in mathematics to the extent that I planned to cover for the four lost years on my own. It took a lot of effort and hard work but I graduated with the highest mark in math 12 class. My passion for mathematics did not stop there. I finished my bachelor degree in mathematics and my master’s degree in math education and the plan is to become a teacher of mathematics and make a difference.

Letters comment

Teaching is a very rewarding profession when we make a difference in our students’ life. But, what could be heart breaking is when we find out, after it has been too late, that by doing our best to support our students’ learning, we actually accomplished nothing.

Reflecting on our own work constantly, while observing each single student closely and listening to what they say to us, is crucial to a teacher’s profession. When we look at our classroom, we should make sure that we are seeing unique individuals.

Imaginary letters

Letters background

I wrote an email to some of my students that I used to teach 10 years ago, to invite them to a teacher student reunion. I  was able to get their email address from some of their friends that I kept in touch with through the years. This is the reply I got from each of my students

Student A

Dear Ms X

I was so glad to hear from you. It has been a long time and I couldn’t believe it when I saw your name. I still remember the first day of your class when you came in and told us that math is beautiful and that you are here to show us its beauty. That sentence was stuck in my mind the rest of my high school years. I did realize what you meant through time. I actually majored in mathematics and now I am working on my Phd in mathematics education.  I feel that my passion for mathematics is due Ito being once a student in your classroom.

Yours sincerely

A

Student B

Hi Ms X

When I first got your email I did not actually recognized who you were until I read the content. It has been a long time, you know. I will do my best to attend the get together but I am worried that seeing everybody would bring bad memories.

My parents had to move at the end of that school year and I had to change school so I haven’t kept in touch with so many people.

I know you are wondering about the bad memories and I want to be honest with you because this is something I wanted to tell you for a long time. I hated your class and your teaching had a very negative effect on me learning of mathematics that year. I thought that you presented math in a very arrogant way. You were so sure about your positive attitude towards the subject and were so sure about changing our attitudes. You did not understand that not every student could see math the way you see it and we are different individuals coming with different needs and interests. You were too self-centered to realize that.

I know that you were a new teacher with a big enthusiasm to teaching but I hope that through the years you’ve come down to earth and have become more realistic.

Good luck

B

Battleground Schools: Mathematics Education

Summary

The article presents the battle around mathematics education between the progressive and conservative positions in mathematics education since 1900. While the first view supports a more conservative and authoritative way of teaching and learning mathematics focusing on facts and algorithms, the second view argues for understanding of mathematics concepts, and an exploratory and  inquiry-based mathematics learning. This battle progressed through three phases; (1) The progressive movement (1910-1940) associated with John Dewey movement to develop “Scientific and democratic thinkers” through inquiry and active learning. (2) The New Math reform movement (1960’s) that was based on the belief that mathematics curriculum should completely change to prepare students to become “the elite rocket scientists of the future.” The new math curriculum focused on bringing the university abstract topics of mathematics to teach in elementary and secondary schools. (3) The wars over NCTM standards (1990’s-present) are still going today with no present solution.  The NCTM standards recommended a reform in mathematics education through teachers ‘workshops and training and the inclusion of parents and technology. Despite the fact that the NCTM standards were originally welcomed by the government and teachers, an opposing right-wing conservative stands appeared in the mid 1990’s supported by religious figures. The public was divided between the two views which reflected the conflict between left and right wings’ political views.

My response

I was a teacher assistant in one of the elementary mathematics classes at UBC and I was surprised with the high anxiety that most of the teachers candidate had towards mathematics. It is a fact that kids are exposed to math-phobic teachers who lack confidence in teaching mathematics. That, of course, will affect students view about mathematics and about themselves as mathematics learners. It is true that we are trying our best to boost students’ confidence in learning mathematics but are we doing enough to boost teachers’ confidence?

Conversation with math teachers and students (Mandeep, Zhisong & Feda)

Students' interview report

This interview was conducted with a three high school students from the west side of Vancouver. The three students with different age level, competency level and gender were interviewed in mathematics classrooms. Based on last year report cards, the first student H was a girl in grade 12 who was assessed as very good at math. The Second was a boy S in grade 9 who was assessed as excellent at math. The third was a boy G in grade 8 who was assessed as fair at math.

Despite the difference among these students, they all agreed about some common believes related to mathematics teaching and learning.

They all saw mathematics as useful in everyday life. However, they stressed the idea that only the basic mathematics is needed for that. They agreed that math is motivating when it makes sense and it is well understood. For these students a good teacher is the one who makes math fun to learn and explains it clearly.

An interesting point appeared through the interview was that two of the students, S who is excellent at mathematics and G who is fair, both preferred to work alone rather than in a group for two different reasons. While S thought that “working in a group would slow me down,” G commented that he liked to work “alone, because when I solve a problem it gives me the confidence that I did it without any help.” On the other side, H preferred to work in a group, because she thought that solving a problem could be a combined effort and that “ everyone is looking from a different perspective to solve the same problem.”

What was obvious from the students’ responses is that students learn differently and a teacher should be aware that different students have different needs. What a teacher could do in this situation is give the student some time to work on a problem alone and then assign them to groups. An excellent student like S will get the chance to help other students in his group after solving the problem on his own. A struggling student like G will get the chance to try to solve the problem alone and then get the help, if needed, from his friends. That might have worked well for G since when he was asked the question

Q: What do you usually do when you face a challenging problem

He answered:

G:Take some time to figure it out on my own then ask for help.

Another interesting result was related to the following question:

Would you rather have a teacher teaching you relatively easy stuff and give you an A- OR a teacher teaching you relatively difficult stuff and give you a B+

H: Depends if she is going to ignore the difficult stuff and then we miss important topics for the next year then I would rather get a B+ and learn the difficult

S: The more difficult it gets the less useful it is, so easy stuff with A-

G: I am not going to become a mathematician I only need to learn the basics so easy with A-

            For H who was preparing to go to university and knew that marks are important to get enrolled she was mature enough to realize that a good grade was not enough if that means she is going to struggle in the future by missing some important concepts. On the other hand, S and G cared about the mark the most because they had different needs and interests and they related to mathematics in a different way.

The idea of different students with different needs appear again here. Not every student wants to “become a mathematician” and not every student finds complex topics in mathematics as “useful.” Hence, when a teacher plans for a lesson she should take students’ different interests into account. A teacher should reach out to all students and make sure that everybody did understand the requirement for their grade level. Yet, at the same time, he/she has to motivate students and set high expectations so they will be pushed to do their best and not just settle with a minimum achievement. Being a good teacher is setting your students for success.

Teachers' interview report

This interview was conducted with a high school math teacher from the east end of Vancouver, where she has taught Math Essentials (Grades 8 through 10) for the past two years.  Much of what this teacher revealed in her interview confirmed what we’d expected to find in a typical math class.  In her interview, the teacher discussed how maintaining class discipline and getting her students motivated and involved in her class were often the most difficult parts of her job.  She found the students who were the most disruptive in her class often happened to be the ones who were struggling the most with the material that was being taught.  One way in which this teacher tries to address this issue is by giving all her students a clear set of goals and guidelines.  With these goals clearly defined, the students know what objective they have to work towards.  The goals may vary for each student; for some students, the goal may be to get an A as a final mark in the course, while for others it may be to simply improve their understanding of topics they hadn’t understood very well in previous years.  In each of these cases, the one thing this teacher makes sure to do is to ensure that each student is aware of the goal he or she is individually striving towards.  This way, the students can evaluate and re-evaluate themselves throughout the term or semester and reflect on how they’re doing towards reaching their goal.  The teacher found this method helped to enable students to take more of an initiative in their learning or “ownership of their own work,” as she likes to calls it.

            Another technique this teacher uses to keep her students involved in her classroom is giving her students different responsibilities.  These responsibilities can at times be academic (ie, giving out bonus assignments as a challenge) or they can be simple classroom tasks like writing the homework on the board, helping to hand out worksheets, etc.  What the teacher found with this approach was that students felt more engaged in her class and made them more comfortable to participate in class activities.

            A part of the interview that surprised us occurred when this teacher was asked which grade level she found most challenging to teach mathematics.  Her response of Math 8 was not entirely unexpected but her reasons behind this answer were interesting and something we as teacher candidates had not considered before.  The teacher found Math 8 to be more demanding to teach at times not because eighth graders usually have more energy thus require more attention; instead, the teacher found it more difficult to teach because in this grade, the teacher usually spent a lot more time teaching basic learning skills not directly related to math than she did at any other grade level.  Examples she discussed included teaching students how to write homework in their agenda, instructing them on how to take good notes, getting them to all show their work in a neat and organized manner, etc.  The teacher found teaching these skills ate into a lot of their class time, making it stressful for her to get her students through all the material in the curriculum.  We find this to be of interest because it was something we had not given any thought to until now

            In summary, we found this interview to be very informative and helpful to us as teacher candidates.  Teaching can at times be very challenging career but it is also obviously a very rewarding and enjoyable one as well.

Micro Teaching Comments

                                   Balancing Objects

The group comments

The feedback for my lesson was very encouraging.  Everybody mentioned that the lesson was clear from beginning to end. The group enjoyed the lesson. They thought that it was a very hands-on activity. Everybody got to participate. They felt that they learned a new concept in physics in a fun way. Despite the fact that I mentioned verbally what we were going to learn, one person from the group suggested that she would have liked to see the structure already built at the beginning of the lesson so everybody would know what they are going to do. That is a clear indication that different students have different needs and learn differently and the teacher should be aware of these needs and structure his/her lesson to meet those needs.

My comments

I was happy about the lesson. I felt that it went really well. The group was excited to be involved. Everybody got the chance to repeat the process of building the structure on their own and was able to succeed at balancing the objects. The only thing I missed is the pre-test. It was embedded in the bridge rather than performed separately despite the fact that I planned for it in my lesson plan.

 It was great that we got the chance to look at the group feedback and to reflect on our own lesson at the same time. Part of being a lifelong learner is to accept people constructive criticism and to assess our own work constantly with the determination to improve and grow.

Burning Questions

Students

1) What do you usually do when you face a challenging problem?

2) How often do you use mathematics in everyday life situations?

3) Do you prefer to solve problems alone or with a group?

4) What motivates you the most in a mathematics classroom?

5) What do you like/hate about mathematics?

6) What kind of math teacher you dislike the most?

7) Would you rather have a teacher teaching you relatively easy stuff and give you an A- OR a teacher teaching you relatively difficult stuff and give you a B+

8) What advice/suggestions would you give new math teachers?

Burning Questions

Teachers

1) How do you balance authority and care?

2) What are the issues that keep coming back every year?

3) How do you keep the students involved and motivated?

4) Why did you choose math teaching as a profession?

5) How do you cater for individual differences?

6) For student teacher, which grade level is more challenging to teach, grade 8 or grade 12?

7) Assuming you are a sponsor teacher, what would you do if a student makes a

     conceptual mistake in your math class?

9) Assuming you are a sponsor teacher, in evaluating a student teacher, will you value

     instrumental teaching ability over relational teaching ability or vice versa?

10) When students do not respect you in your class, what would you do?

11) What do you find is the most challenging part of being a math teacher?

12) What in your opinion are some of the common mistakes beginner (math) teachers make when they first start teaching and what advice would you give them so as to avoid such mistakes?

13) Is there anything you wish you’d known or been told about this profession before you began teaching?

14) In a class with students of all varying degrees of math skill, how do you plan your lesson/what methods do you use so that all students are included in the learning and discussion?

Dave Hewitt's video

Dave Hewitt's lesson was very impressive. His method is very creative and seemed effective. It made me realize that, it does not matter what technique or method we use to teach students, our main intention should focus on grabbing their attention, get them involved and make them the evaluator for their own work. However, for teachers to be able to use new techniques like Hewitt’s, they should have already mastered the subject matter and be confident and experienced enough to use different ways to teach the same concept. 

 I was just wondering when I was watching the video, If Hewitt was able to identify that every single student was actually involved. Usually, in a classroom, the same students would volunteer to answer the questions. So, how was he able to avoid that situation? In addition, when Hewitt involved the whole class, how was he able to detect that everybody did understand the concept so he was able to move on to the next concept?

MICRO TEACHING

Balancing Objects

Materials

A spoon

A fork

A match

A cup

Lesson Plan

Bridge

(2 minutes)

Who can tell me what a fulcrum point is?

(A fulcrum point is a point or support on which a lever pivots)

Can anyone give me an example?

(A balance, a seesaw...)

Today we are going to balance two objects on a fulcrum point.

Objectives (learning)

The student should be able to balance a spoon and a fork attached to a match on the edge of a cup.

Objectives (teaching)

Students will be engaged in the activity using the materials.

Every student will get the chance to try to balance the objects.

Pre-test

(1 minute)    

Each one of you will have a fork a spoon and a match.

Try to find a way to balance it on the edge of the cup.

Participatory learning

(4 minutes)

Let us try to do it together. We hold a spoon in one hand and the fork in another by their handle.

(I will identify the concave part of the spoon and the inner and outer prongs of the fork to the students).

Now, we insert the middle two prongs of the fork under the concave portion of the spoon and press firmly.

The spoon and the fork should make a V shape like this. We turn the V shape in a way that the open side is towards us.

Now, we insert the bottom of match at the bottom of the fork between the first and the second prong. The match should be facing you.

We hold the other end of the match and try to balance it on the edge of the cup. It works, yippee!!

Post-test

(2 minutes)

Now, let us take the parts apart and let me watch you do it on your own.

Summary

(1 minutes)

Can anyone give me more examples about fulcrum points and balancing object?

What can we conclude from that?