1) In the story Stacks of Trouble by Martha Brenner, it uses detailed illustrations to show a young boy named mike who needs to clean up the house before his mother gets home. His mother left a list of all the chores that he needed to do, mike attended to all of his chores except the dishes. Mike noticed the dishwasher was broken and there were very few dishes that needed to be cleaned, so mike decided to wait to wash the dishes. Instead mike spent time avoiding washing the dishes by being with his brother and sister, only to learn how fast dirty dishes can multiply when he tries to avoid them.
2) Stacks of Trouble provides a great example through detailed imagery to show the use of exponential growth and how it works in real life. In the beginning of the story, Mike started off with three rows of four dishes, totaling to the amount of 12 dishes. After mike, his brother, and sister ate lunch, mike then had a kitchen table with more dirty dishes. Mike did the calculation "2 dishes * 4 people", he then had an additional 8 dirty dishes, the number of dishes grew rapidly. This book represents an exponential growth pattern of 2^n for n greater than or equal to zero, it also presents a step by step process of how exponential growth starts.
3) I believe literature is an effective way of learning a mathematical concept because it incorporates stories into the teaching and learning of mathematics, as well as building a conceptual understanding of math skills through illustrations. It also keeps the reader engaged and motivated to want to learn and read more.
This sounds like a fun way for kids to learn about multiplication!
ReplyDeletejames,
ReplyDeletei have not heard of this title before. it sounds fun! you did a good job of explaining the details of the book and relating the concept of exponential growth to a formula. i really like your choice of wording where you say that literature keeps learners "engaged and motivated." definitely, spot on!
professor little