CMP- Research & Interview

Essential Question: As you proceed with the following research, do you feel the CMP program is more direct instruction, or more inquiry based instruction?

The Connected Mathematics Project is considered an inquiry-based method as it centers around the problem that students need to solve, rather than the strategy.

How does the CMP Instructional Model (Launch -> Explore -> Summarize) compare to the more traditional direct instruction -> guided practice -> independent work model?

The Launch -> Explore -> Summarize model puts a lot more of the foot work in the students hand. The question is asked, then the students work to try and find ways to solve the problem - this can be independently or in groups - then the students come back to the board with their ideas and summarize the best ways found to solve the problem. In the traditional model, the teacher provides the strategies during direct instruction, then allows students to see how the strategy is applied (and scaffolding is used) during guided practice, and finally students work alone to solve problems using the given and practiced strategies.

I was able to watch a lesson using the CMP model here: http://www.mmmproject.org/ls/mainframeS.htm

The teacher launches the lesson by allowing the students to look for as many squares as possible within a given paper using the dots. The teacher refers a lot to making connections with past material, at times using their journals to look back at what they've already learned (to answer the question, can the square be slanted?). The students work in partners and small groups to discuss ideas with each other. Using this tactic, students were able help each other and direct each other towards the right idea. Different students could bring different things to the table and share knowledge. This lesson was a lot more of students helping and teaching students.

There would have been benefit to accessing a Smart Board in order to show this lesson, but I recognize those aren't available everywhere. As the students help each other, sometimes they are misinforming each other; this is a concern, and I think that there are times when a more solid definition or a more formal explanation are necessary for some students to catch on.

In this teacher's classroom, she has students who are eager to learn and it seems as though they have fairly high levels of self efficacy; there aren't any students complaining that it's too hard or that they don't know how to do it - students are working together and figuring it out.