Ideas for accountability in group work

In Math Lit, we use a lot of group work to give students time to work through more involved problems and gain the ability to articulate their thought processes with others.  It's a flexible component of the book and math literacy course in that you can use your class time to be mostly group work or use it some or little of the time.  I teach my class with about half the time in groups and half as whole class, but that's just a personal preference.  It flexes with the students I have and their abilities and personalities.

If you use group work, especially group projects like the focus problems in the text, you know that some students don't carry their weight.  We have suggestions throughout the book for working with groups and maintaining accountability.  This article shares some additional ideas that are worth considering.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and Viral Growth

In the book Math Lit, we work with linear and exponential growth a lot.  In lesson 1.17, we introduce students to both using viral videos as a context.  In this article, a Yale economist explores the ALS ice bucket challenge and how mathematics is related to it.


Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg participate in the ALS ice bucket challenge.