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Overview
The Lesson 0.4, Decision Trees, was modified with the addition of a new introductory activity designed to be completed by students individually or in partners. This new activity is called "Alien Gathering". The modification is intended to be used with all students and was added because my students in New Mexico seemed relatively unfamiliar with the pasta varieties found in the original lesson and had a difficult time coming up with "classifying features" for the pastas. Even when provided with assistance, the features did not give them meaningful terminology for classifying the pasta. Coupling unfamiliar terms with the complexity of the concepts being taught in the lesson, was an unnecessary challenge. The aliens used in the new activity have very easy to identify classifying features, since they are pieces of paper they are easy to move around on the construction paper used for mounting them, and they are easily glued to the construction paper when placed in their final positions. These lesson modifications are relevant to all teachers instructing students who are not familiar with varieties of pastas and who have students who do not have the language to identify the characteristics of pastas.
Prep:
- Activity Completed Offline (Recommended Method) - If utilizing the offline activity in class -
- Preview the example decision tree, "Alien Gathering Example Decision Tree" found in the teacher resources.
- Print the the "Alien Family" images found in the related links folder. (These will either need to be cut out by the instructor or by the students.)
- Gather materials - glue sticks, alien images, scissors, 1 piece of construction paper, writing utensils for each student.
- Activity Completed Online
- Ensure students have editing access to their own copy of the "Alien Gathering Online Worksheet"