Brittany Colley is a numbers person who has always loved math but knows that students, for the most part, do not particularly enjoy it.
However, undeterred, she tries to make her math class a little less scary, and something more relatable for students.
“One of my main goals is to make them leave this class with a different feeling about math – with a positive feeling,” she said.
Most recently, Brittany Colley’s students have been learning Geometric proofs – which may not always be too exciting because it is a struggle for students, and pretty cut and dry. However, the last unit was all about right triangles, and Colley had some clever hands-on activities in store for the students.
On May 7, they used pipe cleaners as part of a lesson involving the triangle inequality theorem, and it proved to be a pretty engaging lesson that allowed the high schoolers to tap back into their elementary school days.
Who: Math teacher Brittany Colley and her Geometry honors students (mostly ninth graders)
Where: Berkeley High
What: This particular lesson focused on teaching the students the triangle inequality theorem, which states that the sum of any two sides of a triangle is greater than the third side, and if the sum of any sides of a triable is not greater than the third side, it means the triangle does not exist.
Colley’s students already knew some side lengths create triangles while others do not, but this activity put their knowledge to the test. Colley distributed baggies to her students, each containing pipe cleaners of different sizes. Students worked with partners and groups to arrange the pipe cleaners to form triangles and subsequently discover the triangle inequality theorem.
The “discovery method” makes students tap into a different part of their brain, and makes them think a lot harder. The triangle inequality theorem was an important lesson because it led straight into the next lesson, which focused on the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse.
“Providing a hands-on activity for high school students is something they don’t see often,” Colley said. “It’s more…hands-on working with a partner, and discovering this theorem so we can move on to the algebra part of it tomorrow.”
Results: It was a really engaging lesson – students worked together and regularly called Colley over to their desks to help check their work.
They may not like math, but it is an important core subject that is used in a lot of careers. Colley reminds her students that if they continue on the honors math track, it is going to open doors to jobs in engineering, nursing, computer science or coding.
“You’re going to need this math,” she said. “If you can get a good foundation here at the high school, without using your technology but actual hands-on math, it’s going to help you in the future.”
If anything, Colley hopes to provide them with a memorable lesson that will help them retain what they have learned.
“Hopefully they remember this activity and it helps them with the triangle inequality (theorem), and a positive experience with math,” she said.
An added bonus for Colley: she is also the Beta Club sponsor for Berkeley High, so working with these ninth graders in class also allows her to build relationships with them and hopefully get them interested in Beta Club.
“We try to make relationships that will last beyond the classroom,” she said.
