Why the Students Like Maths.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I had students begin their learning journal a couple of weeks ago. Last week was pretty much a non-existent week in terms of class, but I would like to share some of the quotes from students about why they like this project we are working on at the moment.

"I like this math class because…

• It teaches us real life skills
• It’s not just questions out of a textbook
• Everything is explained in more detail than normal math classes
• I remember more from doing this class than doing things out of a textbook
• It is actually enjoyable"

"I like this math class because its different from other math classes and we learn all the same stuff but through a computer game. We do not have to sit and get questions out of a textbook, we learn from sheets about what we are doing like percentages and area. The fine thing that the teacher decided to do is a pretty smart idea because it keeps us organised, not using bad language and behaving better.

"I have learned that to be to be rewarded you have to earn it. I have learned that you actually have to use your money for something that is useful and not just pointless crap."

"The thing that i really like in this class is we were learning and having fun at the same time were not just playing were actually learning how to calculate money and earning money and how do we do the percentage and do our own budget."

"The reason I enjoy the way we do maths in our precal is because its not just going heres whole lot of work learn it and theres a test, in our class its more involving and it keeps everyone motivated to keep working at maths but at the same time keep everyone enjoying maths and wanting maths to come more often, to summarise it makes us want to do maths instead of us having a “no way, I hate maths attitude”, we have a “ooh yes, I love maths I enjoy it so much, i cant wait till we have it next” attitude. So in short terms, our maths makes everything we do more alive and and keeps our mind thinking in every possible direction."

"I really like the way that math is going and i am enjoying and liking that my teacher has not made me use minecraft and has found a different way for me to do it."

"I didn't used to like Minecraft cos I thought it was really nerdy, but during the experience I have learnt to love it and making stuff so I really like the whole Minecraft thing."

Another quote I would like to share is from class on Friday. I was chatting to students about how they need to work out their house cost, and one student that has already done hers and is about to give me her application said,

"Oh, I just realised that is where the maths comes in, I just did it because that is what I had to do, but that is pretty cool."

So today I had another 90 minutes with the students, I am really pushing them to get their house costings done by the end of this week and many are getting closer. I also built a couple of shops near the main tower for students to rent off me for their business, but it appears that some students are incorporating their business area into their houses, which just means that they will need to do both a business and loan application at the same time.

On another topic, I have posted in the past about the power of collaboration and how cool I find it. I had another go on the weekend with 4 of us on the one server talking and building a tutorial section on the new server I am starting for teachers to learn how to use MinecraftEdu and then begin sharing ideas and collaboratively building. Each time I work with others on a build I am impressed with the different ideas they share, and the support given to everyone while working. I cannot wait to open this server to the MinecraftEdu teachers and get more people building together and sharing ideas. I still strongly believe that working collaboratively on lesson design is the easiest way to get the best lessons for our students.

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a comment below.