Going Beyond Math Story Problems

I’m an elementary mathematics methods professor at the University of Oklahoma and recently I coordinated a project to help pre-service teachers create stories with math questions that are enhanced with technology.Small groups of elementary pre-service teachers collaborated by posting (non-consecutively) to a wiki (on www.wikispaces.com) in order to co-create a “story of the day” and math questions related to the story that also aligned to an elementary math standard.  Each pre-service teacher also created a Voki (See these electronic avatars at www.voki.com.) and embedded it in the story to add an additional element of interest.  There is an example of a Harry Potter theme-based story with math problems appropriate for 3rd graders at www.xyzproblem1.wikispaces.com – click on Problem of the Day 1.  Problem of the Days (2 – 6) are first drafts created by the pre-service teachers.  If you are interested in trying to create a similar project the Home page outlines not only the complete project but also gives instructions for embedding a Voki into the story.  Just one word of caution – check the age limit on the terms of agreement on the Voki site.

Sacra Nicholas