I had the great fortune to participate in the first Rosenthal Summer Institute in July 2022 at the Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) in New York City. I was one of 14 invited educators from across the United States and Canada. The institute was an opportunity to work with these educators to discuss innovative lesson design and to learn more about the Rosenthal Prize and the library of winning lessons from the past 10 years of the competition. Design PhilosopyDuring our time together, we had a number of discussions about designing lessons for students. One theme that emerged for me was the similarities between the design philosophy behind both the exhibits at the Museum of Mathematics and the Rosenthal Prize lessons. Below are a few of the shared characteristics that I noticed: 1. AnticipateWe had the opportunity to tour the MoMath exhibits with Tim Nissen, MoMath’s resident designer. Tim discussed the evolution of the design of several exhibits and how they had to anticipate how visitors, especially children, might interact with them. The safety of museum visitors is a critical factor. They had to anticipate how children might interact with the exhibits in unexpected or accidental ways to ensure that each exhibit was safe. Similarly, the Rosenthal lessons anticipated common misconceptions that students might have and how the teacher might respond to them in order to clarify or correct these misunderstandings. 2. DifferentiateMany of the museum's exhibits had descriptions of the mathematics principles involved displayed on a computer screen. The screens allowed the visitor to select one of three different levels of complexity for each description. This allowed each visitor to engage with the exhibits at the level to which they felt the most comfortable. Similarly, the Rosenthal lessons often contained directions for how the lesson could be adapted or extended for different students depending on their mathematical background. For example, in the Dice Auction lesson, there is a set of 15 "lots" to auction off. This is also an extended list of additional lots that can be used to supplement or adjust the number and complexity of the "lots." There are several additional "extensions and adaptations" listed for the activity that can be included as needed for the specific class you are teaching. 3. EngageA museum is all about public engagement and exhibits have to be entertaining and enticing. Exhibits should draw visitors in and captivate their attention. Exhibits also should be intuitive and easy to understand. An great example of this is MoMath's Square-Wheeled Trike. Visitors can ride a tricycle with square wheels around a circular track made of inverted catenaries. Visitors easily understand the purpose of this exhibit. While they ride a host engages them in a conversation about the mathematics they are experiencing. The Rosenthal Lessons are also often designed to be engaging and interesting to students. They can draw students in and let them experience mathematics in a new or surprising way. The Random Walk lesson is a great example of this. Students can participate in a lesson that lets them physically see how random change can lead to surprising patterns. Rosenthal Prize LessonsIn order to make the Rosenthal Prize lessons easier to access for Nova Scotian/Canadian teachers, I have organized below where several of these lessons might best be placed within the Nova Scotia/WNCP curriculum. Mathematics 7
Mathematics 8
Mathematics 9
Mathematics 10
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