Making Connections
One key to understanding what you are reading regardless of whether it is a story in a book or a word problem, it is important to make a connection to the words they are reading. Hyde believes that people of all ages are exceptionally equipped to make connections. I would have to agree with his belief. Hyde talks about that people are always looking for patterns in all that they see, do, or hear. Every experience is usually an attempt to classify or organize things into groups and subgroups. People look to see how things come apart and how things can fit together. Hyde talks about how people look for patterns in tea leaves, ashes, chicken bones, and even how people look for animals, faces, and shapes in the clouds. Humans look to find order and structure in most things. People try to connect in some way to the things around them. Even in math and word problems, it is important to connect in some way to the problem before them. Hyde does a very good job of classifying the different types of connections. As kids begin asking questions using the KWC, it begins to stimulate a student's thinking about the situation or the context of the math problem. Hyde categorizes the connections into three distinct categories. The 1st connection is Math to Self. The 2nd connection is Math to World. The 3rd connection is Math to Math. These directly relate to the reading connections of Text to Self, Text to World, and Text to Text. Let's look at these three types of connections a little bit closer.
The connection of Math to Self connects to a student's prior knowledge and experiences. It allows a connection to a student's preconceptions and misconceptions. As students are using the KWC it allows them to ask questions like: What does this remind me of? It also asks the question, have I ever been in a situation like this before? This strategy helps the student to personalize the word problem so that it gives meaning and pertinence to the student.
The connection of Math to World connects to natural or created structures that a student may have seen or experienced, such as, riding a city bus or visiting New Haven's Green. There is also a connection to events, environment, and media. Examples of these are attending a concert, playing a game in a park, and watching a show on TV. This can lead to questions like: Is this something that I've noticed in social studies or science? It can also lead to questions like: Is this related to things I've seen anywhere on television or the movies?
The last connection that Hyde expounds upon is Math to Math. This simply is connecting math concepts to other math concepts. This can be within and across strands of mathematics as well as contexts and representations. Math to Math is also about connecting related mathematical procedures. Again, using the KWC this type of connection leads to questions of: Where have I seen that idea or concept before? What are some other math ideas or concepts that are similar to this one? Can I use those ideas or concepts to help me with this problem?
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