As I was reading this article I thought he was doing this activity with middle school students, missed the part where he said it could be adapted for middle school and he was doing this investigation with college students. As I was reading I was thinking "Wow, these kids are coming up with some good reasoning and discussions" Now that I know it was college kids, it makes sense. In my experience, if I were to give this to my kids they would just sit there and say "I don't get it." It is much easier to do activities like these if the students are willing to paticipate and throw ideas out there.
This article went back to the previous article we had read about letting students figure things out for themselves. I do agree with the notion that if students figure out defitions or concepts on their own they will be more likely to remember them. It also helps if a "real-world" application is also presented so they can see the use.
Overall, I did like the article and if I taught Geometry I would be willing to use it in class and see if I got the same responses he did.
Good point about the motivation of the students. I am hoping that someone can try this and let us know how it worked with actual MS students. The preservice teachers HAVE to work it out.
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