Savannah Kilby

For my Block I math course, Investigating Math and Learning, we spent the semester exploring and increasing our understanding of a seemingly simple concept: subtraction. Our increasing understanding was tracked through bubble maps created with Inspiration software. In the beginning of the sememster our math professor had us create a bubble map listing everything we knew about subtraction. We called this Concept Map 1. My Concept Map 1 is listed on the top left. As you can see, I was very limited in my understanding of subtraction. Approximately halfway through the semester we created a second concept map. My Concept Map 2 is on the left under Concept Map 1. In Concept Map 2 it is clear that my knowledge of subtraction is increasing. However, as shown by my Concept Map 3, pictured below, I exponentially incresed my understanding of subtraction by the end of the semester. This map shows how my "computational fluency" increased and my understanding that subtraction is a complex subject. I am grateful for the changes in my mathematics understanding and know that these changes will benefit me greatly as an educator.