I Spy

Last year when I was teaching ratios, I had an idea in my head, but I didn’t quite know where to go with it.  I envisioned an “I Spy” type picture where students had to “spy” the ratios in the picture.  I ended up not doing anything with the idea at the time, and I sort of thought that if the idea had potential, surely someone more creative than me would have come up with it already.

Looking for an image I could use as sort of an "I spy" activity with ratios. For example, "I spy a ratio of 2:3." Any ideas, #MTBoS?

— Greta (@g_brgmn) March 25, 2017

Fast forward to this year, and the same idea was still in the back of my head, so I decided to see what would happen if I tried something with it.  I came across a picture online, added the ratios to go with it, and ended up giving it a try with my students.

What happened next was great!

I first asked students to find those ratios in the picture, and then I told them they were going to create their own pictures using Google Slides or Google Drawings.  I gave them a few ratios they had to have in their picture and had them pick the last one.

Here are a few examples of what they came up with.

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ALL of my students were SUPER engaged during this.  They loved deciding which pictures they were going to use, and I loved seeing the different directions students went with this project.  I also had them fill out a half sheet telling me what their ratios were.  This was really good for students because it made them check their own work.

I would love to find a way to make this project more challenging for students in the future so that they have to use more higher level thinking.  If you have any ideas, please send them my way!

In the future, I would also like to share the pictures with the entire class and have students try to spy the ratios in their classmates’ pictures.  I meant to do that this year, but I never got around to it.