What-If-Not?

The What-If-Not method is a very interesting technique using a sequence of levels starting with choosing a topic/starting point, listing attributes of that topic, choosing an attribute and thinking What-If-Not, posing a problem and then analyzing that problem. I feel that this may be difficult to use for our microteaching lesson, mainly because we have created a very real-life application approach to our lesson plan. I think that to use the What-If-Not technique we will have to make our topic (algebra) more specific to begin the process.  If we did so, we could generate some characteristics about algebra before the lesson, or even have our students generate or add some characteristics they know about algebra during the lesson.   This would create a great base for understanding this topic. I think if we were able to create some What-If-Not statements it may also help to explore the topic, and allow students to get creative and work collectively as a group.

 Some strengths of this approach are:

1) It really allows students, or even instructors to start thinking of aspects or attributes of their topic they may not have thought of before.  This allows someone to be more creative within the math classroom, something that is often taken for granted.

2) This What-If-Not part of this approach is great because it creates a deeper understanding of the topic, and allows the instructor or whoever is using this method, to generate or pose many more problems than they normally would.

 Some weaknesses of this approach:

1)I think the main weakness of this approach is that it seems very extensive.  There are a lot of steps that involve a lot of time.  Although it points to towards a deeper understanding of the topic, I am not sure whether the amount of time spent generating these types of problems would be a benefit in the end. 

2)I also felt that delving into the What-If-Not’s might be confusing for some students.  Many people have a “math phobia” and I think that this could be potentially confusing for many students and put them off math even further.

 I think with lots of practice and more extensive knowledge of this approach, it could be useful in the classroom to spark interest and go into a deeper meaning of some topics.