Using Color to Support Mathematical Thinking Transcript

Audra McPhillips: What did they do to their picture that - I think - made it really helpful for you to see what they're thinking.
Student: Color code?
Audra McPhillips: Color coding. So that helped you to see that?
Audra McPhillips: I definitely steered students towards using color. And it is a really useful strategy when we are moving between different representations.
Audra McPhillips: Ok. So why don't you color that green?
Audra McPhillips: Students need to understand this algebra. But they also need to kind of have a picture in their mind to back it up. And the color helps them not only to understand what's happening - it also helps them to - when they're sharing with other groups, they're thinking becomes visible to others. And, again, if you want to be able to critique the reasoning of others, you have to be able to understand it. So, the color pulls that out for kids.
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Audra McPhillips: All right, so now that you've thought about that, what do you want to start with? Which representation? You wanna make a table? You wanna make a graph? Do you wanna color code that thing? What do you wanna do?
Student: Color code.
Audra McPhillips: You wanna color code it? Try to do that with some color.
Audra McPhillips: I work with kids from K through 12. When you get to the middle level and the high school level, things like color, they are reticent to use. I'll often make analogies for them. You think about engineers, for example. They deal with very complex math and when you look at the work they're doing, it's very often color coded because you can't understand complex math without some sort of schematic or something to help focus your mind. The bottom line is, when they start to use color, they find that it's helpful. And I find that it makes sense of complex math so they buy in.