The Bell Curve and Our Circle of Life - A Guest Post by Teacher and Colleague Dave Bruce

The Bell Curve and Our Circle of Life... 

                   new curves of insight for all our students!

Please pick up a pencil and draw a large bell curve on a piece of blank paper…

I imagine all teachers using this tool with all students!    

     WHY?  … to help them get a bigger picture of themselves and the 

      life they are immersed in …

• the beauty of normal   (middle section)
• excellence   (one end)
• balance   (overall)
• strengths & weaknesses   (each end)
• of the comfort zone    (middle section)
• the elite of discovery and excellence   (one end) … risk and deep practice
• and the radical extremes of protest and revolution (each end?) !

                    This tool is very visual & powerful

I showcase it as a political continuum. 

• Total Gov’t/Dictatorship  (far left)
• Liberals  (middle left)
• Moderates  (middle section)
• Conservatives  (middle right)
• No Gov’t/Anarchy (far right) .. and go ahead and throw in ...
• Ultra-conservatives, Communism, Socialism, radicals, extremists, progressives … etc.

Geometry teachers & students can use a compass to draw a circle, quarter it, split out the arcs to form a bell curve, create a perfect yin/yang symbol, and create wavelengths that are indicative of the rhythmic patterns in our lives.

It is important for students to …

·       understand that bell curves take on a more predictable shape as the population (sample size) increases.  If we  graph students’ heights in only one class THEN  school-wide, we find the school-wide graph more closely approaches a bell-curve and allows us to make more accurate and general interpretive statements. ß … please  √ for understanding.

·       understand that each of us falls all over the continuum of the bell curve depending on the characteristic being described … eg heart-rate, kindness, white blood-cell count, weight, political persuasion, etc.  In some areas we are normal, others extreme, or weak, or strong, or … is there a chart for that characteristic?   I wonder where I’m at?

·      understand that extremes are often the vanguard, the leading edge, the place of excellence … not just the bothersome radicals that disturb us normals! 

                                Ahhh, and is normal complacency … mediocrity?   J  Happiness?

Here’s a warm-up: graph #kernals popping (vertical) & time (start to finish, hot air popping, horizontal)  Have small groups do it separately (not actual science, just from their experience & imagination) …

then share out  …

                                  Then have them discover new categories to chart  …  weather, ???

English teachers can help students place characters on bell curves of different kinds, place the same character in different positions, chart a range of genres? ???

Music teachers …. Help me …???  Ahhh … balance in tones, voicing, styles???  Range of rhythm …

Science … Duh … J … really, so cool  … endless …. Yeah, use the yin/yang to illustrate and tie in our reciprocity in life …

Art … Business … Parenting … Psychology … Wellness …

Let’s go back to the rhythm, when we cut the circle into quarters and rearrange them into repeating bell curves / waves ………….  The cycles of our lives, our days, our patterns …   having our students draw out their cycle descriptions and awareness. 

It is this dance of life, this rhythm we have.  

Let’s have more rhythm in our classrooms!

p.s.    Someone said a strong government is a flexible one.  Contemplate that!          

                This could be turned into an essential question.

The Bell Curve Discussion Tool