Low Floor High Ceiling Literacy
A low threshold high ceiling task is one which is designed to be mathematically accessible and to have built in extension opportunities.
Low floor high ceiling literacy. High ceiling is also inevitable in loft style premises with mezzanines. Low ceiling looks best in. It s easy to understand and even the youngest. Hang floor to ceiling curtains for an elegant but carefree effect.
The floor tells us how easy it is to get going with the task. Require an inquiry approach when solving. The concept of low floor high ceiling was first formulated in the 1970s by seymour papert a professor at mit heavily influenced by piaget as a design principle for a programming language called logo. The idea was to make programming accessible to young children while simultaneously being usable at a more complex level by adults.
A low floor means it s easy for everyone to get on board. Install pendants or chandeliers for drama. Low threshold high ceiling tasks are activities that everyone in a group can begin and then work on at their own level of engagement but which has lots of. Low floor high ceiling tasks are those that all students can access but can be extended to high levels taken from you cubed.
These tasks are important because all classes are heterogeneous. Low floor high ceiling tasks. When discussing technologies to support learning and education my mentor seymour papert often emphasized the importance of low floors and high ceilings for a technology to be effective he said it should. Do not have a predetermined solution pathway in advance.
In our article low threshold high ceiling an introduction we outline what we mean by low threshold high ceiling and why we like low threshold high ceiling tasks in this article we build on those ideas to discuss the key features of a low threshold high ceiling classroom. Low floor high ceiling tasks are those that all students can access but that can be extended to high levels. Low floor wide walls high ceiling low floor wide walls is the mantra that guides the design of mit s scratch language. The low floor high ceiling tasks preferred are those that are also.
In other words everyone can get started and everyone can get stuck. Lfhc tasks allow students work at different paces and take work to different depths at different times. High ceilings can be styled in a number of ways to boost the beauty of the space. A low threshold high ceiling lthc task offers the opportunity for everyone to get started and everyone to get stuck.
These rich problems have the following characteristics. I believe the high ceiling low floor phrase comes from jo boaler but i heard about it via dan meyer. Low floor high ceiling math problems have multiple entry points so they are accessible to all students but they can also be solved at higher levels.