Entrance Slip: Possible Inquiry Ideas

For my inquiry project, there are so many different paths to take.
First, I want to consider taking a look at the new BC curriculum for secondary mathematics and see how the school system will benefit from this change. I want to see if I can find any advantages/disadvantages some teachers may have with this, whether it be new or old teachers.

Second, I want to consider possibly looking into the elementary school system, as the students in these schools would be future secondary school students. If there is anything learned in the elementary school system (i.e. methods of learning, extensions into outside world) that would be helpful for secondary students, maybe that is another route I could take. (maybe...not positive I would want to do this one)

Second, I would love to inquire on why schools have not thought to incorporate more computer programming into schools, or even coding theory. I want to attempt to provide students with knowledge of coding theory and see the reaction I get out of this. My goal is to possibly start an after school club that shows students more about coding theory and cryptography and gain more interest to show that it could definitely be something that could be taught to students in the secondary stream.

Third, I wanted to consider looking at standardized testing in the math classroom. Is it necessary for math to have cumulative tests? Or is there another form of assessment that we can rely on instead?
My thoughts going into this would be that summative assessment is of course necessary in order to have a successful classroom, but this would be due to my own experiences in the BC public school system. I want to investigate and look deeper into the necessity of testing and see if we do need it in the classroom.

*** Maybe on computers in the classroom for math? Necessary or a waste of time?
- Some think computers have no place in the classroom while others think innovation is key to understanding new areas of math in the secondary classroom. My investigation would be to see how and if secondary classes would do better with technology in the classroom...this could be anything from projecting a computer on the board to students use of iPads and laptops and cellphones, etc.
- Personally, I don't mind the use of technology in the classroom, within reason. I find it to be unnecessarily distracting to use technology without first showing the basics with pencil and paper. Without doing this, students will definitely be distracted by the computer. This is my opinion so it could change with time and investigation further into this inquiry.