As I was sitting there, doing some math on KHAN for fun, and listening to the Blackhawks,  i had just one of those moments. I clicked on "ordering fractions" and waited for the problem to load. It appeared and it read like this:

Did you know: Only female mosquitos suck blood. 

Order the following fractions:

Ok...I wont give you the fractions, but a few things ran through my mind when I read the problem. The only reason I read the first sentence, was because I thought it had something to do with the problem. Now, as I read the "Did you know" phrase, I thought about how I did know that, however it is still an interesting fact that people might not know. I didn't think twice and went on to read the rest of the problem. When I read, "Order the following fractions," I went to begin the problem and then realized, that the fact about mosquitos had nothing to do with actually solving the problem. Then it struck me, that even though I didn't need the information, it was still interesting, and sort of got the wheels turning as I move on to the math problem. It lit a light in my thinking, almost like a very quick warmup before starting to order the fractions. I wonder if this would interest my students. Give them interesting facts, see if it gets the thinking gears going, and can improve their interest and quality of work in math. 

Brainstorming Research Question: Community, Culture, and Character through math

In my class, I use a method called "Judo Math."  It allows students to work at their own pace. This includes allowing students to choose when to take assessments. Now, they have to earn the right to do this, but it still gives them the freedom to prepare until they feel they have a grasp of the material. I feel this builds confidence and results in better performance on the exam. My wondering:
How does this style of teaching build character and reinforce community and culture in the classroom? 
There are multiple teachers implementing this style in their classrooms, and it would be interesting to follow students through multiple grades to see if habits they picked up in my class, follow them through the grades. 
Ok.....my first post about a fierce wondering. More to come!