I felt a need to share this article from the newspaper this morning:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/111691580/major-distraction-australian-primary-school-dumps-ipads-returns-to-paper-textbooks?cid=app-iPhone
After a few years of using tablets the children, when surveyed said that they were more comfortable using paper texts etc rather than the technology.
Good on the school for asking the students what they preferred rather than going along with what many people are saying is the "way forward"
A couple of years ago, I was sent a measurement activity by a colleague in Canada. By memory it required the students to do practical measurement tasks. The author asked for feedback about the effectiveness of the activity. Most were favourable as it was a great activity. One comment caught my eye, and it made me reply react negatively.
The comment, viz, "A great activity it would be better if it was an App for tablets as we are an iPad School"
You may want to know why I reacted as I did.
How does one understand measurement without physically measuring?
How does technology help you understand how long a metre is? how heavy is a gram or kilogram? Technology is working in the extreme abstract and students(many) do not think in the abstract but think in the "concrete"
It is similar to the debate about Analogue and Digital watches and clocks. For most students they can read time from a Digital output, but with an Analogue they can measure time as they see how far the hands move. To be able to measure time from a Digital Screen the students have to be able use 3 digit subtraction, understand that there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour (NOT 100)
To me, all measurement for children should start and be strongly practical.
We need to start with which COMPARISONS
Which one is longer/shorter/ heavier etc. Between two then increasing the numbers for the comparisons, when reasonable fluent in determining the correct comparisons we move to
Measurement by UNCONVENTIONAL UNITS how many Lego blocks long? How many Lego blocks does this weigh? How many bounces of a ball till Mary has run around the block? again as fluency and competence is shown we can move students to
Measuring with STANDARD UNITS
Please realise this is not and instant move from one to the other stage, but a gradual one that does in some cases take years.
When we converted to Metrics I had occasion to go and by some plasterboard. Into the buildre's yard I went and asked for a sheet of 1.2 x 2.4 Gibboard. Sorry sir but we do not sell that! What do you sell? 1200 x 2400 Gibboard. I would suggest this was an example of a person who did not have a great grasp of measurement or the decimal system
Sunday 31 March 2019
Wednesday 27 March 2019
Digit Puzzler
This activity is intriguing as it seems so simple but may take some time to find one solution, more importantly is there more than one solution? And can the learner create their own problem for sharing?
Please share your thoughts about this activity
Please share your thoughts about this activity
Saturday 23 March 2019
Why is Arithmetic (Numbers) dominating our Teaching?
Galileo: "Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe".
If this is the case shouldn't we, with our students, be exploring the world around us so that they can look for and find the hidden mathematical gems that are everywhere.
The maths we are teaching/promulgating has not really changed since formal education was set up in the 1800's. Then there was a need for people to be very efficient with number so that they could become tally clerks, accountants etc during the Industrial Revolution. Since then I would suggest we have changed very little. There is still an emphasis on Arithmetic, especially Times Tables (as in our parents and grandparents days at school) What we are being told is that employers need Problem Solvers, Investigators, Creators as well as people who cooperate and communicate.
Our Curriculum, one of the best I have seen, it says viz "Through Problems Solving and Investigations students will learn and understand the Objectives below"
Why is it then we are still teaching arithmetic (with few different approaches) in similar ways to how we were taught as were our parents?
The bottom line is that numbers are people created, they are abstract and many people cannot work in the abstract they work in the concrete or representational. This not only at Junior school but also at secondary!! Look at the research done for the UK Cockcroft Report in the 80’s.
Maths is all around us, it is how “the creator “ created the world. Let’s start outside with Real Maths!
It has often been said- Bruner Piaget - that most students are at a concrete level of learning, they may then progress to representational (Drawing about what they did) and if lucky transfer to thinking in the abstract. This can be shown as follows in learning
Do- experiment create the concrete. (Blocks, lego, sand water...) when competent then
Say- they verbalise that they have been creating with materials etc ... when competent then
Write - they write what they found, created after they have verbalised. I would encourage the students to write in their first language BEFORE they write in mathematical language
I suggest this broadly is the way we teach reading!!!!!
To me the Problem, Open Question is like the “new book” we give kids, and then ask a series of open questions ensuring excitement and curiosity to tackle the book and learn new words, phrases through the context of the book
Check out some Fibonacci videos on YouTube might give you some ideas for including in your teaching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjSHVDfXHQ4
If this is the case shouldn't we, with our students, be exploring the world around us so that they can look for and find the hidden mathematical gems that are everywhere.
The maths we are teaching/promulgating has not really changed since formal education was set up in the 1800's. Then there was a need for people to be very efficient with number so that they could become tally clerks, accountants etc during the Industrial Revolution. Since then I would suggest we have changed very little. There is still an emphasis on Arithmetic, especially Times Tables (as in our parents and grandparents days at school) What we are being told is that employers need Problem Solvers, Investigators, Creators as well as people who cooperate and communicate.
Our Curriculum, one of the best I have seen, it says viz "Through Problems Solving and Investigations students will learn and understand the Objectives below"
Why is it then we are still teaching arithmetic (with few different approaches) in similar ways to how we were taught as were our parents?
The bottom line is that numbers are people created, they are abstract and many people cannot work in the abstract they work in the concrete or representational. This not only at Junior school but also at secondary!! Look at the research done for the UK Cockcroft Report in the 80’s.
Maths is all around us, it is how “the creator “ created the world. Let’s start outside with Real Maths!
It has often been said- Bruner Piaget - that most students are at a concrete level of learning, they may then progress to representational (Drawing about what they did) and if lucky transfer to thinking in the abstract. This can be shown as follows in learning
Do- experiment create the concrete. (Blocks, lego, sand water...) when competent then
Say- they verbalise that they have been creating with materials etc ... when competent then
Write - they write what they found, created after they have verbalised. I would encourage the students to write in their first language BEFORE they write in mathematical language
I suggest this broadly is the way we teach reading!!!!!
To me the Problem, Open Question is like the “new book” we give kids, and then ask a series of open questions ensuring excitement and curiosity to tackle the book and learn new words, phrases through the context of the book
Check out some Fibonacci videos on YouTube might give you some ideas for including in your teaching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjSHVDfXHQ4
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