Category Archives: 3. Prof. Skills & Abilities

Time – The Underlying Mathematics and Science

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As a species, we form our daily lives around clocks, calendars and alarms. It would be extremely difficult for us to cope if we didn’t know what time it was or what day it might be because the concept of time is at the core of our society and our civilisation. From what I gathered before investigating into the concept further, it is the manmade vehicle that traverses us through our entire existence on our planet and beyond. I always believed that time was something that we just made up ourselves… My discoveries proved me wrong.

Firstly, let’s take an example: what does a normal morning begin with for many?

An alarm blares at 8:00am to sound that it is time for us to get up and start the day. However, the snooze button delays the awakening to 8:12am (12 more minutes still leaves us a sufficient amount of time). Washed, dressed and ready; our phone reads 8:54am. We’ve wasted too much time because we need to be at our destination by 9:00am and we know 6 minutes is not long enough for a journey that takes 10 minutes. We’re going to be late. We need to be more organised next time.

You may or may not know it but this little scenario – that may be all too familiar – is oozing with mathematics.

It may seem like common sense to the average person, but planning towards time is all linked with having skill and knowledge within the fundamental principles of mathematics: estimation, planning, problem solving, sequencing events, organisation and so much more. They’re all how
we go about our days. Without being competent in these various fundamental skills, we’d be at a huge loss. Ma (2010) categorised 4 aspects of mathematics that teachers need to tap into in order for their students to have a rich understanding in their learning in maths during her investigations in teaching in China and the United States. They are: interconnectedness, multiple perspectives, basic ideas and longitudinal coherence.

A day would not be a day without a reference to what the digits on a digital clock read or where the hands were pointing on the analogue equivalent. But what really is a ‘day’? How have we measured 24 hours as a full day? I asked this question to the Internet and even myself multiple times. This led me to the discovery of the Circadian Rhythm:

The number 24 was not chosen out of sheer randomness, it is a crucial number that correlates to various living beings on the planet.

(Latin) Circa – about

(Latin) Diem – day

The phrase Circadian rhythm, broken down, literally means about-a-day rhythm.

In short, the circadian rhythm, a phrase coined by scientist Franz Halberg (2003), is an organisms’ body clock that indicates what they need to be doing at any given time across a 24-hour cycle. Sleeping, waking up and eating are examples of where the circadian rhythm is at work. It is heavily influenced by environmental factors. The sun and the moon indicate to our bodies when to rise and when to sleep (phone and computer screens being great deceivers to our body clock’s perception of night and day). Similarly, plants’ leaves adapt to the environment by moving in order to attract pollinators depending on the time of day.

Maths is natural to us.

Plants have a body clock too

Discovering the underlying biology to how we’ve conjured up time has led me to really appreciate why we need the manmade structure of clocks to keep us on track through our natural daily lives. This has shown me the real importance of mathematics having a relationship with the earth and it’s creatures. Its context is so core to every little thing we do, that we don’t even realise the underlying principles behind it. The mathematical ideas we are using to problem solve, estimate, decide and sequence events are intertwined with our bodies.

The clocks, calendars, phones and timers are all mathematical tools made from our innate ability and urge to define time and to quantify our instinctive movements. Furthermore, this further exemplifies Liping Ma’s theory of [inter]connectedness, as the various tools and formulae of mathematics are linked with, not only with each other but also with the real world (Ma, 2010). Tapping into this, as professionals, will be the difference between a student who can answer questions and a student who fully comprehends the work that they are doing. Knowledge in time is a topic that is heavily linked with the real world and children need to be competent with working with numbers. “Understanding relationships between numbers, and progressively developing methods of computation, has become the focus for learning, replacing the traditional ‘four rules of arithmetic’” (Skemp, 1986, Pg. 7).

Relating this further towards education, children, even from a very early age, have a great understanding of the concept of time. Toddlers “become familiar with the routine of their day” (Early Years, no date, pg. 2) and know, logically, what they’re doing and when they’re doing it. They may not know how to read what time it is when they have a snack or go for a nap, but they know instinctively when they are actually going through with consistent tasks (their circadian rhythm are already keeping them on track from the get-go). This, although it may seem minimal, is a child’s early access to problem solving mathematics.

Overall, my investigations into the concept of time have only scratched the surface of what is to come within the Discovering Mathematics module, and in my professional development as a student teacher.

Circadian Rhythm

Looking ahead, I know now why we must teach time to children, as it is part of their being. Furthermore, having the underlying knowledge of the basic ideas, coined by Ma (2010), will improve how deep a teacher’s teaching roots can grow in a child’s ability to truly grasp mathematics and go beyond just the academic mathematics that we throw onto a child.

I finish this post with a pop song that explores our fascination with what is possible in 24 hours:

“I wish these 24 hours

would never end,

oh in these 24 hours,

 wish the clock had no hands”

(Ferreira, 2013)

Reference:

Early Years (no date) Maths through Play [brochure] Available at: http://www.early-years.org/parents/docs/maths-through-play.pdf (accessed 22nd of September 2017)

Ferreira, Sky (2013) 24 Hours In: Night Time, My Time [CD] 0602537712793 Capitol Records.

Halberg, Franz. (2003) Journal of Circadian Rhythm: Transdisciplinary unifying implications of circadian findings in the 1950s [article] Available at: https://www.jcircadianrhythms.com/articles/10.1186/1740-3391-1-2/ (Accessed 20th of September 2017)

Ma, Liping (2010) Knowing and Teaching elementary mathematics: teachers’ understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States New York: Routledge.

Skemp, Richard R. (1986) The Psychology of Learning Mathematics, Second Edition, London: Penguin Books.

Useful Link:

https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/what-circadian-rhythm

Scientific Literacy – Group 1

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AC1:

“Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity.”(National Science Education Standards, 1996, pg.22)

In order for someone to be capable of understanding and fully comprehending the depth and importance of science in our society as a whole, one must be ‘scientifically literate’. “Science and literacy are interwoven. In order to take part in a science activity children need to be able to communicate both by spoken and written word” (Hollins and Whitby, 2001, Pg.3). This, however, applies to aspects beyond the curricular subject of science itself, as enabling children to experience scientific concepts within the classroom will prepare them for life beyond school. The art of science itself is very much about delving into the world in which we live in and having the ability and confidence to pick apart theories and concepts, much like in other subject areas within the curriculum. Being teachers, we need to have a strong grasp on this concept of being literate in science in the same manner we would as being literate in language itself. Giving children the correct tools to comprehend, analyse and reflect upon scientific experiments and reactions will allow them to build a safe and healthy relationship with science as a whole. Progression through education sees the scaffolding approach to teaching science being a perfect way in enabling pupils to be scientifically literate because learning is built upon through the stages, which coincides with one of the principles of the curriculum, progression – “opportunities to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work for all young people at every stage” (Scottish Government, 2008, pg. 7).

AC2:

Problems arise when individuals have not been taught the correct methods and practices when being investigative with science, particularly within the wider media. Today, the media is littered with varying claims, news reports and beliefs on just about anything scientific. Controversial headlines are used in journalism to attract readers into the stories being reported and a lot of the time the degree of severity in the headlines are normally heightened in order to gain attention. Reports can of course be flawed and in many instances cause a media frenzy with the ‘scientifically illiterate’ claims being unavoidable for the public. A big example of this is the MMR vaccine scare that plagued the media with the claim that the vaccine caused the development of autism in children. This false claim was made by a now disproven doctor called Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield made the claim in 1998 during his investigations into autism and his status of being a doctor led to his findings being taken as complete fact by many in the media. This then led to avoidable deaths of many children due to them not getting the vaccine, due to the fears held by the parents that their child would develop autism. A report made in 2004 found that Wakefield’s claims were indeed flawed. This is a clear example of where lack of science literacy within society caused many to create conclusions without core facts and thorough evidence. This is a huge problem in science that can have disastrous consequences. This is why, as educators we need to prepare children with the skills to be able to analyse the claims that will be thrown at them, both true and false.

AC3:

This, almost imposing, effect the media has on our society can be beneficial to teachers to some degree as research associate, Caren Cooper, insists that “studies have shown that educators would be more effective if they expanded their modes of communication beyond science centers and museums to radio, television, movies and blogs” (Ramanujan, 2011). Going beyond the traditional teaching methods of science will, in turn, remove the traditional errors made in the long run. Embracing the media for what it is has a better impact than refuting it completely and having a head in the sand approach to it. Unfair testing, making a test deliberately flawed in its amount of variables, is a great way of flipping the idea of result finding on its head within the classroom. Experiments are meant to be controlled, with only a few variables changed in order to collect accurate date, however, making a test extremely unfair makes a great talking point for the kids to identify where an experiment was flawed and could be amended to be fairer. Teaching kids about these types of claims within the media and showing them unfair tests will put them in the right direction of being scientifically literate as they can see what is real and what needs to be challenged and changed. These are valuable skills that, not only consolidate the learning of science, but also enable pupils to be critical when coming to conclusions in everyday life.

Group 1 – Alan Macdonald, Emily Gunn, Lauren Farquhar and Rachel Adamson

Reference:

Greenslade, Roy (2013) The Story Behind the MMR Scare Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/apr/25/mmr-scare-analysis (Accessed 4th of February 2017)

Hollins, Martin and Whitby, Virginia (2001) Progression in Primary Science: A Guide to the Nature and Practice of Science in Key Stages 1 and 2, Second Edition, London.

National Science Education Standards (1996) Scientific Literacy Available at: http://www.literacynet.org/science/scientificliteracy.html (Accessed 26th of January 2017)

Ramanujan, Krishna (2011) Public Distrusts Climate Science Partly Due to Lack of Media Literacy, Available at: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/03/distrust-climate-science-due-lack-media-literacy (Accessed 27th of January 2017)

Scottish Government (2008) Curriculum for Excellence: Building the Curriculum 3 – a framework for learning and teaching Available at: http://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/226155/0061245.pdf (Accessed 6th of February 2017)

Reflecting on Semester One

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Being student teachers, we must constantly reflect upon the knowledge and skills we have gained in our everlasting learning process in becoming qualified teachers. As part of a TDT (tutor directed task) we are asked to reflect upon something that impacted us from our learning in semester 1 between the Values and Working Together modules. In particular, we must link this to the Standards established by the GTCS (General Teaching Council for Scotland). 3.4.2 tells us, as trainee teachers, we constantly need to “engage in reflective practice to develop and advance career-long professional learning and expertise” (GTCS, 2012, pg.12). This means that we can progress as life-long learners and gain further understanding through professional reflection.

A key aspect from last semester that has really stuck with me was Jill Shimi’s inputs for Values. As Jill was a primary school teacher herself, I could relate to her inputs on a personal level, as she brought her own experiences as a teacher and linked them with the social justice topics we were investigating.

One of her stories, which tied into the problem of social class structures within society and the rising awareness of the Getting It Right For Every Child approach, really impacted me.

When she was a teacher, she had a child in her class that would misbehave and lash out in an emotional way. However, they were not always an issue within her class and she knew that something must have happened in their life that had made them disconnect from their studies.

Jill decided that she needed to speak to the child on a one-to-one basis and discovered that something traumatic had happened at home. The child’s parent had been mistreating them and they were from an area that was deemed as being deprived. These two aspects put Jill’s student at a great disadvantage in life at such a young age and she knew that they would have a lot of problems that other more fortunate children would be less likely to have, which emphasised the point of the attainment gap hindering children due to their background.

“You just don’t know what issues each child faces once they go home. You really just don’t know.”

Jill’s words really resonated with me because it really hammers home that the school environment is never the same and it needs to adapt and change towards the needs of the children, which also vary from day-to-day.

What I loved about Jill’s ‘solution’ to the issue of the student being disruptive in the class was to have a genuine talk with the child. The GIRFEC approach did not exist when this case occurred and Jill’s hands were tied on how she could aid the child other than being open. She shared her own personal struggles with the student and she connected with them beyond just her duty of being an educator for them. This resulted in the behaviour improving.

Fortunately, there was a happy ending to the story as Jill saw the child a few years later doing well for themselves, going against society’s expectation of them.

Underpinning this personal story with reflection theory, Jill’s situation is a great example of a practitioner using Schön’s reflection-in-action concept as she had to use her own judgement, as a professional, in order to formulate a solution as the practice was unfolding in front of her eyes (Schön, 1987). She did not have any prior knowledge of the student facing these issues and she didn’t have any hindsight to work with. I, as a professional, will be thrown into similar situations where I will have to use my own judgement to tackle a problem within the classroom.

“The swampy lowlands, where situations are confusing messes incapable of technical solution and usually involve problems of greatest human concern” (Schön 1983, pg 42).

Schön explains, that real human problems cannot be fixed by legislation alone. He described professionals as being people in the ‘swampy lowlands’ meaning they are the people who are at the forefront of the problems faced in society.

I really commend Jill for her actions as a teacher and I am really glad she shared this story in the input because it allowed me to really delve into the Values and it emphasised their importance to me. She was a teacher who saw, firsthand, the injustices within society and that she had to find ways to tackle them. 

Reference:

GTCS (2012) The General Teaching Council for Scotland – The Standards for Registration. Available at: http://www.gtcs.org.uk/web/Files/the-standards/standards-for-registration-1212.pdf (Accessed 20 January 2017)

Schön, D.A. (1983). The reflective practioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Schön, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

2017 – The Grand Scheme of Mankind in Agriculture

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Coming back to university after the Christmas break, I’ve made a few New Years Resolutions and two of them are really important to me: one is to cut back on the biscuits and the other is to keep up with the blog. Healthy body equates to a healthy mind and as they say, ‘new year, new me.’ Reflecting on the previous year, I think we can all agree that 2016 was nothing short of a phenomenon – both positively and negatively for mankind, as we know it.

However, in light of the many political controversies and celebrity deaths, I want to explore more on how we have survived as a species on this planet and how we have positioned ourselves as the powerhouse organisms of the Earth. Going into teaching, you’ve got to be open to constantly learning new aspects about the world in order to progress as active learners and professionals. We need to go beyond just taking things on face value and ensuring that we enthuse others to question what we are told in the media.

Christmas was full of indulgence for the majority of our population, myself included. The rush of shoppers to get presents, food, decorations, wrapping paper, refreshments and so on continues every year. It’s the tradition for many. One question that stuck in my mind, whilst being hurried through the aisles in the shops for sweets and shortbread, was how does it all come to be? We are so dependent on large supermarkets to provide us with fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and confectionaries everyday. Every. Single. Day. Christmas day is only one that has heightened importance in our consumerist eyes. 2016 was no different and 2017 will be just the same when it nears December 25th.

We never really take a stand back to delve deeper on how these giant, industrial food chains exist and I think we need to question if they are sustainable for mankind. We are almost blind to the work that must go into getting fresh fruit and veg to the shelves.

An interesting documentary produced by the BBC saw Dallas Campbell explore some of man’s greatest creations in our modern world. “Supersized Earth” is the inspiration for this very post as it answered many of my questions about our understanding of agriculture and how science is being used to meet the demand of the ever-expanding populations across the nations.

Campbell travels the globe to find examples and sources of food, water and energy. They were nothing short of extraordinary: Cattle farms in Brazil filled with genetically enhanced ‘super cows’, the world’s largest 175-turbine offshore wind farm and the famous American landmark of Hoover Dam were just a few of the colossal constructions that we have set up as a species in order to survive and fight the complications of nature. Our expanding knowledge of technology means we can live in even the harshest of conditions. Like the rest of the animal kingdom, we are evolving and adapting.

One aspect that was really astonishing was the greenhouse farm of Costa del Sol. When we think of greenhouses, we imagine something along the lines of small, glass sheds hosting laborers who have great green fingers producing carrots, tomatoes or potatoes in their own garden or allotments. However, we couldn’t provide the 64 million people of the UK with enough crops from the simple gardens of suburban horticulturists.

Costa del Sol takes it to the extreme:

greenhouses

“A shimmering sea of polythene has consumed the small coastal plain of Campo de Dalías, some 30 km southwest of the city of Almería in southern Spain.” (Geography Field Work, 2016).

These polythene constructions allows for tomatoes to be grown beyond the constraints of Mother Nature herself. The tomatoes aren’t even grown in soil as it slows their development, which hinders the tight profit margins. It’s even been nicknamed ‘Costa del Polythene’ because of the huge concentration plastic_sea_almeria_spain
of greenhouses in one area. Around a ¼ of all the tomatoes produced end up shipped into the UK all year round. Yet, Costa del Sol is more famous as a holiday destination by many, proving our naivety of where our food really comes from. Tourists on the Spanish beaches have no idea of the real connection they have with the small region.

Farming was once filled with the challenges we had to accept with nature, however, we are now tackling it in order to compensate with the high demand of man’s need to eat. Growing population means more mouths to feed so more crops have to be produced. More crops mean more profits to be made for big business like the supermarkets that sell the crops. The cycle of business and agriculture is placed on a grand scale.

It would be great to try and incorporate these agriculture feats within classes in order for kids to learn about where their food comes from. We could show them how impactful the manmade constructions are to our planet and their lives. So much is going on with mankind and children within the classroom have the potential to have an impact on the agricultural industries across the world. Furthermore, the agricultural sector crosses over so many different subjects within the curriculum. Science, social studies, technologies and even mathematics are some of the subjects where the farming concept could be established in a classroom environment.

So, I’ve been able to come into 2017 a little bit more enlightened, a little bit healthier and, with a continued enthusiasm to learn.

Reference:

Geography Field Work (2016) Costa del Polythene: a sea of plastic Available at: http://geographyfieldwork.com/CostadelPolythene.htm (accessed 12th of January 2017)

BBC (2012) Supersized Earth Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01p9f4n/supersized-earth-3-food-fire-and-water (accessed 12th of January 2017)

Identifying Skills and Abilities – Activity 1

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Being a teacher involves more than just learning a curriculum.

Standing up day in and day out teaching a course to a class is no good for the students nor is it any good for the teacher themselves. It is an occupation that requires self-evaluation on a constant basis. Reflecting on your own skills and abilities allows for you to not only understand where you are as a professional, but also where the people you interact with are. Knowing your strengths and your weaknesses is the first step of being able to go further as a person both personally and professionally.

Our first activity on the online unit was to identify skills and abilities and pin point how confident we are in employing them. We also had to give a rating (1 being not very developed and 3 being very well developed) on how strongly we feel about each skill and ability currently.

As we progress through the year, we are to update this table and expand on our strategy to develop the skills we may not feel very confident in using. We also have to comment how we hope to maintain the skills and abilities we may already have. Furthermore, activity 2 delves deeper into our own reflection of our skills and how we take/will take action on improving our skills.

Moving forward, I hope to work on the skills that I lack confidence in and to hopefully bring them up to a very well development on the table.

Skills and Abilities                1

2

                 3

Flexibility

  

*

Self Confidence

*

Self Discipline

*

Working Under Pressure

*

Setting Personal Goals

*

Taking Risks

*

Sharing Opinions Confidently

*
Teamwork

*

Taking Responsibility

*

Building Social Networks

*

Managing Time

*

Acting as a Leader

*

Negotiation

*

Making Presentations

*

Listening to Others

*

Debating Formally/Informally

*

Contributing to Discussions

*

Conversing

*

Taking Notes

*

Writing for academic purposes

*

Computing Skills

*

Being Creative

*

Using Technology

*

Problem Solving

*

Generating New Ideas

*

Working on Initiative

*

Organisation and Planning

*
Critical Thinking

*
Evaluating Information

*

Why Teaching?

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Why Teaching? I ask myself… Why Teaching?

This question of ‘Why Teaching?’ repeats over and over within my mind as I scramble to look for the answer. Why have I chosen this path in life? What do I aim to achieve by becoming a teacher?

Firstly, I feel it’s necessary to start with a brief introduction to myself as an undergraduate student on the Education course at the University of Dundee. My name is Alan Macdonald and I am hoping to become a primary school teacher.

Much of my own time in education was, in my eyes, very successful. This was due partly to the fact it shaped me from being the shy and timid only child that I was in nursery and primary, into a confident and independent citizen by the time I left high school. I felt ready to face the world.

This growth process flourished mainly because of the great teachers I had to support me in my studies. Whether that be because of a teacher’s teaching methods, their enthusiasm in their own profession, or their approach to learning as a whole. Great teachers really make the difference; a difference that I’d love to make myself someday.

My German teacher, in particular, is the person that really sourced my likening towards the idea of going into teaching. Back in 2014 she told our German class about a language scheme that believed in promoting language learning, particularly German, in young people. I was the only male pupil in an already small class of 15 people that decided to take German further. So, I really wanted to get involved in a scheme that could lead to future generations continuing language learning as I felt it was a huge issue, particularly in Scotland.

The scheme was set up by the government-funded organisation UK-German Connection who aim to bring the young people of Germany and the UK together.

UK-German Connections

UK-German Connection is dedicated to increasing contacts and understanding between young people in the UK and Germany – UK-German Connections

Being an Ambassador during 2014-15, I represented the organisation through the projects I planned within a primary school. I set up weekly classes that involved the kids at Murroes primary school learning German on a wider and more dynamic scale, with emphasise on interactive activities that challenged the norm of language learning at a primary level. I covered topics such as History, Geography and even Music within the grand scheme of teaching the kids German. Every lesson incorporated new vocabulary that related to the task of the lesson.

Having the freedom to able to create my own class plans allowed me to see my potential in going into a career in primary teaching. What made it even better was that, it was not only the kids who enjoyed my classes; I enjoyed planning, creating and presenting the classes to a group of enthusiastic children who were eager to learn more.

An example of one of my classes

To wrap up the year, the ambassadors and I attended an evaluation seminar in Berlin where all the different projects were summarised and discussed as a group and we all talked about our plans for the future. My plan was made clear by the ambassador scheme and I knew that the University of Dundee was right for me.

Looking ahead, I really can’t wait to delve deeper into my studies at the University of Dundee and really learn what it takes to become a successful educator that can shape future generations just as my teachers impacted my life successes.

Alan Macdonald