Category Archives: Contemporary issues

A Reflection of an Electricty lesson with a Primary 7 Class

At the beginning of this module, I was very weary of teaching science because it is something that I have done in the past with little success. This was because I did not possess the confidence needed to teach science efficiently in the primary school. In hindsight, this module has allowed myself as a developing practitioner to feel more confident in my ability, especially with regards to inquiry based learning and allowing children to explore different issues and aspects of science. Luckily, this module has given me the opportunity to teach two different age groups in science which is the reason for this blog/vlog post. The first lesson was do with acids and alkalis with a primary six class and the second lesson was to do with electricity with a primary 7 class. This post today aims to describe what my colleagues did to exemplify inquiry based learning and the vlog post will reflect on the experience.

The activity was based around the issue of cars and their headlights. Our ‘hook’ displayed numerous cars (old and new) with their headlights on. The children were asked to discuss the function of headlights and why cars need them. Once the children discussed and answered these questions, the children were asked to think about how the car headlights get their power and were asked to discuss. this matter. To highlight to the children how this happens, we lined them up outside the classroom and asked the to think about how electricity runs through wires. Questions were along the lines of ‘when we flick a light switch, does the light come on fast or slow? The children then passed along the line to symbolise how electricity runs from a batter to a lightbulb. One of us walked alongside the children to symbolise that electricity is passed along from atom to atom.

Once the ball analogy concluded, the children were involved in making their own circuits, comparing things such as:

one battery connected to one lightbulb
Two batteries connected to one lightbulb.
Two batteries connected to two lightbulbs.

However, before this we talked about hypothesising and why it is important in science. Children then created their own hypotheses about what would happen with the above scenarios. The interesting thing was that hypotheses varied from child to child showing how individualistic children are when it comes to their own ideas. Each adult that was involved in the activity acted as a facilitator to the children’s’ learning, which emphasised the need for social constructivism in science. Once the children completed their circuits, we had a general plenary on the things the have learned and to see if they enjoyed the activity.

Below is the link to my professional reflection on the activity focussing on what went well during the lesson, what could be improved upon and how the children interacted with the lesson.

 

The end is near… My Profound Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics

As Semester one draws to its conclusion, I can’t help but feel a bit sentimental on my time in the ‘Discovering Mathematics’ elective. It has been a very enjoyable experience for me and I would encourage anyone who is going into second year to pick it as your elective. It is not about learning complex quadratic equations or even recapping on trigonometry, it actually is more useful that any of those concepts will ever be. I have mentioned in previous blogs that I was not the biggest fan of mathematics due to my stubbornness and having bad experiences at high school level. However, this elective has totally changed my ideology and it will definitely help me gain confidence as I go into my third year placement. I thought since the elective is over that I talk about my ideas and give my ideology and interpretation of what a profound understanding of mathematics is.

At the very beginning of this elective, the idea of fundamental mathematics was introduced. We were given some input on what it meant, but in all honesty I found it hard to understand. This was the case until I came across the work of Liping Ma. Ma conducted research in china and America to identify why the U.S was falling behind in terms of the world rankings and test results. She concluded that teachers in the U.S did not posses a deep understanding of elementary mathematics. Ma (2010) hypothesised that initial teacher training and that during this teachers should become familiar with basic mathematics (fundamental mathematics) much like her teachers in china. In hind sight, Ma (2010) came up with four characteristics which would allow a teacher to have a profound understanding of fundamental mathematics:

  1.  connectedness – this factor is about teachers emphasising how maths connects to other procedures that the pupils are learning.
  2. multiple perspectives – moving away from the idea that there is only one way to get an answer
  3. basic ideas (principles) – that teachers should bring ideas back to basics to encourage good attitudes in mathematics to promote understanding and a love for the subject
  4. longitudinal coherence – progression: the teacher needs to be able to see where the child is and how to further their progress in mathematics.

When you break these four principles of fundamental mathematics down, it is clear to see why maths is so important for everyone. When we think about connectedness, we need to look to our Curriculum for Excellence where cross curricular learning has to be incorporated. This is so important because maths is in everything that we see and do and it is also very important to see the links between maths and our world. Secondly, there is a huge maths myth that has been around for decades – ‘there is only one way to find an answer’… no there is not. There are multiple ways in which problems can be solved – its just about teaching maths in different ways. Thirdly, basic ideas is fundamental to fundamental mathematics because fundamental actually means ‘basic’. We as practitioners need to take maths back to its roots in order for children to progress and love maths at face value. In addition, basic does not mean that it can’t be challenging or fun (I will get to this). Finally, when we think about longitudinal coherence, we think of progression. Teachers need to know where each of their children are at in their learning and the teacher needs to take the steps necessary in order for our children to progress.

It is all very well talking about the theory of fundamental mathematics, but what have I learned about it? Well for starters, I can say that maths is absolutely everywhere… in the outdoors, in the weather – you name it and its there (links to connectedness). I believe that it is absolutely vital to make the connections that mathematics allows us to see. We need to make our children aware of this in order to heighten their love and interest for mathematics. I am aware that maths needs to be an active subject for children to really get their teeth into and enjoy. My blog post ‘active learning in mathematics’ covers this – it highlights that basic principles of mathematics can be taught in fun and interesting ways in which your children will understand. Furthermore, there is no better feeling in the world than seeing the children in your class engaged, learning and having fun. Maths allows us as practitioners to experiment and play with certain theories in order to evoke fun and enjoyment. For example, the lesson on demand planning was absolutely fantastic!! Moreover, enthusiasm counts for a lot in teaching. I mean why do you think I had such a negative view on mathematics? Its probably because my teachers in the past have never shown a passion for it. Our lecturers for this module have been the most enthusiastic people I have ever seen. It has made me become enthusiastic and, of course, if your enthusiastic as a teacher, your children will also become enthusiastic.

Therefore, I believe that fundamental mathematics for a practitioner to be confident and have a profound knowledge of basic maths in order for our children to understand and develop a love for mathematics. In addition, the practitioner needs to be able to encourage and motivate their children through meaningful and engaging activities that incorporates active learning. Furthermore, practitioners need to also make connections with mathematics in the real world and encourage their children  to make these connections as well. Finally, and I can’t emphasise this enough, we must be able to paint a picture of each child’s progress and be able to plan the steps in order for them to succeed and develop in mathematics.

 

reference

Ma, L. (2010). Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics: Teachers’ Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. P1-50.

Christmas in Mathematics – ideas for the classroom

Its that time of year again when the lights are up, songs are being sung, decorations are being hung and joy is absolutely everywhere. What is this time you ask? it is indeed Christmas. It is obvious that Christmas is a time for giving and thinking of loved ones, but after a recent blog post from Andy Hughes (titled ‘Christmaths’), I have been inspired to blog about how maths can be incorporated into Christmas in fun and inventive ways. In addition, it has made me want to uncover the fundamental principles of mathematics in Christmas.

Hughes (2015) in his blog post ‘Christmaths’ describes mathematics in Christmas. He states that  snowflake’s are a ‘fractal (a fractal is a shape that contains similar patterns which recur throughout the shape on a smaller scale)’. In addition he identifies that zooming in on a snowflake just produces more details and can splurge up fundamental processes such as scaling, shape and ratio – very fundamental processes. On a larger scale, lets take the fundamental process of shape. As I have mentioned numerous times before, maths is all around us. In a seasonal sense, we only need to look at our Christmas trees to see that shape is evident. For example, Christmas baubles. These are spherical in shape. The star on top of the tree also shines bright, but is still a shape. However, what is the maths behind a Christmas tree? It could be suggested that there is maths in assembling a Christmas tree (especially and artificial one. For example, you will need to have the right length of Christmas tinsel to pass around the tree – the mathematical concept of length and measurement. In addition, you will need to have enough Christmas baubles in order for the tree to be symmetrical. Talking about symmetry, this can be used widely as examples to help children understand this concept. For example, trees are symmetrical, as are snowmen, stars, snowflakes.. the list goes on. This can be used as a consolidation activity and it effectively ties Christmas into mathematics.

Moreover, Christmas time in the classroom should be an exciting and engaging time for children. So why can’t we use maths within Christmas? Even if it is not directly from a maths lesson. Board games are a fantastic way to do this and they challenge a range of mathematical concepts. Take monopoly, for example. Now, I am not going to lecture you on how to play monopoly as I am sure we all have a ‘profound understanding’ of how to play it. However, what does monopoly all boil down to? Money. In order to play this game, children must have a basic knowledge of money and will have to subtract or add together money when they land on someone’s property or even if they pass go! I find this to be pretty incredible – its fun and engaging, but you are learning at the same time… Do you see where I am going with this? Take snakes and ladders – counting is the fundamental principle there. Cluedo – problem solving to find out who really committed the crime. Even in dominos there is a basic element of counting. Probability is also another fundamental principle that can be seen in games that use dice – what is the probability of  landing on a six? Lets be honest, which games do not have dice in them?

It is obviously apparent that maths is incorporated into Christmas profoundly. If you even think about presents under your tree – some are cuboidal and some are spherical. Shape is such a common theme within Christmas. So when your opening your presents this year, have a second thought about how maths is incorporated into Christmas – it may even inspire you to write a blog post!!!!

reference:

Hughes, A. (2015) Christmaths. In a Class of my Own. Last accessed 06/12/15. Available at https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/ajhportfolio/2015/12/02/christmaths/

Beautiful Mathematics – an Outdoor Perspective

When we think of mathematics, we often think numbers, formulas, data handling and a whole host of other mathematical concepts. However, have you ever just looked around you whilst out in the outdoors and thought ‘maths is beautiful?” I guess its a thought that never springs to mind. However, mathematics is actually in everything we see in the outdoors (believe it or not) and this blog post aims to highlight how beautiful maths is within the context of the outdoors.

To see mathematics in the outdoors, we do not need to look far. It is in the very buildings that you see walking up and down the street. Here is a building that should all be too familiar:

 

For those of you who don’t know, this is the Dalhousie Building at Dundee University. I don’t know about you, but I feel believe that this is an architectural masterpiece. Firstly, if you look at the design, it is very visually appealing and it incorporates squares and curves to create a building that is grand in size. Where does the maths come into this? Well if we think back the original plans of the building, it had to be measured accurately in order for it to come together. Of course, there would have been slight room for error, but it had to be pretty accurate. If we think about the windows, the architects had to create enough space so they can tessellate perfectly. This absolutely astounds me. When looking back to a lecture on the golden ratio, you can almost see it happening here. To elaborate, the golden ratio was a ratio used since the 1500’s as it was perceived to be aesthetically pleasing. It uses the formula:

 \frac{a+b}{a} = \frac{a}{b} \ \stackrel{\text{def}}{=}\ \varphi,

This can be best described using this square:

 

Basically, A golden rectangle (in pink) with longer side a and shorter side b, when placed adjacent to a square with sides of length a, will produce a similar golden rectangle with longer side a + b and shorter side a. This illustrates the relationship  \frac{a+b}{a} = \frac{a}{b} \equiv \varphi.

 

 

This all together makes this pattern which can be recognised in Fibonacci’s sequence:

This is seen to make an aesthetically appealing design:

Picture Courtesy of apple.

So where does our Dalhousie building come into this? Well if we look at the elevation of the building (the front of building consisting with the front entrance and the classrooms in the second block, we get a (block two) and b the entrance which would create this perfect spiral. I find this absolutely intriguing. This is not just the case for Dalhousie, However, this is the case for most things in our world. If we look at this plant:

we can see the golden ratio coming into play along with Fibonacci’s sequences. This officially ties nature and mathematics together and the results are absolutely breath taking. In this image above, not one segment of the flower is out of place. They all spiral in the same direction towards the centre of flower which makes it symmetrical.

And here it is again (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Everything in this world is tied into mathematics and this is why maths is beautiful. Whether its looking at buildings or looking at flowers, the fundamental mathematics is there. With buildings, its all do with measuring and being precise and I guess with flowers you could say pattern. Whatever the outcome, just have a look at the world around you and it might amaze you like it has me. Maths is beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mathematics in Demand Planning – Show me the Money!!!!

As mentioned in my previous blog posts, mathematics is incorporated in to absolutely everything in life. This idea was further embedded during a lecture on supply chain and logistics in maths. It was a three hour input, but It was honestly the best maths class to date. It was completely relevant, interactive and so much fun. This blog post aims to draw on points about fundamental mathematics on previous blog posts and how it is incorporated into demand planning.

Firstly, when we talk about supply chain and logistic planning, what springs to mind is food. Apart from the odd rumble of my stomach, there is actually some mathematical concept behind this all. lets take crisps for example. If we think about the bar code, it has a significant amount of numbers around it (see image below).

Within the red circle, is a best before date 06/11/10. The number to the side says 06:51 which would highlight the time where the big packet (if it is a multipack) was closed. The number code under 06:51 is 275 which means which day within the year it has been produced. These timings are absolutely crucial for the company to give an accurate sell by date which will prevent their customers from getting food poisoning. The fundamental mathematics behind this is predicting by using the numbers to provide an accurate time scale for consumption. To an extent, the fundamental mathematics behind it could be knowing the date and the days of the year. Furthermore, each packet of crisp has a certain weight which could identify that another aspect of fundamental mathematics is weight. Even when the small packets are being placed into the big multi-pack bag, there are still a specific number which is out in each bag. This takes the art of crisp making and manufacturing down to being able to count. Fundamentally, that is astounding. Come to think about it, think of all the activities that you could bring in to the classroom around crisps. Potentially you could go down the rout of how the crisps are made, what machinery is used to manufacture crisps and how they are programmed.. you could even take a stab at making your own crisps!! Of course, maths comes into every single one of those activities.

However, enough about crisps… the thought of them makes me hungry. To continue this idea of supply chain and logistics, we must talk about food miles (I am aware that I am talking about food again). A prime example of this is when Richard (our lecturer) had a job in Trinidad and Tobago where he worked with a logistic company which was responsible for transferring food around the island , and the tiny islands within the outer Hebrides. He spoke fondly a man who would work out the routs to take in order for the items to be delivered. This seems to be pretty straight forward… However, you would be wrong to think that. This man used to do all this through his head. It was therefore absolutely crucial that he was able to know the routs expertly, he would have to know how much petrol he would need for the lorry, he would have to know if the lorry needed to be transported onto a ferry in order to deliver. Where is the maths you ask? Well it all comes down to money. This man was able to work out how much money it would roughly cost him and the he was able to calculate how much profit he was going to make. It is very clear that this man had a PUFM in the sense that he was able to estimate the rout and how much money it was going to cost him. Not only this, he had to be able to pack the lorry in the most proficient was possible (i.e a poorly packed lorry is the difference between making two trips or one trip). Therefore, he would pack the lorry in a way that used tessellation. making sure all the boxes (or items) were able to be pieced together. I find this to be absolutely fascinating because the basic mathematical principles is in an actual concept which mathematics is so important. What I find more intriguing is that this gentleman was able to do it all in his head -I take my hat off to you sir!!  In addition cargo hold, it all boils down to profit and money. This is why companies will ensure that all their stock is being transported all at once. For example (see image below) This boat is made up cargo containers which are cuboidal. They can all tessellate together in order to take more stock to and from places at once – fascinating!! To find out ore on my thoughts on tessellation, please visit my blog post “Active Learning in Mathematics.”

Now in terms of demand planning, we were able to have a go with this ourselves. We had to form a team and we had a staring budget of £5000. We had to buy stock through different dates of the year (June to august, for example). We had a list of items that we could buy and sell on for a profit. We had to estimate (depending on the time of year) which stock that would potentially sell. The mathematics behind it was simple, but proved very tricky. Richard would tell us how the stock had sold in a percentage wise. We would then have to calculate the percentage of what we sold and carry on the remainder of what we didn’t sell. We would take our reading and then repeat this process again. It was probably the most fun I had every had in a maths lecture. There were so much fundamental mathematics that had to be addressed – such as money (spending to a budget and adding calculating the left overs by using a simple take away sum). In addition, the fundamental process of carrying over was quite tricky if you haven’t used it in a while. Furthermore, the use of simple percentages in working out how much money we had made was very interesting. HOWEVER, it has taken me up until now to realise that data handling is extremely important not just in mathematics, but also demand planning

I will say this again, ‘MATHS YOU HAVE AMAZED ME!!!’  in addition, you actually do this within the context of the class because I feel that this is so beneficial for children to understand and so they can continue there love for mathematics.

Maths in Astronomy

I was absolutely intrigued in today’s maths lecture about maths in astronomy. In my previous blog post, I argued that mathematics was apparent in every single thing on earth. However, after today, I realise that it goes beyond the earth into our universe. This blog aims to pick out the fundamental mathematics in space and how it can be applied to the classroom.

An important point about today’s lecture was the idea that there are millions upon millions of stars in our universe (approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.) That idea completely sums up that the universe is a massive place. However, I am not blogging about the numbers and facts about space, but I am trying to delve in to the fundamental maths. A potential aspect of fundamental mathematics in space is potentially base systems. The fact that massive numbers are used to represent how far a planet is away from another or how big or the diameter of a certain planet is. Without the basic knowledge of numbers, this would not be possible to comprehend. In addition to this, take distance for example, to define how far away a particular object is, we use KM. Therefore, we have to have a basic knowledge of distance. For example, if we only used millimetres to measure distances, we would be there all day and it would cause some sort of confusion if you were to give someone directions.

Continuing on the idea of fundamental mathematics, the notion of light years was introduced and what excited me was that a light year is the distance light travels is one year. If we look up at the night sky and we see many bright and sparkling stars looking back at us. However, what is apparent is that those stars have probably imploded years ago. The closest star to us is four light years away. So basically if the star had imploded, we wouldn’t know until four years later. I find that concept fascinating and it highlights that space is huge. In addition to this, when looking at galaxies, I found Fibonacci’s sequence in amongst it all. You can see our milky way twisitng and spiralling to create a very beautiful scenery.

So how can this be introduced in the wider context? Or within the context of the classroom? Luckily, I have had some experience with this during my first year placement. What it was mostly concerned with was the idea of learning facts and figures, naming the planets, and making wall displays. I completely understand that this was the children’s topic work, but it would be so beneficial to apply mathematics to this topic, especially fundamental mathematics. Gaining a good knowledge of the solar systems is good, but we as teachers should be giving our children opportunities to explore the notion of maths in astronomy and play around with it. This would make for a much more interesting lesson and would probably be more beneficial than learning facts and figures. The ideal thing about mathematics is the idea that it can be playful and experimental and fundamental maths allows this due to bringing ideas back to basics and then building the learning up and up.

 

The Maths Behind Hurricane Abigail

After all this hype about a potentially menacing storm that has hit the shores of Scotland, I thought to myself that it couldn’t actually be that bad. I was, however, mistaken to this notion. After walking along Dundee City high street a few moments ago, I was soaked within an inch of my life. It was calm one minute, then BOOM chaos! The storm has now come to Dundee and as I look out my window now, Dundee has been disrupted with small amounts of damage to public billboards and bus shelters. This got me thinking about the intensity of a storm and how vast they can be. It also got me thinking about how the maths come in to part with storms. As I sit with a blanket over my lap and a cup of tea by my side, I am going to attempt to discover the fundamental maths behind a hurricane and why they can be incredibly frustrating for everyone.

In my last few blog posts, I have been concerned with talking about maths as an active subject through many things like tessellation and maths with stories and play. This blog post will be somewhat different to these, but the principles and the fundamental mathematics still apply. Firstly, a hurricane is a mass storm with a violent wind and reaches above a speed of 75 mph!! 75 miles per hour… I don’t know what is scarier, the damage that it causes or the notion that it can travel faster than the speed limit of a car on the motorway. According to NASA (undated), Hurricanes are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the equator. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from near the surface. Because this air moves up and away from the surface, there is less air left near the surface. Another way to say the same thing is that the warm air rises, causing an area of lower air pressure below. NASA continue by suggesting that air from surrounding areas with higher air pressure pushes in to the low pressure area. Then that “new” air becomes warm and moist and rises, too. As the warm air continues to rise, the surrounding air swirls in to take its place. As the warmed, moist air rises and cools off, the water in the air forms clouds. The whole system of clouds and wind spins and grows, fed by the ocean’s heat and water evaporating from the surface. In addition, a hurricane has an abundance of cumulonimbus clouds that form circular bands. The fundamental mathematics of a hurricane is its circular formation. Not only this, it is astonishing the way that hurricanes actually rotate. Do they rotate clockwise, or anticlockwise? storms from the north of the equator spin anti-clockwise and storms below the equator spin clockwise. This is because the Earth rotates on its axis. I find that so absolutely fascinating to say the least. It ultimately highlights that Mathematics is incorporated into absolutely everything that we see in this world and I agree with Will Berry on that one after his lecture on maths in the outdoors.

So why does this leave me feeling fascinated? Well probably because I am thinking about the mathematical activities that you could do within the context of the classroom. Firstly, you could investigate and display the different levels a hurricane is classified as. See diagram below:

Category Wind Speed (mph) Damage at Landfall Storm Surge (feet)
1 74-95 Minimal 4-5
2 96-110 Moderate 6-8
3 111-130 Extensive 9-12
4 131-155 Extreme 13-18
5 Over 155 Catastrophic 19+

The children can ultimately collect the data to classify different (old or new storms) from around the world, especially in the case of hurricane Abigail. In addition, the children could also find the speed of the hurricane and predict how far it will travel and in what time by using the speed, distance, time formula. This is just naming a few, but please feel free to comment with any other activities that you can think of as I would like to read them.

Fundamentally, the basic maths behind an activity to do with a hurricane is research skills. Being able to tally, collect data and the general notion of handling and organising information. Not only this, this is good for children deepen their understanding of probability and likelihood of a storm like this happening again. The activities can be in abundance if you put your mind to it.

Finally, I will leave you with this satellite image of hurricane Abigail (picture taken by the University of Dundee):

Storm Abigail

This is a picture of hurricane Abigail just off the coast of North West Scotland. You can see the spiral motion and you can almost imagine the wind swishing and swaying around. What I find to be completely fascinating about this picture is that you can see Fibonacci’s sequence spiralling around and around (see image below):

Untitled 2Mathematics… You have amazed me again.

 

 

Maths, Play and Stories

During the Discovering Mathematics elective, I have been amazed by some of the maths that I have encountered, particularly when linking maths to play and stories. I, beforehand, had a very narrow-minded view of what maths was as my school experience was not a good or successful one. I remember mostly being stuck and it made me think of myself as a failure. In addition, I vaguely remember my teacher(s) writing mathematical equations for on the board for us to copy and learn. Was it interesting? Most definitely not. I was disengaged most of the time which probably lead to me having bad memories about mathematics. However, this elective (along with my college experience) has opened my eyes to mathematics on a wide scale – especially through play and stories.

Lets go back in time to my second year of college. This is where my mind-set began to change on the whole concept of maths. As part of our early years placement, we had to make our own story sack which had to include many subjects from the CFE – one of them being maths. To say the least, I was pretty petrified. All that was going through my head was ‘how can I incorporate mathematics from a story?” And yes, the maths anxiety began to set in. However, after researching many different books to use for my story sack, I began to see the links between maths and stories. I chose the Wizard of Oz as my book and managed to include maths from ideologies like character order to the shape of the yellow brick road. Ultimately it opened my eyes and laid a basis for my love of maths to grow from.

Today in the primary school, children still have this maths anxiety. I thoroughly believe that it stems down from older generations. This is because learning and teaching has transformed in the modern day classroom from the mid 20th century. Older generations of people may see maths as copying down sums off the board in a kind of rote learning manner. This left these people with maths anxiety to have very bad memories of mathematics and generations of adults who don’t see the need to learn mathematical theories. Ultimately, our responsibility is to teach young learners that mathematics is relevant to every day life like money, time, fractions and so on. Ultimately, because our older generations do not have the greatest view of mathematics, it gets passed on to our children and they become “scared” of maths (Furner and Duffy, 2002). I believe this statement is true because our attitudes need to convey a love of maths in order for it to pass on to our children. Not only must we as teachers be enthusiastic and encouraging, we also need to introduce maths in fun and interactive ways so it will be memorable for our children (see my last blog post on active learning in mathematics for further information).

Parents as Teachers
I found this concept to be rather interesting and intriguing because parent are children’s first point of contact in education. Parents are the child’s pioneer of education and it could be argued that parents are children’s first teachers. Within the context of maths, this should be no different. However, when it comes to children needing help with their maths homework, parents might try to avoid the matter. According to Pound (2003), parents of young children have a narrow minded view of mathematics and may not prioritise it within the home. I am not suggesting that this is the case for every child, but maths is a hard and abstract concept for children to understand and they probably will need help with their homework. This is why it is important for parents to get involved and convey a love for mathematics so their children can have a love for mathematics.

With regards to cognitive development, mathematical concepts allow children to think, reason, understand and learn. According to Piaget’s 4 staged theory, he believed that schemas are the way in which we organise information and for children to understand mathematics the should repeat their actions (sums and questions) in order to learn. In addition to this, Margaret Donaldson agreed with Piaget on some aspect but believed that if children think of abstract situations then they will fail. I do not believe that children will fail due to abstract concepts. I understand that maths is an abstract concept but with the right help and support, children will thrive. Maths is so beneficial for a child’s cognitive development due to the problem solving aspect of it and, without the children realising it, maths allows them to think articulately.

Fundamentally, we should see children as independent learners and should give them the space to work on an individual basis, This can be achieved through immersing the children in mathematical events before school (for example, ‘how many cows can you see in the field?’). As time progresses, children’s skills will develop, but it is important for parents to not give them direct instructions. Children naturally absorb the patterns and regularities that exist in the day to day natural and cultural world (Ginsburg, Cannon, Eisband, and Pappas, 2006). Effectively, routines are mathematical concepts and children pick up the patters very quickly. Of course, we as teachers need to be able to explain the maths correctly to the children in order for them to learn it (Henlock, 2003). In addition, this can be done through a number of strategies:

  • Open ended questions
  • Using mathematical language
  • Written communication through mark making

Effectively, these strategies should be used by teacher in order to develop their ideas and understanding of mathematical concepts. A good way to achieve this is through play. Play is important because it allows children to be a team players, communicate effectively, learn through interaction and ultimately allows children to express themselves in different ways. Furthermore, play is innate and allows children to make connections, be creative and use flexible thinking. Moreover, it refines and rehearses their skills and encourages perseverance. So where does this link into mathematics? Well mathematics allow children to make decisions through imagination, reasoning, predicting, planning, experimenting with strategies and learning through rhymes and songs.

In conclusion, I never realised that maths and play go hand in hand with one another. It is a fascinating thought that has allowed me to realise that there is more to maths than copying sums off the blackboard. Maths should be fun and inviting and I will definitely try to incorporate this into my lessons while on future placements and when I am a qualified teacher. However, parent play a huge role within mathematics. Parents should encourage a love for mathematics and view maths as a positive thing in order for our children to absorb a love for mathematics – lead our children forward!!

 

Co-operative Learning: why is it different to group work?

In this mornings lecture, a discussion about co-operative learning cropped up and it make me think about the importance of it in the primary classroom. Co-operative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project. It is a specific kind of collaborative learning in which students work together through discussions and pupils are individually accountable for their own work. However, is it just the same as group work? Or does revolutionise group work by allowing children to be more independent and appreciate working as part of a team? This blog post aims to delve into the concept of co-operative learning.

If we look back in time to 20th century education, co-operative learning would have never existed due to the way that pupils were taught by rote. Children were there to be seen and not heard and this would have made the classroom a very quite and eerie place to learn. When we think of classrooms in this day and age, they are not quiet places. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Learning is most effective when learners have the opportunity to think and talk together, to discuss ideas, question, analyse and solve problems, without the constant mediation of the teacher (Education Scotland, undated). This is why co-operative learning is fundamental within the context of the primary classroom. It stems from the work of Lev Vygosky and his view that learning is a social process. I do agree with this because in my experience you can learn more through interactions and discussions with your peers. Vygotsky’s ideas have been reflected in a number of teaching processes including critical skills and dialogic teaching. Both of these involve discussion and promote the idea that young peoples learning is best served when they have the opportunity to learn from each other.

I first experienced co-operative learning during my first year placement. It was an abstract concept to me as I had never observed it being put into practice. To begin, the teacher would organise the children into their home groups (every group had a specific name and emblem) and the teacher instructed the children to perform their team greet. I was specifically interested in this part because each team had a different greeting and I think it allowed each child to feel part of the team – a lovely touch!! The children were left to number themselves 1-4 and each number had a specific task. I cant remember off the top of my head, but I think this was the structure:

1-resource manager
2- time keeper
3- motivator
4- collector of resources

What fascinated me the ‘motivator’ position because this person had be enthusiastic and push his or hers team on. It was refreshing to see that the children were motivated by this and praise from the motivator allowed the children to feel good about their work. The task itself was to make a badge that displayed their hobbies and interests. Each hobby or interest were to be drawn at the corners of the badge (the badge was a small A5 rectangle) with their name in the middle. In addition, the teacher would ask the children 4 questions like, “which is your favourite cartoon?” after each question, the teacher would put a digital clock on the whiteboard in so the time keepers can say ‘we have 10 seconds left’ and this allowed the team to know when their time was up. It was really refreshing and exciting to see the children work together in such a way. They were all actively involved in their own learning as each badge was personal to each individual. The children took responsibility for their own learning and it was enjoyable to observe (I even made my own badge and joined one of the groups).

This was a very good experience for me, but I began to think that it is a bit like group work. After discussing this point with my teacher after the lesson, she identified a number of key points that makes it a whole lot different from group work. She suggested that group work is more focussed with learning partner work, in which you can complete your work with your learning, but no meaningful discussion is being produced. She suggested that an activity allows children to take control of their own learning through discussion and learning off one another. She identified that each individual part of the home teams contribute effectively to each others learning through interactions and ‘motivating’ one another. Fundamentally, these skills need to be taught to the children before co-operative learning can take place. The children need to learn to organise themselves and once this happens, they are effectively taking part in their own learning.

Effectively, co-operative learning is a fantastic way of allowing children to take part in their education through means of discussion and learning from each other. It is a tried and tested method of collaborative learning and it is different from just normal group work in the sense that the children have more freedom and control over their learning. I will definitely be promoting this in future placements and I am eager to see it in practice again.