Category Archives: edushare

Time for Maths

Time is a funny thing. It is something that we all use but we have no idea where it originates from.

Why do we use the time system that we do? How before clocks were invented did we know what time it was? How do animals know what time it is?

Well let’s try and answer some of those questions.

Horology is the study of time and the measurement of time. The word ‘Horology’ originates from Greek words hṓra (hour, time). Horology also look at how time is important to humans and is this idea of time innate in animals.

When you think about it, time is enlaced though everything that we do. What time do we go to sleep; what time do you get up; how long did you sleep for, which makes a huge different to how you feel that day; the time that you eat at throughout the day. Humans are not the only ones that go through these different time routines everyday, so do animals.

For example, if you look at my dogs. My dogs in the morning and evening are very vocal about needing fed. They will come and sit staring at myself or my mum until we go and feed them. Now, does this mean that they have an innate idea of time, which is referred to as a “body clock” or do they just start to get hungry? There is no way to really know.

However, what about animals that’s routines are not influenced by humans, for example, nocturnal animals. How do they know that it is time for them to come out? it is said that they “just know” when to sleep and when to eat but that “just knowing” would be their innate idea of time. Another example of animals understanding the concept of time is hibernation. How do hibernating animals know when it is time to stock up for food and find a suitable spot to hibernate in?

A suitable example for this time of year is migrating birds. If you look up in the sky in the mornings and evenings the sky will be full of geese migrating for the winter. In the spring, the sky will again be full at these times of day as the geese migrate back to Scotland. But how do these birds know when it is time to migrate? Is it that it simply gets too cold for the animals hence why migration and hibernation happens? Or is it that the concept of time is imbedded into these animals’ natural instinct which tells them when it is time or change their behaviour to suit their surrounding or move elsewhere. I use the migrating geese over Scotland as my own way to tell time. When I see them migrating south I know that it is getting colder and that winter is coming and when I see then migrating north I know that spring is near. This means that I use an animals innate time telling to clue me in on what time of year it is.

We tell time using the traditional mechanical clock. However, this is not what has always been used to tell the time. Sundials and obelisks are the oldest known device for measuring time. Sundials worked by tracking the sun as it moved from east to west. As the sun moved it created shadows which then predicted what time of day it was. A pillar or stick called a gnomon was put in the middle of the sundial and time was then calculated depending on the length of the shadow (Marie,2016).

This is the shadow of the sun revealing the time on a sundial.

The Egyptians created an obelisk. There were similar to a sundial but they divided up the days into parts. This was the first time days had ben formally divided up. These worked the same as sundials but the enabled citizens to partition their day into two parts by noon. Obelisks also showed when the longest and shortest days of the year were (Bellis, 2016)

Looking at time has given me even more idea of how math is used in the real world that I do not even realise. Hence this has given me a better understanding of what it means to have a “profound understanding of mathematics”.

References

Wikipedia (2016) ‘Horology’, in Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horology (Accessed: 21 November 2016).

Bellis, M. (2016) The history of sun clocks, water clocks and Obelisks sun clocks, water clocks and Obelisks. Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/famousinventions/fl/The-History-of-Sun-Clocks-Water-Clocks-and-Obelisks.htm (Accessed: 21 November 2016).

Marie, N. (2016) When time began: The history and science of sundials. Available at: https://www.timecenter.com/articles/when-time-began-the-history-and-science-of-sundials/ (Accessed: 21 November 2016).

A New Number System!!

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Recently, in our Discovering Maths module we were asked to come up with our own number system. This proved to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. How can you come up with another symbol rather than the numeral we are use to to represent a number?!

Myself and my partner Holly, managed to come up with a system but this was based on the base 10 system.

This is the system that we came up with.

We decided to use circles and squares to represent our numbers. We used circles to represent odd numbers and circles inside squares to represent even numbers. After, we had came up with this we realised we had not included a symbol for zero. We were not sure what to use for zero, and after a while we decided zero would be represented by a plain dot.

I underestimated how hard it would be to come up with my very own number system. To think ‘outside of the box’ and away from the numerals that we are use to to represent our numbers was really difficult. It look a long time to think of what we could use. It also took a few attempts of trying different ideas and trying to think of a system that could be easily used. We did not go as far as what we would do for any numbers past nine as it was hard enough to get to nine. We would more than likely use the symbols we already have to create other numbers.

Even though we did not manage to go further than nine, other people in the class did manage to go further up the number line.

Math is Pretty!!

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Even though I have always loved math I did not realise how pretty maths could be. Symmetry is what we use to make this ‘pretty maths’. This symmetry is the most significant area of math the makes a connection between science, art and maths. Symmetrical patterns can be used in several different areas. Artists use symmetry to create patterns and use maths to help create these patterns. By using simple fractions and a computer software symmetry can be used to create amazing intricate patterns that artists put on anything from canvases to items of day-to-day use.

Islamic tiling is a unique way the symmetry is used to create fascinating patterns and designs. Islamic art is created by using extravagant geometric decoration expressed by using texture, pattern. colour and calligraphy. These patterns are not just used for a decorative purpose they are used to represent a spiritual version of the world – “Unity of God”. These Islamic tilings are always created of three simple shapes – the square, the hexagon and the equilateral triangle.

This is an example of Islamic Tiling,

This kind of pattern is called tessellation and is a great way to show children how math can be fun. Using Islamic Tiling, pattern and symmetry can be taught through a series of lessons starting with showing the children examples of Islamic tiling, showing them how they can be created on the computer and the history and meaning behind these works of art. After the children have learned about the history they can move on to create their own designs. This is showing the children how math and art are linked and how math is not always about numbers. This lets the class have fun with this new area of math and lets them try and use simple shapes to create intricate designs. Tessellation can also be shown to children through looking at buildings and all over the world. Tasks can be set as homework for the children to find tessellation around their city. A programme could also be downloaded on the computer and this can be used with real life pictures to create patterns

The concepts in this post relates to Liping Ma’s principle of connectedness as whilst the children are learning how to make symmetrical patterns and how to use simple shapes in these patterns, they are also learning how to fit these patterns together in tessellation. This means that the children are learning more than one area of knowledge and not just the topic of tessellations. This allows children to see how all of their learning is connected.

References

Liping (2010) Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics: Teachers’ understanding of fundamental mathematics in china and the United States. 2nd edn. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Enquiring Practitioner

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Practitioner Enquiry is defined as a professional whom is constantly doing research to better their understanding and knowledge of their profession. The research is based on your practice and it is beneficial to reflect on the research you have done previously to better you as a teacher. It can be done by the professional on their own or in a group. If it is a group then they collaboratively share a common research question that can be investigated in different ways.

Practitioner enquiry should be an aspect of a normal day-today life of a teacher and should be done consistently throughout a teacher’s career. This supports the growth of a teacher within their career and helps to create different ways of working. You do not just train to be a teacher and then you are qualified, your learning continues, being a teacher is a continuing journey. Being an enquiring practitioner is about moving beyond your usual way of teaching and discovering other ways to teach and help the children learn.

The most successful education systems invest in developing their teachers and helping them reflect and enquire on their practice. Benefits of practitioner enquiry can include encouraging teachers to challenge and transform education; provide a way for teachers to reflect and develop from their own teaching and to discover new strategies for teaching. Practitioner enquiry also supports teachers and helps them gain a better understanding and show how the concept of teachers is constantly changing.

Working Together Visit

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As part of our Working Together module we get to go out on a visit to different agencies to see how they work together across different disciplines. We had been preparing for this visit for a few weeks and had prepared questions to ask when we were there.

My group visited Baldragon Academy in Dundee where we spent the morning with their Pupil Support Department. They had two pupil support workers or as they were referred to from the children “The Toast Ladies”. Both workers came from different disciplinary backgrounds, one was social work trained and had worked in social work for several years prior to joining the school twelve years ago while the other came from a Community, Learning and Development background and also joined the school twelve years ago. They also both agreed that their job was the most rewarding job they had eve done. They both agreed that their disciplinary did not matter within the school and they just worked to help the pupils the best as they could. They were happy to be known as the “Toast Ladies” and even joked about going to university for four years just to end up making toast.

They are known as the toast ladies because they make toast during break every morning for as many pupils as 200 pupils every day. This is because where the school is located is the fourth highest deprived areas in Britain. They fund this entirely themselves and rely on bread being reduced at the end of the day in supermarkets and donations from teaching staff and their families. The women also run nurture clubs that focus on the most nurture deprived pupils in the school and they give them breakfast as well as a little task to help them focus on the day ahead.

I found this visit highly fascinating and could have stayed all day if I had the choice. The way the women worked with the pupils to help them the best they can was amazing to see and showed the support that pupils have within the school. It was also very obvious how trusted they were by the pupils and were even brought gifts from the pupil’s holidays.

Another highly interesting aspect of the visit was how the pupil support workers work with other people within the school as well as outside agencies. They had a CLD worker who came in every week and worked with the children and took little groups. They also worked closely with the teaching staff, the guidance team (so much so they said they felt part of the guidance team) the school nurse and the senior management staff within the school. Outside the school they work with KIKO and Fairbridge who support the pupils and give them different areas to work within. They also work with primary school teachers and primary sevens in the move up to secondary school, giving some pupils that extra support they need. The staff within the school constantly pop into the “Toast Room” to speak to the workers or sometimes to just grab a slice of toast. They also spoke about how the senior management team are very supportive and if they pitch an activity or idea well them they will most likely let them do it.

On follow up we spoke to some of the agencies and people within the school. All of them reported a great working relationship with the pupil support workers that had next to no barriers to working together. They also have regular meetings with everyone they work with which include monthly meeting with the guidance team within the school; three monthly meetings with all CLD workers across the city and regular board meeting which include the school nurse, CLD workers and people from outside agencies.

Important Qualities of a Teacher.

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When looking at professionalism I feel like compassion is an important characteristic for teachers to have. Compassion is helping someone that is struggling or suffering. This is important for a teacher as they need to constantly be helping children who may be suffering. Teachers may also need to be compassionate towards parents or guardians if anything is going on out with the school environment.

Patience is another hugely important quality that teachers need. When working with children, patience is something that you need as children may not pick up ides and concept that you are teaching as quick as adults would. Children can get something wrong several times over, make a mess when doing art projects or playing. Teachers need patience to just keep calm in these situations and not get angry with the children but teach them what they need to do.

Another quality that I find important in teaching is fairness. Children come from all different backgrounds and have different skill levels. A teacher needs to be a fair person and treat all children the same. A good teacher cannot treat children differently because of where they come from or how clever they are. A lot of the time teachers can be seen as not being fair but this isn’t the case. All children learn differently so sometimes you have to teach children differently to combat this but at the same time you are still teaching children fairly. Fairness when disciplining children is also important as teachers cannot be seen as favoring one child over another.

In my opinion, tolerance is another important characteristic that teachers need. Teachers need to be able to tolerate a lot from all angles. Teachers may need to tolerate abuse from parents or guardians on the way they are teaching or how they may think you are doing something wrong. A teacher needs to be professional in these situations and tolerate what the parent say. It does not mean the teacher needs to do what the parent is telling them but they need to be able to tolerate the criticism but be confident in your teaching style.

Lastly, honesty is an important quality for teachers to have. An honest teacher is a great teacher. Children do not benefit from a teacher that lies about what they are good at. A teacher needs to be honest about what their pupils are good and bad at. If a teacher was not honest then children would not know what they need to work on and what they are good at. On the other hand, teachers also need to be careful with honesty and make sure that they are not brutally honest and that they do not offend anyone.

Social Media In Schools.

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If I’m being honest, the power of social media scares me. Especially when you see how much children know and do on websites.
Do not get me wrong, the power that social media has is also fantastic. It means that pupils can connect and learn through several different web sites.
I keep going back and forth with whether I want to have two separate social media accounts for the personal me and the professional me or whether I will just monitor my one account. At the moment, I think that it would be more work if you had two different social media accounts. However, having one social media account for personal and professional purposes has its challenges.
I think the best way to marry the professional and the personal you on social media is to consistently monitor your privacy settings and make sure that you do not post anything that can get you into trouble at a later date. I am quite private with my social media accounts already and have my Twitter and Facebook page very private and I have to accept people that ask to follow me or see my page. I think my Facebook will always be for my friends and family only where I will be very careful with anything I post on that page and have it so that pupils cannot find me. Twitter is a little different. I don’t use Twitter a lot but I feel like it can be good for following educational hashtags that you might want your pupils to see. I think having a school Twitter page is a great idea as the pupils can then all follow it and post things onto it, as well as the teachers. If the teachers have a page with a different name that cannot be traced to them then the pupils would never know who is posting what.
Social media can be seen in positive and negative lights. I feel like using it within the classroom and engaging with pupils on it for educational purposes is an excellent use of the sites. However, I think that we also need to make sure that we are educating our pupils on the dangers of social media without making them scared to use

You want to be a teacher?! Why?

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I cannot really pinpoint the moment when I wanted to become a teacher. I had amazing teachers in primary and secondary school that supported me and showed me how much a teacher can help a pupil outwith their usual teaching. This inspired me to want to help, teach and support children the way they had helped me.

I have always enjoyed teaching in a way. Before my little brother went to school, I use to sit with him and work through children’s workbooks filled with maths and writing exercises. When he started school I continued these workbooks with him for as long as he would let me. After this I would coerce him and his friends into playing school based games where I was the teacher and they were the pupils. In these games I always made up lesson plans and exercise sheets for them to complete. After these two events I always enjoyed helping and “teaching” anybody that I could. Even in school I would try and help my peers if they did not understand what we were doing.

I realised teaching was what I wanted to do when I went to a primary school for a placement. I loved every single day, from teaching the basic alphabet to the P1’s to taking P4 reading groups and teaching the P7’s fractions. The way the children listen to you and take in the knowledge that you are passing on to them is one of the main reasons I enjoy teaching.

Currently, I do not know what kind of teacher I want to be. I have worked with lots of different teachers throughout my placements and they have all been very different kinds of teachers with differing teaching styles. I would like to be the kind of teacher that takes on some of these aspects. I think I will discover what kind of teacher I want to be once I start my placements. I will develop my own style of teaching and see which way that I teach and what works best for me.

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