September 2017 – Rachel Fraser UWS ITE ePDP

Learn Log- The Evnironment

The initial inputs of the sustainable development module centred around the Environment, with a focus on natural and urban environments. Having previously studied Higher Geography and enjoyed the course, I was looking forward to this module, and to apply my already acquired knowledge and also develop new knowledge that I can implement within primary education. Over the past weeks I have been able to develop my understanding through a range of workshops and independent study.

Sustainable development can be defined as world citizens being able to satisfy basic needs and enjoy a better quality of environment. Griffin, et al (1991, p.9) establish sustainability as:

Relation pf people to the physical environment
Understanding of finite resources
Understanding of potential for change
Possible and preferable futures
Lifestyle for a more sustainable world

Sustainability is becoming increasing more important as the world seeks revolutionary methods to enhance the environment. It is therefore vital that as a perspective teacher to ensure I execute sustainable development education, as there are many positive opportunities for children to gain.

Through global citizenship children will be able to involved with their local community
Empowerment
Children will become more engaged with their environment, hopeful taking this into their adulthood
Being aware of the environment also has health benefits, (for instance children and their families may decide to walk instead of using other forms of transports, many schools have a walking bus as a part of pledge to improve the environment)
Children will gain a better understanding of the usage of resources (such as recycling)
Also, education will become fun and in context (children will be able to engage in local history, culture, physical environment, trade and economy)

During workshop one we experienced outdoor learning, in the university grounds. In groups we explored the natural environment, such as tree barks/ leaves, went on a sensory walk and looked for different types of insects and their habitats. We were provided with worksheets, the worksheets used during the input could easily be adapted to any primary year. Outdoor learning has many opportunities for teachers to employ the cross-curricular approach to learning, for instance children outside could find a flower, leave, rock etc., something that is part of nature. Back in the classroom children would write a creative piece of work about their object that they found. Also, many schools have”bug hotels” children could write a review about the “bug hotels” and the improvements required. It is important that as a perspective teacher I take advantage of the outdoors, as outdoor learning is embedded within the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes of social sciences and within the General Teaching Council for Scotland framework and standards for probationary teachers and qualified teachers, likewise there are many opportunities for children to develop new skills and knowledge outdoors.

Within workshop two we looked at natural science, how this fit within the Curriculum for Excellence, we then continued onto group work and tried out different classroom activities. Firstly, we went outdoors and used different types of paper and writing implements to take makings of tree bark and leaves. Also there was snails, that we were able to hold. Deakin University has many science activities that are suitable, fun and engaging for primary education

The urban aspect of environment was a directed studied task that I was able to do at home. This task involved me going out and exploring my local urban environment. By carrying this out I was able discover a significant amount about the my local urban and nature environment. Whilst outside I paid particular attention to trees in my area, what I discovered was the trees are all different (especially texture, leaves and bark).

Over the past two week I believe I have developed a significant amount of knowledge in regards to sustainable developmental education, natural environment and urban environment. I feel I have enough understanding to teach the environment within schools, there are many opportunities to teach the curriculum outdoors and employ activities which are fun, engaging and stimulating for leaners. I look forward to learning and to develop my understanding of sustainable development more in-depth over the coming weeks.

References

Deakin University (N.D) Ideas for Teaching Science. Available: [https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/sci-enviro-ed/early-years/]. Accessed: [28 September 2017]

Griffin, D. Inman, S. Meadows, J. Norman, A. Rogers, M. Wade, R. (1991) Teaching for a Sustainable Future. London: South Bank University.

Scottish Government. (2012) Learning for Sustainability. Available: [ http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/LearningforSustainability]. Accessed [ 14 September 2017]

Intergrated Arts- Visual Arts and Music 26/9/17

This weeks Integrated Arts inputs where vastly engaging. The inputs focused on the visual arts and music.

In my prior blog posts, I discoursed that integrated arts related subjects are not my strongest curricular areas, but as this module progresses I feel I am becoming significantly more confident in my abilities and my capacity of teaching the integrated arts in a classroom environment.

During this week’s visual art input, I realised that the visual arts are not concerning seeking perfection, but in fact the individual’s ability to create art work that is unique, abstract and symbolic to them. In order to create distinctive art work, we produced our own paintbrushes, we were supplied with a range of materials- a wooden stick was the bases, to design the stick there was wool, cotton wool, feathers, string and other small objects. From the outset, the art work of class inevitably would not be uniformed, however within a primary school environment pursing for uniformity can be challenging, as segments of art can be intricate and complicated for pupils. It is therefore important to allow different variation of art work that represents the individual unique skill set (Holt, 1997). Children will get great satisfaction and achievement from making their own paintbrushes, it a perfect opportunity for them to develop divergent pieces of work.

Once we created our paintbrushes, we then continued onto paint using our paintbrushes. The lecturer read out a Scottish Highland scenery that was concealed from us, the lecturer described the image using straightforward language. By using this method of delivering the lesson we rendered our own perspectives of the image and created unsystematic art work using the paintbrushes and different colour and size of paper When painting I felt some uncertainty and was hoping that the painting would turn out how I was expecting it to. Within the classroom it is important to keep in mind that art should fun and engaging for children, however as children progress through their primary education, they are more aware of their abilities in which they will often compare to their peers and also will be less eager to experiment in subject areas. ‘Some children find art and design lessons frustrating, and would be far happier if there was less mess and greater certainty’ (Kay and Stillman, 2009, p.2).

Before the visual art session, I would not normal like to paint due to the mess generated, but my view has changed, as I found painting to be therapeutic and stimulating, and I am now inclined to paint in the classroom. In order to reduce mess, it is important to have good organisation of resources, using A3 paper children will be able to make their own disposable mixing palate, likewise ensuring the desks are kept protected this can be done by drawing a boundary around the paper and using newspaper as table covers (Cox and Watt, 2007).

The focal point of the music input was understanding how to play a glockenspiel using figurenotes. Figurenotes are coloured and different shape stickers that can be used on musical instrument to represent musical notes and has matching coloured music sheets. Despite being unable to play a musical instrument I would now be able to facilitate children’s musical instrument by using figurenotes as it easy to understand and there is no need to read musical notes. Also, this week we were introduced to Charanga, a primary education website that has a range of music lessons, songs and musicals that can be implemented in the classroom. Knowing that these resources are available is giving me more confidence in relation to teaching the arts to their fullness and ensuring children are acquiring skills from the arts too.

What I assimilated from this week’s input I can relate to the Tallis Habit Pedagogy Wheel (2013), within the persistent category. Within the visual arts input I was ‘tolerating uncertainty’, as I created a paintbrush and was unsure if I had the ability to paint an unseen picture. Within the music input I was ‘sticking with difficulty’ initially I found playing the musical instrument challenging but I ‘persevered’, remained ‘focused’ and by the end of session I felt confident enough to implement within a school setting.

Music and Art provide the opportunities for children to develop their creativity and related skills. A paintbrush resembles closely to the implement that is used along with glockenspiel, therefore children could create their own individual glockenspiel instrumental stick.

References

Cox, S, Watts, R. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. New York: Continuum International Publishing.

Key, P, Stillman, J. (2009) Teaching Primary Art and Design. Exeter: Learning Matters

Holt, D. (1997) Primary Arts Education: Contemporary Issues. Guildford: Biddles

Tallis, T. (2013) Tallis Habits Pedagogy Wheel. [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html. [ Accessed on 27 September 2017]

Sustainable Development- Urban Environments

I have lived in the residential area Burnside, which is situated in the town of Rutherglen since I was a young child. The estate I live in I would describe as quiet, leafy and very green due to the volume and range of trees and woodland area which surround the area.

There is limited traffic around the estate as vehicle access is allowed for residents only, this implies that streets within the estate there is slight noise pollution created from traffic. The houses within the estate are all terraced with front and back gardens, with no driveways resulting in residents parking on street. However due to more resident having cars nowadays (as the estate was built in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s) this has provoked problems finding parking spaces and resulting in the local council using green space in the estate to provide more parking. Likewise, the estate has a burn (a small stream) which leads into a small pond at the end of the estate, there is a peaceful walk way that runs parallel to the burn. However, in the past the burn has caused flooding problems, resulting in some resident homes being flooded, as a consequence the local council has employed flood management systems to prevent homes flooding. Also within the estate there is assisted housing for the elderly and a small community hall that can be used for events and is also where the local councillor and MSP hold their monthly sittings. There is a bus stop outside the estate on a main dual-carriage way that provide services to Glasgow city centre and East Kilbride. The nearest train station is a 10 minute- walk and runs to Glasgow Central and Newton. Likewise, the M77 is close by too.

The area of Burnside is in walking distance to many amenities such as the Primary Health Centre, dentists, large supermarkets, two hotels and other necessary services, this is highlighted within the EEA document on urban environments which states towns and cities provide citizen with short travelling times to work, school, hospitals and other services due population density. Â Rutherglen Main street is a 10-minute walk from Burnside, the Main Street has a shopping centre that has a couple of supermarkets, home stores and pharmacies. There are no high street fashion stores in Rutherglen, the nearest shopping area is Glasgow which is 20 minutes by train, bus or car. Also on Main street there is a library, one Roman Catholic church, two Christian churches, restaurants, a couple of pubs and the town hall that has a café, a registers office and entertainment shows are performed throughout the year. Also within the area of Burnside there is a park with a children’s Play area and other grassed areas. The area likewise offers clubs for young and old, there are many Scouting, Guide and Boys/ Girl Brigade groups, dance groups, music groups and two gyms/ leisure centres within the proximity. There are several primary schools and three secondary schools. The nearest hospital is the Victoria Infirmary which has a minor injury unit, out-of- hours and outpatient services, the closest hospital that has accident and emergency would be the Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Govan, which is a 25-minute journey by car.

Using the Air Quality Scotland website, I was able to determine the pollution in my local which is 1 meaning it is low for Nitrogen Dioxide and other particulate matter, however nitric oxide was unrecorded.

In addition to surveying my local area I watched a insightful TED talk by Alessandra Orofino, are principle argument was about how technology should be used in urban environments to increase citizen participation in local and national decision making, as a response to declining in election voting throughout the world. I consider this is an innovative idea as the world is constantly modernising and technology is evolving too, this would be more geared at todays generation and I think voter participation would increase as a consequence.

Teaching children in regards to urban environment is essential as it allows children to explore their local environment (if they live in urban area) or not to compare to where they live (if rural). This gives children the opportunity to evaluate their surroundings, environment, culture and amenities. Within the curriculum for Excellence framework urban environment outcomes and experiences feature heavily.

A lesson idea on urban environment for a Primary 5 class would be looking at traffic in the local area. I would organise to take the class to different streets that vary in traffic (for instance a main street, a one-way street, a main road and no through traffic street) within the proximity of the school. I would provide the children with clipboards and worksheets of the different types (split into categories of car, bus, van, bike), they would use tally markers, to mark the vehicles as it past. Back in the classroom children would use the data they collected and display in graphs to compare the different areas, also writing what could be done in order to reduce traffic. Links to CFE SOC 2-08a and SOC 2-09a.

I have found this week’s sustainable development resources to be rather interesting, which has allowed me to reflect on my local area, but also discover new information in regard to its urban environment.

Cognitive Development of Children’s Art Work

The focus of this week’s integrated arts input was the cognitive development of children’s art work, as they progressed through their primary education.

Initially, Elliot Eisner 10 Lessons the Arts Teach was imparted during the lecture, what I gathered was this publication should be at the centre of any creative teaching, as it abridges the exposition for the arts in education (Hall and Thomson, 2017). Likewise, the arts can aid attainment throughout the curriculum, but Eisner publication makes it his nucleus that the arts are more about understanding the world completely and the influence that creativity can have on our world (Hall and Thomson, 2017).

The pre-readings required for the lecture where very insightful, which explored art and design in primary education and the art developments of children through nursery and primary.

The Arts in Education, Fleming 2012
Teaching Art and Design 3-11, McAuliffe 2007

These reading encouraged me to consider the varying elements of creativity and how this can influence the mark makings, drawings and paintings of a range of ages and was able to use this knowledge when introduced to the archive of children’s art work.

McAuliffe (2007) encapsulates the different art and design stages that children develop, McAuliffe makes reference to the theories of Lowenfeld and Brittain (1997) which they alluded the following model of art development:

Stage 2-4 years- Scribbling stage
Stage 4- 7 years- pre-schematic stage
Stage 7-9 years- schematic stage
Stage 9- 12 years- gang stage

McAuliffe, D. (2007)

However, presently teachers no longer make reference to this theory as a means of art assessments due to cognitive advancements. (McAuliffe, 2007).

This a created by a child who was four years old, this is known as the pre-schematic stage (McAuliffe, 2007, P.26). At this age children can draw anything relevant from their imagination. Initially I though child’s drawing was of a birthday cake, however a description on the back made by their teacher said in fact the child drew a dog under a washing machine. The child’s teacher exhibited good practise by listening and making a note of what the child drew.

This painting was a produced by a child (aged 7- 9 years) during the schematic stage. As art ability is progressing children begin to add more details and features to their work, they are understanding the importance of proportion and placement of objects and the importance of colours (McAuliffe, 2007). However, there is a conversion in learning styles as at early level creation is more “child- based activity” and when they go into first level creation is “adult- based learning” (McAuliffe, 2007, P.28). Art work in the primary school becomes more unified and is centred around the lesson plans of the teacher and their creation and imagination rather than the spontaneous imagination of the children.

The final stage of art development in primary education is the “gang stage” (aged 9-12 years). At this stage children are able to make precise drawings of features, likewise children are becoming increasingly conscious of their art work and their ability as skills required become more demanding (McAuliffe, 2007). Also children in this stage add more detail to their work but will become more discontented and will use pencil in order to rub their errors out until perfect.

The lecturer introduced an excellent way to incorporate art and literacy, this can be done by giving children one page of a book or article which they read, instead highlighting key points, they would draw their response on the page given.

This week I have been able to expand my knowledge of children development through art and design, this allowed me to consider methods in which I can adopted in order to ensure children have the opportunity to employ their own unique imagination and creativity into their art work.

References

McAuliffe, D. (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11. London: Continuum.

Hall, C. Thomson, P. (2017) Inspiring School Change: Transforming Education Through the Creative Arts. 1^st ed. Oxon: Routledge.

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of the Mind. Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach.

Integrated Arts- Week One

During my time at primary school I thoroughly enjoyed the arts, and was involved in the school’s drama productions and was member of the school’s choir, by participating in these extra-curricular activities I increased my confidence and self-assurance. However, when I went to secondary school I gradually fell away from the arts related subjects and never studied any after third year.

The thought of teaching the arts makes me considerable apprehensive, due to the little knowledge I have in regards to the arts. But during the first week of the Integrated Arts module I have learnt a sufficient amount, which has made me feel more confident and relaxed about the prospect of teaching the arts.

The focal points of the lecture and workshops where art and music. During the art inputs, we explored the importance of children’s creativity, which children can illustrate from a very young age. What I acquired from this was, as a prospective teacher it important when planning art lesson to allow children the chance to exhibit their own imagination and creativity.

“Planning, teaching and supporting learning art it is important that you consider the aspects of creativity so that children have the opportunity to respond their own creativity€ (Edwards, 2013, P.11)

In addition to this, it foremost to value and merit children’s art work, this can be done by asking them to explain their art work to you. In art, it significant to bear in mind that there is no wrong method or way, but any piece is correct and worthy.

During the music input we explored music appreciation, similarly to art it is important to create a creative learning environment, were mistakes are allowed and praised. Also during this input, we investigate the significance that music can have on other curricular areas such as numeracy and literacy. Using music and literacy in groups we constructed a story board, this was completed my listening to a seven-minute-long track that did not have any lyrics. By doing this we were able to listen and erect our own thoughts on the track and brought our ideas together to create a story. This can also be done using digital literacy (sound and visual) and can be an effective and creative lesson to engage children with music and literacy.

The initial week of integrated art I feel I have been able to amplify my universal arts knowledge and look forward to the coming inputs.

Reference

Edwards, J. (2013) Teaching primary art. 1^st ed. Oxon: Routledge