November 16, 2018
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Comments Off on Should maths be taught inside the classroom?
Mathematics, from personal experience, is a subject I believed I would never need outside of school. Equations and formula’s were driven into my brain and were taught from a textbook. I certainly did not find it pleasurable, useful or important. Ma (2010, p. 104) wrote that basic ideas within mathematics are “simple but powerful basic […] Continue reading
November 7, 2018
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Comments Off on Can Mathematics be Beautiful?
Maths, beautiful? Before I would have never of put these two words in the same sentence. Now I will say maths can be beautiful. After allowing myself to really understand how this can be and how maths can make things more pleasing to the eye I can put maths and beautiful together. The Rule of […] Continue reading
November 7, 2018
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Comments Off on Stepping into the light of modern languages
I have always felt guilty whilst visiting other countries that most of the natives can speak conversational English, when I can barely speak a word of their language. I believe this has allowed English speakers to become lazy and too comfortable in their own culture. We should explore different languages and cultures to fully engage …
Continue reading “Stepping into the light of modern languages”
November 6, 2018
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Comments Off on I want to help you, but you need to tell me how.
When facing social injustices, such as a child failing due to their family life/background, or due to them not having a good support system out with the school environment, as a teacher, you cannot give up on the child whatsoever. I am fully aware that what I have just stated seems like the complete obvious, […] Continue reading
November 6, 2018
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Comments Off on Could the Curriculum for Excellence be a ‘Sunk Cost’?
Could the Curriculum for Excellence be a ‘Sunk Cost’’? The aim of Curriculum for excellence and the reason it was put in place was to help children and young people, across Scotland, gain knowledge, skills and attributes needed for life as well as the skills needed for learning and work (Education Scotland, 2018). The Curriculum […] Continue reading
November 2, 2018
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Comments Off on The Beauty of Mathematics
CAN MATHEMATICS BE BEAUTIFUL? If you take a look inside a child’s math jotter you will most likely find some numbers written on parallel lines to form equations and answers. But, is it possible to use math to form or create something which is not numbers based? Can we create something more exciting and creative […] Continue reading
October 31, 2018
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Comments Off on Visit to Flexible Childcare Services
On Monday my group visited the Flexible Childcare services in Dundee. This organisation runs a day-care centre for children ranging from babies to sixteen year olds. However there is no set price per child, the cost of the child care depends on the parents income. Therefore this makes this organisation unique from others as it […] Continue reading
October 30, 2018
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Comments Off on Weight a second… Mathematics can improve fitness?
With only 60 days left until Christmas, before we know it we will be sitting down to think about our new year resolutions. This year I had the stereotypical goal of joining the gym and sticking at it for longer than most of us tend to do. To this day I still attend the gym […] Continue reading
October 27, 2018
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Comments Off on Stick or Twist
Gambling – the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money (Dictionary.com). But are we really playing by chance? Let’s find out. First let’s discover what chance is; Chance is the possibility of something happening (oxford dictionary). It can also be described more mathematically as probability.Say you have a coin. It […] Continue reading
October 25, 2018
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Comments Off on Space is big, really REALLY big
One of the ways that teachers across Scotland are trying to encourage positive affective domains within children in their maths is by making it more relevant. By applying mathematical concepts to everyday real life concepts, we can encourage children to appreciate the application of maths in society. For example, as teachers we cover a range […] Continue reading
October 22, 2018
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Comments Off on Do we ‘Place Value’ on our understanding of Mathematics?
During my time on placement, the aim of one of my group lessons was to teach the children who were ‘struggling’ all they needed to know about place value in one 30-minute slot. Simple right?… Armed with white boards and place value blocks we headed to the group study area where I could begin my […] Continue reading
October 22, 2018
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Comments Off on Hobbies – and Work: Don’t Let Your Job Break the Seesaw!
University is a new chapter in life. Close school: open socialising, parties and lectures, of course! After sixth year, I was totally – and utterly – DONE with carrying round Costa cups, chasing after first years and scribbling ‘tick the box’ assignments. The days of fifth year saw my writing wrist almost in a sling… … Continue reading “Hobbies – and Work: Don’t Let Your Job Break the Seesaw!” Continue reading
October 17, 2018
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Comments Off on Chance and Probability
What is the odds that you’ll win a toy playing the ‘claw’ arcade game? Probability, Odds and Random Chance. Probability is the likelihood or chance that something will happen. Probability is an estimate of the relative average frequency with which an event occurs in repeated independent trials. Probability: The probability is how likely something is to … Continue reading Chance and Probability → Continue reading
October 13, 2018
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Comments Off on ‘No More Boys and Girls’ – A Lesson on Gender Stereotyping
If you were asked to buy clothes for a child, it’s hard to break away from the instinct to associate the colours blue for a boy and pink for a girl. Similarly, when asked to picture a toy that would appeal more towards a boy or a girl, I know that, in my case, I […] Continue reading
October 10, 2018
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Comments Off on Does mathematics come easy to everyone?
What can impact the learning of mathematics in the classroom? To truely understand this question we must delve into the minds of children today. Children today have the right to learn maths in their own time and at their own speed which means that it can be difficult to comprehend if some children truly find … Continue reading Does mathematics come easy to everyone? → Continue reading
October 9, 2018
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Comments Off on Teaching New Phrases – French
French was never my strong point at school. I felt that I didn’t have the underlining and basic skills to forward my development and therefore the subject broke down for me. In Scotland, we are now introducing a second language in Primary 1. This is a positive means of having the underlining basis of a […] Continue reading
October 7, 2018
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Comments Off on What is a Number?
We come into contact with numbers every day. Time, working out how many portions of dinner we’ll need to make or simply “hey what’s your number?”. But have we ever taken the time to think, what is a number and why do we even use them? My first question is, why does the number three […] Continue reading
October 5, 2018
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Comments Off on Old ways won’t open new doors
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an introductory session on autism through Elaine Smith from Autism Scotland. This session was organised by the Education Society and proved an extremely valuable experience to learn about a topic that, although I have heard small pockets of information, I had little knowledge of. This wasn’t through intended […] Continue reading
October 4, 2018
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Comments Off on The ever-changing society who is incapable of change.
This week, our Value’s lecture really hit me hard. Not purely based on the content– the history of the Civil Right movement and that of feminism, is not new to me. Most of us would have heard the horrors through school and so forth, but it is scary how used to it I was hearing the […] Continue reading
October 4, 2018
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Comments Off on Racism is everywhere
Before my lecture on racism, I always thought the minority of people were racist, because it was rare for people to verbally and physically attack people, due to their race. However, it wasn’t until this lecture that I realised how complex racism is. Firstly, I learnt that cultural and institutional racism does impact peoples’ individual […] Continue reading
