October 18, 2018
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Comments Off on Chance of Me Gaining an Appreciation for Maths – Extremely Likely
Probability – the next (and successful) leap in convincing me of how relevant mathematics actually is. This module has been effective in changing previously negative perceptions of maths, one of which in particular is that the terms ‘maths’ and ‘complex’ go together like bread and butter – this is not the case. Granted, parts of it […] Continue reading
October 18, 2018
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Comments Off on Vita Brevis – Exploring the usage of Artefacts and Sources within Social Studies
Pickford, Garner and Jackson (2013, p.62) define artefacts as being valuable man-made or man-influenced objects that can encapsulate particular locations or sections of time within the world, which explains why they can serve as being strong backbones to particular contexts for establishing social studies learning. They can also vary greatly in their appearance and purpose. […] Continue reading
October 17, 2018
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Comments Off on Interest and Empathy Towards the Children During the War.
In this blog post, I am going to talk about the learning experience of using artefacts to teach about the child evacuees during the war. I am going to be writing this from the learners point of view as well as making reference to ideas for teaching from a teacher’s perspective. Although this workshop was […] Continue reading
October 17, 2018
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Comments Off on Are Artefacts Worth Their Weight in History Lessons?
Turner-Bisset (2005), speaks about the use of artefacts in the teaching of history in the primary classroom. It is stated that artefacts are a multi-sensory resource, making them useful in an early years classroom as a starting point for enquiry based learning. Using common objects as an artefact can allow pupils to see immediate relevance […] Continue reading
October 11, 2018
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Comments Off on Bringing Mindfulness and Poetry Together
I smell the rain appearing in the damp air I see the drear grey clouds with the winter sun peering through I see red, orange, yellow Crunch! I can hear my exaggerated footsteps I feel confused as to how a form of death can be so beautiful, yet often go unnoticed. This poem was created using a combination […] Continue reading
October 9, 2018
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Comments Off on Fibonacci Sequence – Significant Coincidence?
The Fibonacci Sequence is a fairly new concept to me, having only seen a flash of the term in a textbook during my MA1 school placement. The Discovering Maths module is responsible for properly introducing me to this concept, however it was a shock to learn that in reality, this peculiar set of numerals have […] Continue reading
October 9, 2018
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Comments Off on Makey Makey🕹
On the 26th of September we had a lecture with Derek. No one knew this lecture would lead to us being Derek’s most successful ‘Makey Makey’ class throughout his time teaching this module. Derek firstly spoke to us about using technology in the classroom, its benefits and purposes for real learning. He then introduced the […] Continue reading
October 8, 2018
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Comments Off on Storytelling in Music🎼
Today we had a music workshop with Sharon. The workshop started with Sharon showing us how to introduce music to children through using your body and vocals for making sound. The advantage of this is that there is less mess and disruption than if you were to get musical instruments out in the classroom. This […] Continue reading
October 7, 2018
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Comments Off on Bringing International Games in to the Classroom
During a lecture, we were considering the games we played as a child and how they related to our country, the innate parts of being human and the impacts that some games had on our futures. It was interesting to see that the most prominent games played were schools (where we were all the teacher) […] Continue reading
October 2, 2018
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Comments Off on Engagement and Motivation: A Guide Written by a Dummie
After a lecture focussed on the use of fieldwork in the teaching of Social Studies I began thinking about the lessons I have taught in previous placements and how they could be improved. The Social Studies Principles and Practices document (Education Scotland n.d) states that skills such as exploring, investigating, discussing and presenting are a […] Continue reading
September 28, 2018
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Comments Off on RRS Discovery⚓️
Today we had a day off from university, so Jennifer, Beth and I decided to use the time to do an education trip to the RRS Discovery ship in Dundee. Our aim was to learn about the history, geography and science of the exhibition and reflect on the suitability of the exhibition for children and […] Continue reading
September 28, 2018
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Comments Off on Fieldwork
This morning myself and my friend took a trip to the Discovery Boat. I went there with two aims in mind; to learn more about the history of Dundee and to evaluate what it would be like to take a class there. As a child I remember visiting the Discovery Boat multiple times however I […] Continue reading
September 26, 2018
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Comments Off on Social Studies: Intial Thoughts
My experience with social studies in school, has always been a positive one, from what I can remember. After the first few inputs of our social studies elective, I have began to think more about my first statement than I ever have before now. “From what I can remember,” is very telling as to the […] Continue reading
September 25, 2018
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Comments Off on Standing up for justice; standing up for our children.
I sit and write this blog after one of the most thought provoking discussions so far in my university journey. One in which we were discussing theories such as the Montessori, Owen and Frobel perspectives on education. Each being primarily child-centre focused and broadening on aspects of children thriving on their own initiative and creativity. […] Continue reading
September 24, 2018
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Comments Off on Memorable Classes in School – The Creative Arts
Throughout my time at school (both in primary and secondary), the most memorable classes for me were ones that emphasised on skills primarily used in the creative arts. Be this cutting cardboard with Stanley knives to make human sized dinosaurs or presenting wall posters describing Orkney’s role in World War 2. My favourite experience at […] Continue reading
September 23, 2018
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Comments Off on Memorable School Experience: Class Act
Reflecting on my school experiences I realised I didn’t have one that really stood out to me from primary school (not unless you include the trip to the National Museum of Scotland when one of my classmates got their head stuck in a fancy-dress costume!) So instead I thought about memorable high school experiences and […] Continue reading
September 22, 2018
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Comments Off on My Thoughts and Opinions on Interdisciplinary Learning
I think interdisciplinary learning can be an effective tool in schools and can provide fantastic learning opportunities for children. For our ‘Developing Effective Teaching and Learning’ module, we have been asked to read 3 pieces of literature and discuss how that correlates to what our understanding of Interdisciplinary learning (IDL) is. Through this reading, my […] Continue reading
September 22, 2018
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Comments Off on Historical Storytelling📖
In my latest history input we spoke a bit about storytelling in a historical context. A video clip of this being done in a primary class was shown to us, it was quite inspiring. In the clip the teacher would put on a ‘special’ jacket when we was about to tell this history story. This […] Continue reading
September 22, 2018
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Comments Off on Reflection on IDL
The past few inputs we have had within this module have been about interdisciplinary learning, what it involves and how it is used in the classroom. “The curriculum should include space for learning beyond subject boundaries, so that children and young people can make connections between different areas of learning. Interdisciplinary studies, based upon groupings […] Continue reading
September 21, 2018
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Comments Off on Teaching Controversial Issues in the Classroom.
Yesterday in my Social Studies Elective we were discussing teaching controversial issues within the classroom and it became clear that it was quite common for such issues to be shied away from, one of the reasons being the potential backlash from parents. It got me thinking about my experiencing with controversial issues during my time […] Continue reading
