Comment on Another students Blog

This post is in comment to Sabine's VELs Blog with the following blog address : http://mathsforbeanies.edublogs.org/ 

ICT and VELS: creating independent risk-takers

15 September, 2011

ICT provides a rich and flexible learner-centred environment in which students can experiment and take risks when developing new understanding.

I think that the teaching and learning of mathematics naturally lends itself to using technology to give students autonomy over their learning. While I’ve noticed that some teachers are more comfortable than others with giving students a rich and flexible learning environment, we are all generally moving in this direction aren’t we? Similarly, some teachers seem to integrate technology more seamlessly than others into creating opportunities for students to construct their knowledge. But overall that’s the trend.

There’s a fabulous product (and many now popping up like it) called Mathletics which is an online subscription based tool for students to engage in live math games with students across the world, and to work on online tasks which are set by the teacher. There are vast resources for students to learn from and practice with, the feedback is instant – students are told immediately whether their answer was right or wrong and what the right answer is.

Recently, I was teaching a year 8 maths consolidation class and I decided to give them the freedom to ‘have a go’ at any of the activities on perimeter and area (there were about 10 to choose from). I am going to relate a story about a student in that class, let’s call her Amy. Based on my observations and interactions with Amy so far, I had made the assessment that she struggled to differentiate between the concept of area and perimeter (a common misconception) and in particular, she had some difficulty with calculating the area of circles because she often confused the formula with the one for circumference. When I asked the students in this class to work on any of the activities under the ‘Perimeter and Area’ topic in Mathletics, most students initially chose the easy activities which they felt they would succeed in. Amy – to my surprise – chose the hard version of areas of circles which not only required her to calculate areas of straightforward circles, but also asked her to calculate areas of sectors of circles with specific angles – something which is normally taught at level 6. I explained to her that she may find this one challenging but that if she was up for a challenge I would support her if she needed my help. She was happy with this and decided to persist with the activity.

The majority of students ended up completing about three activities but Amy worked on this one for the entire time I had allocated. She asked me for help, she asked people around her for help. She made mistakes. She learned from them. It was easy to learn this way because it was just her and the computer. When she made a mistake, the computer didn’t judge her, it just told her that she made a mistake and told her what the right answer was. Sometimes she needed help working out where she went wrong, but she was the one calling the shots – she asked for specific knowledge when it was necessary for her learning. She tried the same activity 3 times all up. The first time she got 4/10 correct. The second time she got 8/10 correct. The third time she got 10/10 correct and jumped up and down with excitement.

I was blown away. Amy – for all intents and purposes labelled as ‘weak’ at maths and enlisted to do ‘consolidation’ classes could take charge of her own learning, could take on mathematics that the Curriculum states is well beyond her reach and jump up and down with joy and excitement at her success. All thanks to technology. I can’t think of any other way that Amy would have had access to this kind of freedom, flexibility, instant feedback and power over her own learning. ICT made this possible for her. I’ve focused on her story because it makes my point so well, but all the other students loved every minute of learning through Mathletics.

“The ICT domain focuses on providing students with the knowledge and skills to change how they learn and to enrich their learning environment. Students develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that can be applied to all learning areas.” (VCAA, 2009)

In that lesson, Amy was an independent, resourceful and creative learner. She persisted with the activity, repeating it (with randomly generated questions every time) until she was satisfied that she had “nailed it”. She sought new knowledge that she required to answer these questions when she realized she needed it. It had purpose for Amy and therefore held more meaning. She never forgot that lesson and went on to teach other students in the class what she had learned. The skills she developed in that lesson will serve her in much more than her maths lessons. I want every lesson of mine to bring students closer to the realization that they are masters of their own learning and that technology is a powerful tool which can assist them in their pursuit of knowledge.

References

VCAA. (2009). Approaches to Information and Communications Technology. Retrieved September 9, 2011, from Victorian Essential Learning Standards: http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/ict/approaches.html

Comments


I found what Sabine said in her blog very much resonated with me a teacher in the value of teaching and student learning in ICT. One of the huge advantages is that it lightens the load of the teacher ( not in a negative way). The job or most ict programs is to help the students learn a topic with features that allow students to gain instant feedback something which is not always possible in the classroom as well as allow students to interact with each other to co-explore certain topics. The fact that students feel no little shame in scoring 4/10 in an informal ICT assessment and how it provides them with motivations to do better shows how powerful ICT as a tool, that it gives doesn't discourage them like a pen and paper test does but allows them to want to continue to improve and master a particular concept or topic. This effect can be seen in gaming as discussed in my own blog as it no matter what the challenge is the student can choose to challenges which are withing their ZPD so they could always improve. The role of the teacher is not to be redundant with the use of ICT but instead should guide and scaffold the students when they need it and continue to promote the idea that the students are responsible for their own learning. 

ICT Assignment 1 Part 3 ( Full Journal)

Throughout my two school placement ICT has transformed me as a teacher through the course of the year. Having done my high school education at a high performing public school  the way I was taught mathematics was  very much in a behaviorist manner in which the teacher would explain a concept on the board and students were then expected to work on the exercises individually. The teacher was a VCE Mathematical Methods teacher I had that time used this form of teaching well and proved effective at engaging the students when explaining the concepts back then there was no group work in the maths class nor was there a projector. At my first placement I naturally modeled my teaching style on the way my old method teacher taught. Very soon I'd realize that times have changed students didn't respond well to the pen and whiteboard style of teaching as engagement was key to teaching content effectively.


So to change my teaching style I've started to incorporate the use of ICT to enhance the teaching of my maths classes especially my year 9 Consolidation maths class during my second placement.  The class itself consisted of 12 students ranging in ability from A Grade students to those that were obtaining and E grad or lower in the subject. Despite being a consolidation class the distribution of abilities can be described as bi-modal i.e. highly polarized to both ends of the academic spectrum, as the mathematically inclined students wanted to further their academic progress, while the less capable students would aim to pass the subject.

The task involved was to get students in the class to piece together a mathematical puzzle which was a result of a computer program called Formulator Tarsia, the program itself generates a puzzle in which the students can complete in class. The puzzle itself is interesting in that it is in a sense like the game Bingo, students were to connect the answer to the corresponding question printed on each side of a mini shape with the goal of producing an overall  (large) geometric shape by joining the correct answer to the correct question. The aim of the task was teach students on the topic of more expansion and applications (contextual mathematical questions) with the intention of improving the skills of those who struggle with the topic while at the same time extending the brighter students.

In creating the puzzle I have included both skills based questions as well as more complicated word type problems which fall under the analysing level on the Blooms Taxonomy rather than just applying and remembering [1]. In structuring the classroom, I endeavoured to encourage students to work in groups of two to promote social constructive learning with the general aim to pair a more capable with a less capable student. At the beginning of each lesson appropriate worked sample questions were given to each student at the start of each lesson to revise the students understanding of the content. Scaffolding was often given to students to help aid them with the problem but answers were not directly stated allowing the students to form the bridge between their current understanding, to the understanding required to reach the solution.

Most of the student exhibited behaviours in which indicated they were engaged with the task throughout the lesson, this was evident as any noise made tended to be working noise. Student of both ends of the spectrum enjoyed the task as it appeals to both their levels of understanding however, there were some students towards the lower end which still struggled with the problems set in the task. The task itself provided an invaluable tool as it clearly showed which concepts students struggled judging on which questions they have attempted and which have not, as well as correctness of their matchings. This exercise proved to be a useful as form of  formative assessment as it makes diagnosing the students ZPD an easy and clear task showing which concepts need to be revised for proceeding class or scaffolded during the class.

The social element of the class provided a good way for students to work collaboratively to achieve a common goal fosting a social constructive learning environment. Overall students indicated they really enjoyed the activity through questions such as ‘are we going to do a puzzle today?’ in the proceeding classes.

Upon reflection of this activity I found this ICT tool to be a highly invaluable tool not for only teaching students’ basic skill but more complicated concepts being suitable for all levels, catering for intellectual diversity . The novelty aspect of this activity has certainly changed my view as it teaching and the use of activity based teaching methods which fits into my philosophy of student engagement being one of the key measurements of success of a teacher. This activity not only engaged students via a novelty factor, provided a problem solving element which appeals to their right brain as a visualisation of what the overall shape looks like is required. From an assessment view it has made knowing which level each student is at easy to diagnose hence it is easier to work with each students ZPD . The major lesson I’ve learnt from this class is that no matter how good an activity is, much thought and preparation needs to be placed before running it. It requires knowing exactly what each student’s strengths and the way they interact within a group and the openness they have to the activity . I thought my choice if questions need to be selected appropriately to closely match the ZPD of the student at the lower end of the spectrum as well as to better know which pairings would be more appropriate to maximise learning [2] . For example, letting a weaker student work alone would not be as effective as grouping them with a more capable group member but at the same time that group member must be effective in peer tutoring the weaker member [2] .  

For my year 10 class I employed the use of a quiz program called Ten Quick Questions. This software is basically a quiz in which you show on the projector and you choose a maths topic in which you want to test and 10 questions will be randomly generated for that topic. The beauty of the program is that for the question you could set the duration of how long the questions are shown for hence providing an expectation for the students as to how fast they are expected to come up with an answer to the question. I found the year 10 class found this extremely engaging to both the stronger and weaker students of the class as the questions themselves on the quiz were skills based however all students could answer them making it more inclusive towards those that were struggling. The competitive nature of it makes it engaging for the smarter students as they'd loved the thrill of getting the questions right which is confirmed by research on the addictive nature of ICT which induces the sense of gaming [3].

Below is an example of what the program looks like.



Overall I found that by including ICT in the classroom and moving away from the pure chalk and blackboard teaching style has really improved me as a teacher and helped engaged the students and ultimately enhanced their learning of the various maths topics. I have since seen the value of social constructive learning that is allowing more capable students to be the expert during some of the activities rather than just me doing the teaching, While the ICT tools i've shown here can be done by hand i.e. the puzzles can be drawn by hand and the quiz can be done using power point the main advantage of not having to reinvent the wheel and use these software is the time you save not having to prepare them ( and simply use them)! Ultimately this experience has transformed me to being a purely behaviorist teacher where the student learning is purely dependent on me to giving students some responsibility to take charge in their own learning through engagements with these technologies.


References

1. Bloom, B.S. (Ed.), Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., & Krathwohl, D.R. (1956). Taxonomy of
educational objectives: Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay.


2. Wells, G. (1999) Dialogic Inquiry: Towards a Sociocultural Practice and Theory of
Education. New York: Cambridge University Press

3. Aceto, S., Dondi, C. & Kugemann, W.F. (eds.) (2004) “Technologies for the Knowledge
Society & Lifelong Learning. Key Findings & Suggestions for Action”, POLE project report,
MENON Network EEIG, Brussels. http://www.education-observatories.net/eduobs