Nim's Island

In P5 the students are doing a novel study around Nim's Island. As a result we are completing art projects with this theme too.

We started off recreating a piece of volcano art which I discovered on pinterest, but later that week I watched a TED Talk by Cindy Foley about creativity and thinking like an artist. I realised that the volcano art we were doing in class was teaching the students about artistic techniques but not encouraging or utilising the students creativity.



In light of watching this video I decided to come at the art lessons from a different approach and asked the students to think of ideas that they could do to create art around the Nim's Island theme.

The responses from the students surprised me and I enjoyed seeing the different ideas that the students had come up with.

After reading the results from the children there were a lot which talked about paper mache, making Nim's hut and creating life-size pictures of the characters.  So I decided to let the students do all of these activities.

I prepared the resources the students required and let them choose which activity they wanted to do. Now the students in my art class were coming up with the ideas for their art lesson and then choosing which activity they most prefer out of a selection. Until the school holidays we are working on our paper mache islands and our life-size Nim's. The students are being given freedom in their art to use their imagination and creativity - this is actually a requirement in their work, and are also having to problem solve how to use the materials to achieve the result they want.

Plant Science

Last week we checked in on the progress of our phototropism experiments. The students were very excited to see what had happened in their boxes during the week and were surprised by the range of results that we got.

The students used their new measuring skills to measure the growth of their bean plants which we recorded on a class table.




We closed up the boxes and will have a look again next week to see if any of the plants have made it through the maze.  We also learned that the plants that were dropped(!) before they made it into the mazes are still growing.

One group observed that the plants were quite pale looking but we're not sure why that has happened - pupils thought it could be because of the lack of sun, lack of water or due to the air. Our next experiment will hopefully help us to identify what has caused this to happen.

CPD Science

On the 14th of November I attended a science CPD session run by SSERC and attended by teachers within the Stirling and Clackmannanshire councils.

I selected the workshops titled Ice Ice Baby, which focused on the use of ice as a resource to teach science.

We participated in three difference activities in the session and started of by being given a present, which turned out to be an ice-block with a frozen lego figure inside. We were challenged to get the figure out as quickly as we could. This could be part of a lesson on states, thermodynamics or insulating materials.

Then we looked at ice gardens and how they could be used in class to introduce a range of topics such as density, seasons, etc.

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Our final activity was to make ice-cream using ice, salt and milkshake. This activity seemed to me to be the most engaging one for students, as they get to eat something at the end, but I wondered who would take on the responsibility of paying for the resources. Therefore it seemed like an experiment I would be unlikely to use in my classes.

I had a great afternoon at the session and found learning about SSERC and it's activities around the council and country to be very interesting. I would love to attend further workshops they run.

The CPD will impact my teaching practice by increasing the variety of scientific topics I look at with the classes I teach. My ability to implement science into my programme is dependent on the requirements of the school and each class so hopefully I will be given an opportunity to use my new learning in my teaching. 

CPD Music

On Saturday the 10th of September I took part in Silver Kodaly training run by NYCoS.  This was a great session led by Lucinda Geoghegan and continued to discuss teaching and learning started in the Bronze course.

In Silver children begin to develop their understanding of diatonic solfa and start to learn about compound time, all still following the philosophy of everything that is taught must first be experienced.

I enjoyed my session on Sunday and think it is great to have an understanding of where students go to next in their solfa as previously I had only worked within the Bronze level. Although it will not be currently used in my teaching practice, it may be useful in the future.

The course has impacted on my teaching practice through introducing me to new games and activities to use when I'm teaching music, and reinforced how to use the NYCoS resources to support children in my classes.

Plant Science

This week in P2/3 we continued our science research.  We discussed what we observed in the glasses from last week and what that showed us.

We noticed lots of bubbles appearing on the leaves, but where did they come from? The children weren't sure and gave a range of responses including from the air or the leaf. We talked about what happens when we go underwater and breathe out - what do you see then?

This example helped the students to understand that what they were seeing in the glasses was bubbles being released as the leaves breathed out.

I then told the class that the leaves breathe through lots of tiny little holes called stomata and we were going to try and see them.  We collected some leaves from the playground and looked at them through magnifying glasses and microscopes.

The next part of our lesson was thinking about whether plants move by themselves. This was another one of the ideas that the class had about what made something alive. The students were able to come up with some situations when plants do move on their own - growing being the main one.

We then watched a video which showed plants moving towards light (phototropism) and discussed that plants move towards the light as they need light to grow healthily.



Our final activity during this lesson was to prepare a plant maze for our own experiment to show that plants do move on their own. The idea for this lesson came from the wonderful Herbarium page.

We spent the morning preparing our plant mazes using empty paper boxes, card, tape and colouring in pens. The students personalised their boxes and designed their mazes in groups.

Check back next week to see how we progress.

Plant Science

On Wednesday we started our science experiments looking for evidence that plants meet all the requirements of something that is 'alive'.

We are covering the Science E&O 1-01-A, which talks about distinguishing between living and non living things.

In the first session students provided suggestions for what defines something as alive and took photographs of things in the playground to categorise.
This brought up a few discussion points as they listed blood, bones, heart and brain as a prerequisite for being classed as alive, but listed grass and sunflowers as living things in the playground. When I pointed this out to the students we realised we needed to change our suggestions on the brainstorm.

In the second session we prepared an experiment that shows us whether plants breathe or not. We went out into the playground and collected some leaves. Then in our table groups in class set up the experiment which was a cup full of water, with a leaf weighted down with a stone.

Next week the students and I will discuss our observations. Lots of bubbles appeared in the glasses and around the leaves, what does this show us?

Thinking Things Through - Review

Thinking Things Through, Problem Solving in Mathematics

Leone Burton

Introduction

Problem solving requires questions to be based in a real world context, providing students with more authentic engaging tasks.

It is only real when pupils take responsibility for their own mathematical thinking. To support this, teachers need to change their view of their own role from that of one of responsibility to one of a resource for students.

Problem solving in seen as a challenge for the students so they are more engaged and motivated in the work.

What makes problem solving different?

This chapter of the book looked at two different solutions to a problem solving questions and odd and even patterns and relationships.
Talked about problem solving not requiring a 'correct' approach to solve questions and that the students in the examples may well have achieved the same learning/understanding despite working in different ways.

Why is problem solving important?

'The ability to solve problems is at the heart of mathematics' (Cockford Report, 1982). This idea puts into concern the disconnect that students experience in a modern maths class between the skills they are learning and the knowledge to use them.
Problem solving improves pupils' attitude, confidence and achievement in class. It also embraces the spirit of inquiry which is a quintessential aspect of maths.
In a problem solving classroom there needs to be evidence of questioning. Over flow questions can be recorded on a question board to be discussed later.
There needs to be evidence of challenging. Both as a noun and a verb. Challenging questions for the students and challenging their answers between themselves.
Finally, there needs to be evidence of reflecting around the problem by the students.
Teachers need to look at the process students use, rather than the outcome they achieve.
Often teachers are surprised that there is a stark difference between what students actually know and what they use to solve problems.

How to get going

Problems can easily provide differentiation. This makes problem solving an ideal technique for whole class, multi-level teaching.

Students should be offered a choice of problems to select from, although don't overwhelm them with choice either.

Problem solving could be integrated into homework.

Using representations to help solve the problems is key - teachers must make sure they have a lot available for the students to use.

Students need to understand the cyclical process of problem solving. No more 'I'm finished!'

Teachers need to promote inquiry and curiosity in their class with these questions.

Pupils should keep clear records as they go so they can easily share their thinking and present results well.

Modelling problem solving together is essential in showing pupils that the skills and process is an important one that is valued in the class.

The problem-solving process

Burton talks about the problem solving process consisting of four different phases of activity.

1. Entry - where you are trying to understand the question,
2. Attack - trying to find a resolution to the question.
3. Review - examining and reassessing resolution to make sure it answers the question.
4. Extension - investigate new problems that have arisen from the original question.

What about individual differences?

Again, student choice is essential in supporting individual differences. Students undertake the problem solving work in groups, but all children monitor their own work. After some time working together to answer problem solving questions students work out their own dynamics in groups and work together effectively.

Teachers need to focus on giving students space and acting more as a resources for students.

Have the pupils gained?

Developments and growth in the students may take a long time to become apparent. Patience is the key as problem solving covers a wide range of skills.

Students can share their understanding by writing a message to their friends to help them solve the question - they must think clearly and articulate their working well to help them understand.
Another extension activity could be to write another question that uses the students answer.

Problems 1-30

This book also features a section with 30 problem solving questions. These are well laid out and provide teachers with prior information students need, materials required, skills covered, suggestions for solving the question and extension ideas.

Opinions

Problem solving seems to be an easy access technique to use in class that has a multitude of benefits. It not only allows students to become more articulate with their maths skills but also develops social behaviours and thinking skills.

I like how easily problem solving caters to mixed ability classes.

Using problem solving as part of weekly homework sounds like a good way to continue to develop students reasoning skills, but must be supported by in class teaching around how to approach this type of question effectively.