{"id":1545,"date":"2017-02-22T18:59:14","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T01:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/?p=1545"},"modified":"2017-03-10T11:49:05","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T18:49:05","slug":"innermissfrizzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/2017\/02\/22\/innermissfrizzle\/","title":{"rendered":"Channeling My Inner Miss Frizzle – in Math"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what ways would you teach an LfU-based activity to explore a concept in math or science? Draw on LfU and My World scholarship to support your pedagogical directions. Given its social and cognitive affordances, extend discussion by describing how the activity and roles of the teacher and students are aligned with LfU principles.<\/em><\/p>\n

My school division uses the Math Makes Sense line of mathematics textbooks and programming as the main resource for math education up to Grade 9.\u00a0 I, and most teachers I know of, have a love-hate relationship with the approach of MMS, as it tends to be very abstract and conceptual without always including as many hands-on, nitty-gritty experiences for the students.\u00a0 While each lesson begins with an exploration task, these explorations are often too difficult for students when they lack a meaningful context or are really just pencil-and-paper tasks.\u00a0 After exploring the readings and activities this week, I have somewhat softened my perspective of MMS, however, in the sense that I believe the general approach of the programming aligns to a certain extent with LfU principles, although the execution may not always follow suit.\u00a0 This can be accounted for with supplemental and substitutional experiences designed by the instructor.\u00a0 I like to use hands-on exploration activities with my students, but I often situate them after I have provided initial instruction.\u00a0 LfU would dictate that students begin with rich exploration tasks, and then the teacher supports consolidation of learning afterwards.<\/p>\n

One big take-away I gained from this week\u2019s reading was in Perkins, Hazelton, Erickson, and Allan\u2019s article regarding place-based education. They explained that, \u201cIntroducing GIS and GPS in the students\u2019 familiar and immediate surroundings more easily bridges the gap between the real and digital worlds.\u00a0 Each student has tangible experience with their schoolyard and, therefore, some sense of that space that will allow them to construct new knowledge in the context of a place that they know\u201d (2010, p. 217).When working with measurement in math, and specifically with unit conversions in early high school, LfU-based activities can involve students exploring the actual space of the classroom, school, and school yard to look for patterns in relationships between measurements taken using different measurement devices.\u00a0 Providing students with specific tools that can provide or not provide specific measurements can create a need for strategies to use the tools at hand to accomplish the task.\u00a0 Following an investigation of such measurements, discussion regarding patterns and trends could follow, with students also having an opportunity to ask peers questions regarding incomplete connections or misunderstandings.\u00a0 The teacher can help to build a common record of findings and patterns, working towards conversion rules.\u00a0 This investigation could be followed up with an application to a space of their choice \u2013 the rink, a baseball diamond, a theatre, with students needing to determine certain measurements in order to refurbish the space with the appropriate materials.\u00a0 Students are the drivers of the conceptual and skill development, with teachers taking on the role of guide and supporter.<\/p>\n

A second concept that I feel is very important is that \u201cThe designer or teacher must also pay attention to the preparedness of the learner to receive the information and the processing and use of the information that the student will be asked to do in the learning context\u201d (Edelson, 2001, p. 377).\u00a0 Teachers need to meet students where they are at, not where we think they should be.\u00a0 If a task offers too much challenge for a student, s\/he will likely not find the motivation necessary for LfU, or may struggle with the tools themselves.\u00a0 As teachers, we can support students in LfU-type activities by ensuring that the learning activities and tools are equitably accessible to all students.\u00a0 Students who need additional supports to participate in the investigation can still explore and create their own learning, and will benefit greatly from doing so.\u00a0 For example, a student with weak short-term memory skills, may need a written list of steps for the process of a particular activity, but these steps can be written by the student with the assistance of a teacher or educational assistant so that they are not directive, but rather supportive of the learning exploration process.\u00a0 The same way that some students need glasses to see, we need to remember that some students need specialized supports or adaptations in order to be able to properly access and participate in the learning.\u00a0 Such supports could include strategic grouping or pairing, outlined step lists, exemplars, scribing, audio support, etc. Students with academic challenges deserve to participate in exploratory activities as much as students who do not require additional supports.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the teacher\u2019s job is to provide the context for learning experiences that stimulate motivation and curiosity, support students in their problem solving skill development, gently guide students in a better direction when they get off course, and explore with the students.\u00a0 When students see teachers learning with them, it creates less of a perception of teachers as the keepers of all knowledge.\u00a0 Ths also reinforces the LfU idea that “the construction of understanding is a continuous, iterative, often cyclical process that consists of gradual advances, sudden breakthroughs, and backward slides” (Edelson, 2001, p. 377). Teachers as learners reinforces the concept of ongoing learning.<\/p>\n

Students need to be given agency to explore and \u201cget messy\u201d with their learning.\u00a0 There are many interesting and open-ended tasks for learning in mathematics if teachers are willing to provide these opportunities for their students.\u00a0 In the words of one of my favourite television teachers, Miss Frizzle, teachers and students engaging in LfU-styled learning need to be willing and prepared to \u2018Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!\u2019<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Edelson, D.C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for the design of technology-supported inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching,38<\/em>(3), 355-385.\u00a0http:\/\/ezproxy.library.ubc.ca\/login?url=http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/ 10.1002\/1098-2736(200103)38:3<355::aid-tea1010>3.0.CO;2-M<\/a><\/p>\n

Perkins, N., Hazelton, E., Erickson, J., & Allan, W. (2010). Place-based education and geographic information systems: Enhancing the spatial awareness of middle school students in Maine. Journal of Geography, 109(5), 213-218. http:\/\/ezproxy.library.ubc.ca\/login?url=<\/a>http:\/\/dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca\/10.1080\/00221341.2010.501457<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In what ways would you teach an LfU-based activity to explore a concept in math or science? Draw on LfU and My World scholarship to support your pedagogical directions. Given its social and cognitive affordances, extend discussion by describing how the activity and roles of the teacher and students are aligned with LfU principles. My […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47473,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1669391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-lfu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1546,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}