(B8) WHAT IS REASONING? WHY IS REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING IMPORTANT TO TEACH IN MODERN PRIMARY SCHOOLS?

BLOG 8

WHAT IS REASONING? WHY IS REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING IMPORTANT TO TEACH IN MODERN PRIMARY SCHOOLS?

The National Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF) has been introduced to help children develop excellent literacy and numeracy skills during their time at school. (The Welsh Government) 

All schools across Wales practise the use of reasoning, not to be confused with problem solving. These are two separate things, although they go hand-in-hand. For example, a child would solve a problem to come to an answer, and then reason if that is the most suitable answer, and whether they have used the most logical and practical way to come to that answer. It is also important to emphasise to these children that by showing all of their workings out, they are demonstrating their full knowledge of that question to their practitioner. ‘A key skill in becoming fully numerate (and to becoming an independent adult) is the ability to make your own decisions and learn from them. This key skill is central to these activities: they have been designed to encourage learners to develop the ability and confidence to choose their own methods and ways of recording and presenting their work’ (The Welsh Government)

Problem Solving 

Many children would find problem solving difficult, this could be because they may think that there is only one solution, however, by practising and doing these questions on a regular basis, they should begin to understand the skill of modifying a behaviour to achieve the best solution. It is very common for children to read the data or question incorrectly, which often results in wrong answers. The Welsh Government have issued reasoning support materials that are available for free, for teachers, parents and students to use at free will. They are categorised by school year, and are relatively suitable for that age (obviously this doesn’t always apply to every child). Problem solving and reasoning helps develop a growth mind set, and gives a meaning to mathematics by applying the question to situations that the children can relate to. For example, the picture below shows a year six reasoning question, which asks various questions about the number of seats and the price of tickets on an aeroplane. 

Many students and teachers use the ‘rucsac’ acronym as a useful way to remember how to answer a problem solving question. 

R: Read

U: Understand

C: Choose

S: Solve

A: Answer

C: Check

The students follow the six rules to ensure top marks, especially in a question where they could earn a lot of marks. Read and know which information is important in the question, Understand what you need to find out in order to answer, Choose the correct method of calculation and operation, Solve the problem by following the steps, Answer the question by showing all of your workings out, Check your answer for no silly mistakes. 

“when we verbalize mathematical thoughts, we need to reconstruct them in our minds, and when others react to them, we reconstruct them again. This act of reconstruction deepens understanding. When we work on mathematics in solitude there is only one opportunity to understand the mathematics.” Boaler (2009, p.44)  This speaks of the mathematical side of problem solving, where a lot of the questions are based on data and numbers that students must evaluate the questions and construct their answer based on this. However, many problem solving and reasoning questions offer no data at all, so that the student must use their reasoning skills to identify the key information given, and conclude a structured answer using their literacy skills. This can often be mis-leading, as the question may look like a ‘trick question’, or confuse the student by providing irrelevant information. A crucial element in achieving this aim is to facilitate the development of numerical reasoning: the ability of the learner to apply their numeracy to a multitude of contexts in order to solve problems (The Welsh Government). “Problem solving is potentially one of the broadest topics in psychology. So much of what humans do in their work and personal lives could be characterized as problem solving that the boundaries of what is and what is not within the topic area are unclear.”( Mumford, 2011)

Below I have provided a link to  YouTube video which explains the new Welsh Curriculum in full:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U0fsT0gH7U

Reference list

1.   Boaler, J. (2009) The Elephant in the Classroom. London: Souvenir Press Ltd.

2.   Handbook of Organizational Creativity, edited by Michael D. Mumford, Elsevier Science & Technology, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cardiffmet/detail.action?docID=765294.

3.    The Welsh Government, 2015. 

4.    The Welsh Government, 2018. ‘A new curriculum for Wales’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U0fsT0gH7U

(B7) WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS MATHEMATICS IN PRIMARY CLASSROOMS IN WALES

BLOG 7

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS MATHEMATICS IN PRIMARY CLASSROOMS IN WALES?

As part of Donaldson’s ‘Successful Futures’ report for Wales, ‘numeracy’ has been recognised as one of our three cross-curricular skills that will be embedded into the lessons in the classroom. Here are two concepts that help prove thatmathematics lessons can be fun at school. 

Technology

Technology can be used for all children who are developing their numeracy skills.  

‘The advantages of virtual manipulatives are instant feedback and student engagement; students know immediately if they have done the work correctly. When whole classes work with virtual manipulatives in lab or laptop situations, teachers can spot students with misconceptions and work one-on-one with them’ (Hamilton, 2015). The use of iPads and other technologies are becoming increasingly popular in classrooms across Wales, again, as our new curriculum identifies numeracy and digital competence as cross-curricular skills, we are able to combine these to create a better attitude towards mathematics by allowing the students to demonstrate their understandings in a virtual manner. Children nowadays are immersed in a society where technology is everything, so it only makes sense for them to incorporate that into their academic life. It gives them a chance to show their practitioners their skills in a way that may reflect their true abilities (for example, math ‘apps’ may give the child the opportunity to solve a problem in a way that suits them). 

Mobile technologies have provided various approaches to learning: engaging learners in contextualised learning environments using mobile devices’ built-in sensors (Tangney et al. 2010); using the mobile phone to journal math learning (Project Tomorrow 2011); and connecting learners through mobile phones and social media (Roberts and Butcher 2009). Crompton and Burke’s (2015) survey of mobile learning in mathematics showed that there is a growing interest in mobile technology effectiveness, with 75% of 48 studies reporting positive learning outcomes. This shows that there are not only a need and practical use for technology in the classroom, but also that there is a demand ad interest in the children that participate in technology-led math lessons. By developing and encouraging the use of technology at schools, I feel that it could lead to positive attitudes towards a younger generation wanting to attain a career in STEM subject fields of work, which could be greatly beneficial to our future society, as we develop a positive attitude towards science and mathematics by combining the use of these subjects with technology at a young age. 

Outdoors

Using the outdoors is a way to teach mathematics; it is not exclusive to the classroom. Especially for Key Stage One students, practitioners would be able to use the outdoors as a way to improve attitudes towards mathematics; mostly as a way to demonstrate that there are fun ways to develop their numeracy skills. For example, muddy kitchens can offer the practise of measuring, and acknowledging correct units. The outdoor environment is the ideal arena for planning maths activities that would otherwise be impractical, unattractive or impossible indoors (MS) The outdoors offer a sense of a ‘treat’ for children, as they sometimes don’t understand that they are continuing to develop, just that it’s practised in a different environment. This should create a good relationship between the child and the outdoors, and a positive attitude towards learning outdoors. 

Another activity that would be appropriate for Key Stage One students is a game called ‘rob the nest’, where children would collect as many natural objects as they can (rocks, leaves, flowers etc.) the children are using their numeracy skills to count, organise and make use of the time given. Children learn to compare quantities through play and practical activities that involve sorting, comparing and counting. Practitioners help by engaging children in conversation and introducing mathematical vocabulary that will help them to verbalise their own thinking. (MS) The aim of this is to practise numeracy skills in an unconventional way, and to assess which children are aware of these skills. 

For older students, physical education lessons could be combined with numeracy skills. Measuring long jump and calculating and comparing race times could introduce or develop the skills of graph making, documenting data and using units of measure. The Welsh Government acknowledges that year six students are able to ‘estimate and visualise size when measuring and use the correct units’. At this age, most students are aware of which subjects they favour, and which they dislike. Many students thrive in physical education, and could hopefully use this as a way to develop their skills in other subjects. By combining their favourite subject with another, the practitioner could create a positive environment for that child to work on their numeracy skills. 

   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVBDXeZo49g

References

1.    Crompton, H., & Burke, D. (2015). Research trends in the use of mobile learning in mathematics. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 7(4), 1–15.  https://doi.org/10.4018/IJMBL.2015100101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2.    Developing early maths skills outdoors by Marianne Sargent

3.    Hamilton, Boni. Integrating Technology in the Classroom : Tools to Meet the Need of Every Student, International Society for Technology in Education, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cardiffmet/detail.action?docID=4395784.
Created from cardiffmet on 2019-05-05 12:28:11.

4.    Project Tomorrow. (2011). Evaluation report of the impact of project K-Nect on teaching and learning. Retrieved February 15, 2013 from http://www.tomorrow.org/docs/ProjectKNect_EvaluationReport_Mar2011.pdf

5.     Roberts, N., & Butcher, N. (2009). Evaluation of the imfundo yami/yethu Project: Executive summary. Johannesburg: Neil Butcher and Associates.Google Scholar

6.     Small talk (Youtube channel) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO5yKL7LXljk38__qIkfrtg

7.     Tangney, B., Weber, S., Knowles, D., Munnelly, J., Watson, R., Salkham, A., …, & Jennings, K. (2010). MobiMaths: an approach to utilising smartphones in teaching mathematics. In Proceedings of mlearn2010: 10th world conference on mobile and contextual learning (pp. 9–15). University of Malta: Valetta.Google Scholar

8.     The Welsh Government https://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/nlnf/framework?component=numeracy&year=6938362_2&selectedYear=col_10&lang=en

(B6) ON-LINE BULLYING

BLOG 6

ONLINE BULLYING

Online bullying in 2019 is extremely rife. Social media is becoming increasingly popular, and unfortunately, so is the number of children who say that they have had a negative experience online. Instagram is one of the biggest online platforms in the world, where users share photos on their profile, and other users can ‘like’ and comment on those photos. Instagram’s number of users has rocketed in recent years, with an estimated 1 billion users as of June 2018 (Statista, 2019).“Instagram is most popular with teens and millennials – this holds true in the United States where more than half of Instagram’s user base is between 18 and 29 years old.” (Statista, 2019)

It is against Instagram’s terms of use that any person under the age of thirteen use their website. “We want our service to be as open and inclusive as possible, but we also want it to be safe, secure, ad in accordance with the law. So, we need you to commit to a few restrictions in order to be part of the Instagram community” (Instagram, 2018)

While on the topic of Instagram, I thought it was important to share the positive role it has played in exposing and growing businesses and communities. As of March 2016, 98% of fashion brands had an Instagram profile. (Statista, 2019). Along with these fashion brands, come models. One of the biggest topics of discussions of the past year (online) has been about women empowerment, embracing our bodies, and celebrities such as Beyoncé, are encouraging others to be respectful to one another (Beyoncé’s music has always been an advocate for women’s rights, especially in black communities). One of the things that highlights the era that we are living in now, are ‘Instagram models’. Instagram models are typically photoshopped to look a certain way, or having photos altered by the company that they are working for. These photos can be seen as unrealistic, and could lead to younger audiences feeling like they need to change their appearances in order to look like the photos that they see online. Instagram models can cause children to alter their physical appearance, which could result in bullying. A paper showed that Instagram can have a negative impact on people’s mental health. A user named Kelly expressed that the constant exposure of seeing other people’s posts gave her distressing feelings. (Elliott, 2018). 

Staying safe

I feel that it is important for children to acknowledge the risks of being online. Teachers and parents carry the duty of educating their child(ren) about what t post and what not to post online. It’s also important to recognise that not all children are a victim of bullying, sometimes, it could be your child who is the bully. Understanding the consequences of bullying could reduce the number of children who do it to others. It is known that in a lot of cases, children will bully others because they are jealous, insecure, or even because they have issues that they have not resolved themselves yet. Bullying UK is a charity that offers all kinds of support, including support for cyber bullying. Here are some tips:

·     Never give put your real name

·     Never tell anyone where you go to school

·     Never agree to meet anyone you’ve met online, alone.

·     Tell an adult if someone makes an inappropriate comment towards you, or makes you feel uncomfortable. 

These are all things that a child could do to prevent online bullying. Here are a few things that parents and teachers can do to prevent bullying:

• Educating children to celebrate positivity and how to comment online. 

·     Educate the child about using social media in moderation. Not all day every day

·     Ensure you have access to all of their passwords, so that you can keep an eye on what they are looking at online.

·     Gain a sense of trust with your child, so that if there ever was a problem, they would feel comfortable enough to come forward to you and ask for support. 

·     The school should give e-safety lessons, and sometimes have guest speakers come and speak to the children, such as the police, to share stories and give evidence on what could happen in dangerous online situations. 

Below, I have provided a link to an online video which speaks about cyber bullying, and how to beat them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwu_7IqWh8Y

References

1.    Statista. 2019. ‘Number of monthly Instagram users from January 2013 to June 2018 (in millions) https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users/

2.    Instagram, 2018. ‘Terms of Use: Your Commitments’https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870

3.    Elliott, B. 2018. ‘Helpful or Harmful? The role of Instagram in the recovery from major Depressive Disorder’ https://repository.cardiffmet.ac.uk/handle/10369/9961

4.    Watch Well Cast, 2013. ‘How to Beat Cyberbullies’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwu_7IqWh8Y

(B5) HOW CAN TEACHERS USE TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVELY IN THE CLASSROOM?

BLOG 5 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVELY IN THE CLASSROOM?

In this blog I will be discussing the use of technology in the classroom, and also how it can help or hinder the use of the traditional teacher. 

It is undeniable that the role of the teacher is becoming more and more reliant on technology to be able to “thrive in an increasingly digital world” (The Welsh Government, 2015). Interactive whiteboards, iPads and smart projectors are being installed in classrooms up and down the country to be able to meet with the demands of the government, which insists that the next generation is fully equipped and knowledgeable to be able to work and co-operate in a world where technology is becoming increasingly important in almost every job. I feel that many teachers who have been in the job for decades, may become frightened to educate children on a topic that they know not much about. The pressure to become digital experts is massive, and trainee teachers are given lessons on which websites to use for their future roles. the bearing of technology on the role of the teacher has been one of the most congested areas of educational technology discussion and debate over the past 50 years or so. On one hand, some academic commentators hold a strongly held belief that technology will displace the teacher (or as a few people will have it, has already replaced the need for a teacher altogether). Conversely, many people would also consider technology as a great support to the human processes of teaching. (Selwyn, 2016, p.117)

Making it relevant

Before embarking on creating digital competence lesson plan, it is important to remember that the children probably already have a better understanding of technology that we do. Today's children live in a digital and media-saturated world over- flowing with information and communication technology tools to the extent that they are now referred to as “digital natives” (Taylor & Keeter, 2010). An annual report by Childwise shows that children aged five to sixteen spend an average of six and a half hours a day in front of a screen, and that children in the next ten years “will have little understanding of a world without the internet” (Childwise, 2015). Children today have become fixated on iPads, X Boxes and smartphones. Needless to say, they are geniuses at it, and are the first to want to know about new products, however, teachers could use this to their advantage, by assessing what children know, and how they use technology effectively. The Welsh Government has issued expectations for digital competence learners. For example, a year six student must be able to explain the differences between online and offline communications, explain the advantages of communicating electronically, and understand the importance of saving work periodically to avoid losing work. While nursery students must be able to save work by clicking an icon, identify emotions on screen, and be aware that some devices require a simple password or access action i.e swiping. It is crucial that practitioners in Wales evaluate these outcomes for each of their class, and  assess what needs to be done in order to achieve those standards. 

Below, I have provided links for two YouTube videos. One demonstrates how teachers can use technology for mathematics in the classroom, by showing videos that are appropriate for their audience. The first video shows basic additions, subtractions, and a lot of bright colours and characters, which would be useful for toddlers or children at nursery. The second video shows year six maths, where tutors often discuss problems on a whiteboard, or on paper. There are hardly any colours in this video, but it is suitable for the audience. In both circumstances, a teacher could show these videos to a class, or talk them through them. 

Nursery:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN9ToAhMVwU

Year six: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdmtx8TzzW4

Involving the children

Many schools across the country have adopted the ‘digital heroes’ programme. This is where year five and six students attend a training course and learn about the different aspects of being online. The students then go ahead and educate other students and classes on what they have learned. They can also offer support and help, and students can go to them in times of need, if they feel more comfortable speaking to them rather than a teacher. The teachers don’t have much to do with this at all- the students work independently to plan lessons and make sure they are getting all of the information across to others. This doesn’t only happen at schools, the digital heroes can then go ahead into their local communities to educate the elderly, people in hospital, or people who just need some extra support. 

Reference list

1.    Childwise, 2015

2.    Kids Learning Club, 2017. ‘Learn maths for kids. Teach math addition for kids. Math for children. Learning video for toddlers’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN9ToAhMVwU

3.    Mr Wall, 2018. ‘Year 6 SATs Maths Paper 2 Reasoning 2017 guide’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdmtx8TzzW4

4.    Selwyn, N. (2016). Education and technology: Key issues and debates. Bloomsbury Publishing.

5.    Taylor, P., & Keeter, S. (2010). Millennials: Portraits of generation next—Confident, connected, open to change. PEW Research Center. Retrieved from http:// pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/millennials-confident-connected-opento-change.pdf.

6.    The Welsh Government, 2018. https://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/digital-competence-framework/?lang=en