d.
Planning the Work of Learners
The
teacher was now in a position to plan the activities which she
wanted pupils to carry out and estimate a time scale. There were
six main stages:
- Deciding
what they were going to investigate and identifying what data
would be needed.
- Creating
a database structure and deciding what data would be allowed
in each field.
- Designing
a data collection form and collecting data.
- Entering
data into individual files and then combining them.
- Interrogating
the database.
- Reporting
on the results.
She
decided that she would use the ideas in the "Couch Potato" investigation
from "Better Thinking, Better Mathematics". She wanted the whole
class to do the same thing, as she didn't feel confident enough
to let them choose their own projects. She would be able to handle
much of the discussion as whole-class teaching, which would enable
her to ensure that they only tried things which she was sure would
work. There would still be scope for group work within the recommended
structure, so that all pupils would be able to contribute ideas.
Question
for Consideration
- Suggest
some other advantages of all the class working on the same investigation.
What are the disadvantages?
The
teacher expected that she would need some time to review the main
ideas covered last year with the class first, and then they would
be able to discuss in groups the sort of data which would be needed.
"Better Thinking, Better Mathematics" suggests the following plan
for the unit of work:
-
One lesson to brief pupils on the investigation to be carried
out, review the key points about databases and collecting data,
let them discuss in groups and report back what data they would
collect, then decide which suggestions we would use set up the
database structure, decide what data would be allowed, and design
a form to collect the data.
- One
lesson to create the database structure, enter the data collected,
form hypotheses, and plan the specific questions that pupils
would ask of the database to test their hypotheses.
- One
lesson for pupils to interrogate the whole database and produce
reports on their conclusions.
- A
final lesson for groups in turn to present their findings and
answer questions from others.
Questions
for Consideration
- Do
you think that this timing is realistic, assuming lessons of
one hour?
- The
way the work is divided up into lessons was carefully designed
to enable her to prepare for each lesson on the basis of what
had come out of the previous one. What did she need to do before:
-
Lesson 2?
- Lesson
3?
- Lesson
4?
She
also had to decide on the equipment needed for the work. One of
the mathematics classrooms has six PCs in it, and she thought
that this would be enough if pupils worked in groups of four or
five for the hands-on part. This would enable her to change the
timing if necessary, without having to worry about booking the
computer room.
Question
for Consideration
- Do
you agree? Think about the stages of the work when pupils are
using the computers, and consider how you could organise pupils
to work together on the tasks.
The
"Better Thinking, Better Mathematics" pack included a briefing
sheet for pupils. The teacher decided to produce her own version
of this so that they would have a record of what they had done.
She added some questions for them to complete as homework at the
end. She also produced a short help sheet on using MS Works. She
didn't think any further resources would be useful, as the precise
details of content would depend on the pupils' suggestions.
Key
Skills: She planned to develop pupils' problem solving abilities,
their ability to work with others, as well as their numeracy during
this work. She also hoped that the need to answer questions from
others would improve their ability to monitor their own learning
and performance.
 Part
2: Teaching with ICT
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