Week 4 - Story Telling, Data Displays and The Learning Federeation

Figure 1: Dust Echos Dream Time Story Picture Synopsis

Today we looked at a fantastic website called

Dust Echoes through the ABC website: http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/
This site looks at Aboriginal dreamtime stories from central Arnhem land and is an excellent resource for teaching about Aboriginal history. The Dreamtime stories are an entertaining way to educate children about Aboriginal culture and history. Today, the dreamtime stories were used assess the students' abilities to follow a story sequence.

In order to create the 'picture story' (Figure 1), I watched the movie to identify the main points of the story. I then chose appropriate pictures, transferred them into Inspiration via Paint and wrote small captions underneath them.

In terms of implementing this in the classroom, I would get the students into groups to read a dreamtime story and design a picture synopsis based on a Dust Echoes dreamtime story. Students would print of their designs, cut them into small pieces and ask other students to put the picture and captions into order as per the story. When all the captions are in the appropriate order, the final picture will hopefully look like a picture related to the story. In the case with my story, when the pictures are in the correct order, it is supposed to look like a crescent moon. This method is an innovative way for children to understand story sequence and to encourage teamwork amongst students.

Figure 2: M and M's Data Display

The graphing activity was a very practical activity that would be simple and fun to implement. I know this from personal experience as I have used this activity during my first teaching practicum with prep students. The purpose of the activity was to categorise different coloured jelly beans (or m and m's in this case) and represent this data in a pictograph (Figure 2). Bar graphing was not examined at that current time with my prep students, however the next step of the activity would have been to have a look at the different ways of presenting this information into graphs. From this simple excerise, the teacher can introduce other types of data displays including pie graphs and line graphs. It is important that teachers emphasise the relationships between tables and graphs. For example, the information in this table is identical to the information in the bar graph and a line graph. The tables and graphs are simply different ways of presenting the same data. The teacher needs ensure that students understand this concept before students independently complete the tasks. Once the teacher has modelled a number of examples of how these graphs can be used to display information, students can construct their own graphs using data provided from the class or their families. This task can also be used to assess/gauge the progress of oral language skills, as the student could potentially present their graphs to the class.

It should be noted that teachers should be aware of students with peanut allergies. If this is the case, an alternative to M and M's will need to be considered.

Figure 3: Ratio and Proportion Activity on The Learning Federation Website

The learning Federation was also discussed in some detail during the lecture during week 4. This is a very rich resource library for primary and high school teachers. There are literally thousands of different learning activities available. Many of them make for great whole-class discussion activities, which I would usually conduct at the start of a lesson. An interactive whiteboard is an essential tool when using this website, so that students can show the class their workings. Each activity on The Learning Federation identifys key learning objectives, learning domains, strands and concepts. Once unit planners have been completed amongst teachers, it is quite valuable to have a look at the activities available on The Learning Federation and identify which activities match the learning objectives identified in the in the unit.

I used an activity on the website while I was teaching grade 5/6 about ratio and proportion (Figure 3). Students really enjoyed coming up to the interactive whiteboard to solve the problems at hand. It is important to remember that as a teacher, simply giving the activity to students is not enough. The thinking behind the activity needs to be made explicit to the students. After students were able to answer each challenge correctly, I would get them to explain how they got to the answer, or if they were unable to do this, I would reiterate the relationship between ratio and proportion.

The Learning Federation is an Australian Website, and it costs to join. The site can be accessed from http://www.thelearningfederation.com.au/default.asp.La Trobe Students doing the Dip -Ed have free access to the website for a year from the date they join. It is worth encouraging staff at the school you work at to invest in this program. Simply viewing the activities available can help inspire some learning ideas to be used in the classroom.

Week3 - Jumping Frogs, Quia and Cyber Safety

The first part of the lesson required us to design a "jumping frog" after being provided with an elastic band and piece of cardboard. Figure 1 shows the template that was used for the activity. This required the group to think "outside the square" to come up with a solution. This activity was very similar to a task we completed in Science which required to group to create a bridge using paper and sticky tape. During practicum, my students were required to take on this challenge and they were quite engrossed by the whole process. Tasks such as the "jumping frog" and "bridge building" exercises encourage discussion through teamwork, planning and lateral thinking. Following on from the exercise, students should be encouraged to reflect on how they worked with their partner and their reasoning behind why they set up their task the way that they did. A "Reflection Wiki" or blog is a good way to encourage students to reflect on their learning and consider what others have mentioned, without having to discuss these thoughts face to face. This reflection tool could be separated into different subjects where students can post their thoughts and the teacher can monitor class input on a regular basis.

Figure 1: Template for "Jumping Frog"
Figure 2: Games Produced on the Quia Website

During the second part of the exercise, we explored the Quia Games website http://www.quia.com/ where we were able to create our own quizzes and fun activities for the classroom. This was great fun and certainly showed a different way to approaching learning. Students are usually quite concerned when the idea of a test is discussed in class. This application could perhaps allows for teachers to assess students not based on how they answer the questions, but the quality of questions/ideas they create for their peers.

Students could produce their own worksheets and have them accessible for the whole class to complete during a quite time of the day in the classroom. The teacher could create a board with all the names of the worksheets and names of the students. Once students had completed a worksheet, they could document this on the "Quiz Board". Students could be challenged to complete as many sheets as possible. Obviously, the teacher would need to monitor the quality of work produced. In terms of catering for inclusion, because the quizzes/worksheets are made by the students for the students, it is likely that every child will be able to successfully complete the activities in the class. This may be a good way to encourage healthy competition in the classroom and keep students occupied during "free work" times or during rainy lunch days.

The importance of teaching children how to be safe on-line was discussed in the lecture is an imperative part of ICT training in the classroom. There is no doubt that technology in the classroom is an important learning tool, however, it is not fool proof. Children can be quite vulnerable using the internet. It is essential that as teachers we use settings that are child friendly and double checked by other staff before students are allowed access. The Victorian Department of Education Website has an "Acceptable Use Kit for Schools" which includes a consent form outlining the students' expectations when using the internet, as well as some student/teacher discussion questions to prompt students to think about what they would do if they encountered difficulties accessing the internet. The link can be found at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/formstemps.htm#H2N1000B.

The website CyberPigs is an essential resource for primary aged students who access the internet on a frequent basis. The site can be accessed from http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/special_initiatives/games/privacy_playground/flash/start.html

Figure 3: Cyber Pigs Website

Cyber Pigs teaches kids how to spot online marketing strategies, protect their personal information and avoid online predators(refer to Figure 3). Throughout the quest, the pigs are asked questions related to their safety. Depending on their answers, students receive points and positive reinforcement, or a reminder of the negative consequences of their actions. The website also includes a teacher’s guide with a number of classroom activities to be conducted prior to using the website. These include educating students about advertising ploys, such as using celebrities or music to enhance the product. Confidentiality and the ways to maximise personal safety whilst using the internet are also discussed.

In terms of using this program in the classroom, this would be a great resource for students to engage in team work. Ideally, a more competent reader would be paired with a less competent reader in order for the teacher to ensure that students are getting the most out of the program. Students can record their scores in pairs on a chart and aim for higher scores when they have the opportunity to play the game again.