Trip to Thailand

An example of a students blog

1a(i)

Equation for part 1 : e.g. y= 0.6x

Equation for part 2 : e.g. y= 0.6x + 3

Equation for part 3 : e.g. y= 0.6x + 1

Equation for part 4 : e.g. y= 0.6x + 4

A screenshot of graph

1b New Equation is y = 0.6x – 2

A screenshot of graph

2a My return equation for the return journey is y = 1.6x + 5

A screenshot of graph

2b(i) The new equation is y = 3x + 5

2b(ii) The new equation is y = -1x + 5

A screenshot of graph

Visual Design critique

Slide 1:

Strengths

Font size is big enough and colour choice is suitable as there is distinct difference between the title and the subheading (i.e. good contrast). 

Areas of improvement 

Add-ons (sounds) are not playable. Should check the functionality of the sound first before adding

Static picture of frog is needless as students already know how a frog looks like.In addition picture doesn’t aid learning and is a distraction.

Slide 2:

Strengths 

Capital letters for the short title is apt. Font size, spacing, together with the contrast makes the slide easier to comprehend.

Life static pictures of the frog does aids learning as students may not have seen a frog in close proximity that often.

Areas of improvement 

Sound effect accompanying the sentences is an irritating distraction. Should be omitted.

Irregular arrangements of pictures and sentences makes the slide messy. Allign pictures on the left and sentences on the right or vice versa.

Slide 3:

Strengths:

“Often complicated information and those that are difficult to remember can be simplified using appropriate visuals (Wong, A.F.L., & Cheung, W.S. (1999).”

Flow chart with clear arrows make slide easy to understand. Diagrams are useful as it helps enhance understanding as compared to words alone.

Areas for improvement

Capitals should not be used for the headings as it is tool long.Words circulating the flow chart  should be bigger so that those far back can see. Choice of colour for all words should be uniform to avoid confusions.

Slide 4:

Strength

Words and background builds clarity.Sentences are short and simple to understand.

Areas of improvements

Pictures of frog, young frog and tadpole are needless as it is not related to the slide content. Graphics does not match the text and neither do they assist learning.

Picture of frog eggs should be placed strategically using formal or informal balance to make slide more organized.

More pictures of frog eggs, especially live ones, should be added to the slide.

Slide 5:

Strengths

Informal balance and proximity of the words and pictures makes the slide easier to comprehend. Paragraphs eliminates cluttering.

Areas for improvement

Forward and backward buttons should standardize with the other slides and be placed at the bottom right corner of the slide 

There should be no more than 8 lines of text. Try to summarize info or use new slide. 

Slide 6:

Strengths

Good contrast makes the slide easily readable. 

Areas of improvement

Pictures are disorganized. Will not enhance student’s understanding.Pictures of eggs and tadpole are not needed as it not related to the slide content. Perhaps a real life picture of a young frog should be used instead.                                                                                   

No more than 8 lines of text in a slide. So either summarize information or use a new slide.  

Ideas adapted  from Wong, A.F.L., & Cheung, W.S. (1999.)

Part 2:Managing ICT-enhanced environments

(a) Do you think the classroom environment is appropriate for the learning activities?   Explain why?

In the full computer lab, students can suit learning at their own pace. On top of that, IT has aided the lesson on congruent triangles, which can be difficult to teach using traditional methods. Hence students will not feel bored. This measure is on par with student-centred learning using ICT.

The positive aspect about the lesson in the half computer lab is that the teacher promotes peer teaching and sharing, by pairing them up.

In the one computer classroom, it was a good move to break the class into groups as the class size is big.The pyramid game stimulates thinking among the players. The teacher gives the students freedom by allowing a group member to describe to the other members, using whatever knowledge they already studied.

(b) The students seem to be focused and on task. What strategies do you think the teacher has used to achieve this outcome?

In the full computer lab, the class was engageas instruction were clear. The effective methods of grabbing attention (i.e.blue and red cups, dimming of lights) with minimal movement and noise also helped. The students were easily put on task because IT was used to explain maths and IT is something that the sudents were comfortable with.

In the half computer lab, the students are able to focus as pairs were clearly assign roles. One to navigate on the computer and the other to jot notes.

The strategy of seperating the students into groups and having station-based activities in a learning centrer allows constant communication and sharing of ideas among group members, which is another characteristic in a student-centred environment.

In the single computer class, the class was engaged as almost everyone had a go in the game. Instructions from the teacher at the start were clear too.

(c) What potential classroom management issues can possibly occur? What proposed solutiondo u have?

The teacher will not be able to handle the class effectively if there were too many red cups at one point of time. And as a result, while waiting for the teacher to attend to their problem, they will go off-track and start talking. So the teacher, in such cases should dim the lights and get their attention, and if needed halt the lesson until all cups are blue. Another matter is, if the class is bigger, students at the back could just copy from their friends rather than ask the teacher. Grouping or pairing them would be better then.

Regarding the lesson in the lab,are the students just copying what they see on the screen to their worksheets? Is there any feedback or assesment to see if they had understood the lesson? Perhaps an interactive online forum incorporated on top of the CD ROMS, would help.

During the pyramid game, I can see that some group members are not physically involved, as only 4 representative are needed. The teacher should then break them up into groups of 4. Furthermore was time sufficient to give instructions, complete the game, and summarize the key pointers afterwords? Such lessons should not be in slots after morning assembly and after recess.

Part 1:How student-centred was the lesson? (story 1)

 Here are my views:

Teacher roles (rating = 8): I felt the teacher was succesful in using IT to engage her pupils, especially knowing that the class is near-expert level in IT. I agree that using the forum for discussions supports learner-centred environment, as students are able to share and learnt from each other. In addition, the teacher acts as the facilitator, intefering only when discussions went haywire or out of track.

However the teacher has stuffed too many activities in too little time. Towards the end of the class, pupils are just rushing to submit their work on time. Hence I believe cognitive guidance is needed beforehand.    

Student roles (rating = 8): The lesson, i believe has always centred around the students. Hunting for information in the internet for their presentation gave them the freedom to learn at their own pace, on top of critically selecting which information is needed from a wide variety of sources.

Nevertheless, when the presentation was going on,  are the rest of the class really listening and understanding or are they merely putting words to the screen blindly?

Curriculum characteristics (rating = 7): It should be applauded that the lessons were planned in a manner that not only allow the students to tap on their IT skills, but also taking advantage of IT to enhance their understanding of the topic, through mind mapping using Inspiration. Presentation skills of the students were sharpened along the way, even though not the whole class presented. Perhaps in the future, a swop of roles is required.

Learning goals (rating = 7): Why I believe the learning goals were mostly met is because instead of the traditional method of accepting information from the teacher, here, the students can critically comment and question their classmates on the topic. Decision making skills, based on what they had learnt, was apt.

On the other hand, I agree on Daphne’s reflection that in the first lesson, the students were more engrossed in the IT, instead of the content presented to them.

Type of activities (rating = 7): Variety was present. The initial PowerPoint slides for the 2 groups, which requires them to act as investigators to the problem stated, was laid out in a manner that grips their attention and arouse their interest right from the start. The forum was good as it allows communication and views were exchanged.

The only drawback was the time shortage factor and it resulted in the students merely wrapping up their work in order to submit it before class ends. Perhaps, a refresher and recap of what tey had learnt should also be done in the next class.

Assesment strategies (rating = 7): It should be noted that tests, quizzes and marks were absent here. Forum discussions/questions posted was an indication on how well they had understood the topic. The presentations showed that the students were able to learn from selective searching, and this is another assesment method when ICT is present.

Despite that, I disagree that written exams and tests should be deleted away. Different topics in different subjects may need different ways of assesment.

Use of ICT (rating = 8): Usage of ICT was quite intensive in this lesson, a good way to foster a student-centred learning environment. I believe this allows students to build their own conceptualization like when using the Inspiration software. But of course, knowing how to use it to their advantage in understanding the topic, is needed first. The forum allows students to learn from their peers and at the same time share what they already know, seen or heard, thus taking the limelight away from the teacher and textbook.

QED 522

To all TG11 QED 522, feel free to comment and critic!

Check out my completed Slide Show!