Using Primary Resources in Teaching Maths
Introduction
(Davis, 2010) examined two different instructional approaches in her own grade 2 classroom to check the influence on students’ reading capabilities. She employed several practices such as student choice, collaboration, and shared control of learning outcomes and has given ways in which teachers can organize reading instruction in such a way that it integrates literacy development with life skills. (Davis, 2010) used socio cultural theory and judicious use of instructional tasks to assist her in her action research.
In socio cultural context, students make meanings based on exchanges with a number of social factors in the environment. As per literacy tasks, students experience and make sense of literacy instruction based on the organization of learning activities. She also used several methods, out of which choice and collaboration stood out for me. While the research was limited to a single classroom only, the impact was quite concrete. Student engagement was more and impacted experience of literacy in measurable ways.
(Newman & Warach, 2008) shared about a class where a teacher used a movie as a primary source and then asked her students to analyse it by using the “who, what, when, where, how, and why”. The teacher asked students to create questions using the prefixes and then investigate into the topic of the movie, immigration, using them. Hence students became journalists emphasising the skills of literacy such as reading, thinking and communicating.
(Wineburg, 2010) spent years understanding how high school students learn History and, disappointed by the rote learning prevalence, developed Historical Thinking as a method. He taught students to think like a historian by bring in several strategies that historians use when analysing a document such as: sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, using background knowledge, reading the silences, and corroborating. He did that to teach students to think differently, to tolerate complexity, adapt to new situations, and to resist the first answer that comes to mind. It is life skill.
My Takeaway and Syntheses
My chief takeaway from (Davis, 2010) is providing students with choice, that is, a degree of control in their learning processes and outcomes. My chief takeaway from (Newman & Warach, 2008) is the collection of prefixes “who, what, when, where, how, and why” for the purpose of investigation. My chief takeaway from (Wineburg, 2010) is to use historical thinking as a life skill.
I can synthesize what I have learnt in the context of my milieu, that is middle school math, by choosing a direct source, building learning maths through it in such a way that it involves using strategies from literacy, historical thinking and use of student created questions.
It may seem that (Davis, 2010) literacy development, important for all classrooms, is not a part of maths but I differ. As per (Stem.org.uk, 2009) speaking, listening, reading, writing and vocabulary is an important part of building strength in maths and can be achieved using several strategies (Down, 2014). I am very comfortable with historical thinking as a life skill in order to have students think deeper and student created questions can be the driving force for any inquiry based lesson.
Using all the three, I would ask my grade 8, for they have a level of intellectual maturity to investigate, to origins of numbers as the topic. I would hand out pictures from ancient times when numbers were used to the middle ages when trade started. They would work in a group, bringing in the sociocultural aspect (Davis, 2010) to first assess the validity of the documents (Wineburg, 2010) and then create their own investigative questions based on (Newman & Warach, 2008) “who, what, when, where, how, and why”.
They would have (Davis, 2010) choice in presenting their findings. They could present it to the school, write an essay, develop a pictorial time line with a presentation, showcase a role play or any other way that suits them.
The objective would be for them to develop a perspective on how numbers started, when they took the turn to the present form and why. I want them to intuitively understand the evolutionary nature of development of maths through number system. My purpose is for them to move away from the mechanical way of doing maths as rule and problems. Instead, to see it as a creative process of growth through several iterations spanning over generations.
Conclusion
I quite enjoyed the process of synthesis. I believe the only way out of the image of maths as a fear causing subject is to bring in creativity in its teaching and learning. When students develop a perspective that shows maths as a Historically developing subject out of needs of a society in evolution, they would perhaps have a different perspective and hold in a light of awe. That would make it more palatable and hence improve the mathematical intelligence of the students.
In socio cultural context, students make meanings based on exchanges with a number of social factors in the environment. As per literacy tasks, students experience and make sense of literacy instruction based on the organization of learning activities. She also used several methods, out of which choice and collaboration stood out for me. While the research was limited to a single classroom only, the impact was quite concrete. Student engagement was more and impacted experience of literacy in measurable ways.
(Newman & Warach, 2008) shared about a class where a teacher used a movie as a primary source and then asked her students to analyse it by using the “who, what, when, where, how, and why”. The teacher asked students to create questions using the prefixes and then investigate into the topic of the movie, immigration, using them. Hence students became journalists emphasising the skills of literacy such as reading, thinking and communicating.
(Wineburg, 2010) spent years understanding how high school students learn History and, disappointed by the rote learning prevalence, developed Historical Thinking as a method. He taught students to think like a historian by bring in several strategies that historians use when analysing a document such as: sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, using background knowledge, reading the silences, and corroborating. He did that to teach students to think differently, to tolerate complexity, adapt to new situations, and to resist the first answer that comes to mind. It is life skill.
My Takeaway and Syntheses
My chief takeaway from (Davis, 2010) is providing students with choice, that is, a degree of control in their learning processes and outcomes. My chief takeaway from (Newman & Warach, 2008) is the collection of prefixes “who, what, when, where, how, and why” for the purpose of investigation. My chief takeaway from (Wineburg, 2010) is to use historical thinking as a life skill.
I can synthesize what I have learnt in the context of my milieu, that is middle school math, by choosing a direct source, building learning maths through it in such a way that it involves using strategies from literacy, historical thinking and use of student created questions.
It may seem that (Davis, 2010) literacy development, important for all classrooms, is not a part of maths but I differ. As per (Stem.org.uk, 2009) speaking, listening, reading, writing and vocabulary is an important part of building strength in maths and can be achieved using several strategies (Down, 2014). I am very comfortable with historical thinking as a life skill in order to have students think deeper and student created questions can be the driving force for any inquiry based lesson.
Using all the three, I would ask my grade 8, for they have a level of intellectual maturity to investigate, to origins of numbers as the topic. I would hand out pictures from ancient times when numbers were used to the middle ages when trade started. They would work in a group, bringing in the sociocultural aspect (Davis, 2010) to first assess the validity of the documents (Wineburg, 2010) and then create their own investigative questions based on (Newman & Warach, 2008) “who, what, when, where, how, and why”.
They would have (Davis, 2010) choice in presenting their findings. They could present it to the school, write an essay, develop a pictorial time line with a presentation, showcase a role play or any other way that suits them.
The objective would be for them to develop a perspective on how numbers started, when they took the turn to the present form and why. I want them to intuitively understand the evolutionary nature of development of maths through number system. My purpose is for them to move away from the mechanical way of doing maths as rule and problems. Instead, to see it as a creative process of growth through several iterations spanning over generations.
Conclusion
I quite enjoyed the process of synthesis. I believe the only way out of the image of maths as a fear causing subject is to bring in creativity in its teaching and learning. When students develop a perspective that shows maths as a Historically developing subject out of needs of a society in evolution, they would perhaps have a different perspective and hold in a light of awe. That would make it more palatable and hence improve the mathematical intelligence of the students.
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