HumaneMaths

  I had a group of middle school students, grade 7 specifically. This was an IGCSE group,  and we had to cover volume of a cylinder. As the development age was Erikson’s fourth stage, Industry versus Inferiority, when peer group gets an important point in their lives (McLeod, 2015). So, I was clear that I needed to do a group task with the students. I also wanted to do something where they had space to take an initiative and were not bound by a linear task with a clear end goal. The thinking skills expected form them were being able to create abstractions, as they were at the border of concrete and formal operations stage (psychologynoteshq.com/ kohlbergstheory/, 2015). I wanted them to explore, investigate and deduce a pattern. Our school had several cylindrical pillars and I decided to take the class outside to observe them.   I had a choice between following the scientific method, that is a fixed, clear path with linear steps for them and an end game (Bacolor, Ch...

Assessment can be an end of unit test giving the final report or it can be based on the daily opportunities afforded to teachers to collect data about student work. (Coffey & Black, 2001). I spoke to two teachers in my network. I will address them as M and Z. For one of them, M, assessment is primarily based on end of the task. For the other, Z, it is chiefly based on the daily opportunities in the class. So, for one of them it is the formality of the final exam that matters and for the other one it is a part of daily life, natural. M believes that anything that a student does can be used for assessment (Coffey & Black, 2001). For example, in teaching energy conservation, M organized for a class discussion. Through that, observing the students, she realized that students did not understand it fully and hence she organized for an activity in the laboratory. She gave students clear instructions for the group activity (using a pendulum to initiate thinking). She asked the stud...

    How is computer science changing our world?      Whenever I visit LinkedIn, I find new and newer discoveries on technology. It is amazing how technology based on computer science is changing our world! Computing continues to change the way of designing, information reception, how we do business and our understanding of the world. For example, computers were initially used in weather forecasting to assemble observations and do calculations. Today our understanding of weather is almost fully mediated by computational models (Zobel, 2020). Hence development of computing technology is a process of change that is helping to shape our world.      Every part of our world is experiencing on a continuous basis problem that need to be addressed and solved. For example, improved healthcare, technology in education and avoidance of disasters. It also helps build careers as some of the top careers come from computing using technology (Computer Sc...

Dear Teachers of STEM program, It is always a pleasure to speak to you! I feel that it is my privilege that I am addressing you today. Your work in the area of STEM is indeed commendable. We have been exploring it together and have come a long way. While we are developing great tasks, and that is the long way we have come; we still need some scaffolding with the assessments, and that is the way we still need to go. And that is the area to explore for us now. Today I want to share with you my understanding in assessment for STEM. There are three main ideas that form the core of my understanding of assessment in STEM. My Main Ideas 1.       Assess in three dimensions (Bell, Van Horne, Penuel, & Stromholt, 2016).  STEM operates in multiple dimensions. Hence its assessment also needs multiple dimensions to adequately cover all the aspects of the same. I may have a core subject, for example maths, but I am also cross cutting it with other subjects ...

            Teaching based on inquiry stresses out the emphasis of students being the centre of the teaching-learning process with teachers as facilitators. This could be done with several strategies such as think-pair-share or solve problems, have a forum, panel discussion and not be passive listeners. inquiry improves student participation, helps them master the content and enhance their skills. It also helps to make the classroom experiences relevant and bring out their best. Teacher also gain deeper understanding of the students and not just be information givers.           Here is a sample of how I would use the inquiry cycle in my classes for teaching math. This example is from grade 8 math class for teaching pi. I gave this to them without telling anything about pi or how it is related to math. This follows the Kipling method (Markov, 2022) of asking questions. Inquiry Use 5W and 1H way to write 6 questions o...

       When we say, Project Based Learning, or PBL, the thought that comes is a learning experience as per a real-life problem. The ingenuity of the article, "Make Your Own Project-Based Lesson Plan" (Edwards, 2002) is that all the lessons shared focus on skills instead of content. This is because all the lessons instigated the students to share real life problems that they wished to solve and use technology to do research and make a presentation. The one that interested me a lot is the lesson that used maps to build games. This is because a lot of communication skills were used here, which is an area of interest to me. This is also a part of the ATL skills of IB MYP programs (Approaches to teaching and learning, n.d.). There are a number of other skills involved such as investigations, time management, math and product presentation.   I would love to adapt this to my 8 th graders who are at the cusp of adolescence and adulthood.   I would take two aspec...

Educational standards are the learning goals for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level ( National Governors Association, 2010).  I am comparing standards for mathematical practice and ISTE ( International Society for Technology in Education , n.d.).   both are standards, clearly defined learning goals for what should be known and taught at each level. The focus for both is to transfer the skills to thrive in work and life. Hence, I can say that ‘clear goals’ and ‘focus on skills’ are the two converging points.   When I compare and contrast, I discover some interesting differences, some of which are listed below. Common core (CCSS) is rather new, 2010 while ISTE is an old organisation, 1979. I place a premium on depth that comes from experience and ISTE stands out for the same. CCSS is focused on establishing minimum standards in language and maths acquisition for school kids and are defined grade wise. ISTE has as its ...

  Note: This entire piece is based on the article by (Bitner and Bitner, 2002) on integrating technology in the classroom.   How do we Integrate Technology into the Classrooms? Successful integration of technology in the class requires several strategies, (a) funding, (b) a dynamic plan, (c) platform, (d) hardware and software and, most importantly, (e) the teacher. The skills and attitude of the teacher is most important for an effective inclusion of technology in the curriculum. Teachers must be open to learning and be influenced by technology to modify their teaching style. For example, in our school, Veracross is used as an LMS platform. I have seen teachers still using a notebook to keep the scores of the kids and uploading it all on Veracross at the end of the year. I, on the other hand, found that the LMS made my work efficient and time effective. So, I integrated it to upload scores immediately, send mails to the parents and upload homework on it too. I did h...

     As per (Cheng, 2016), Computing is defined as solving a problem using a computer program. His team combined writing a computer program for solving math problems as a trial and found immense success in it. This is an interesting case study and reminds me of decades ago in India where the national curriculum for math had a chapter on developing algorithms for solving problems. Just algorithms, no connection with programming. But I do remember how kids felt clearer about the processes used in solving math problems through that. Sadly, the chapter was dropped by later governments.      (Cheng, 2016) discovered that the success of students involved in the trial improved irrespective of their ethnicity. I am not surprised for writing a program takes a human mind into the pure realms of logic as one breaks down the problem into small components. For example, just the problem of solving 11+19 would entails several micro steps and becoming clear about them wou...

       As the twenty-first century moves on, society appears to be ever more dependent on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industries. Hence educational institutions need to attract and train students to meet the evolving needs. We live in a technological world. This is evident by the fact that in Australia STEM jobs have increased by 150% but not the skillset. There is a crisis in industries that require a STEM-trained workforce. Hence student aspirations towards higher education needs some in-depth understanding.      Over the years, various factors have been identified, and they include parental expectations from the students, (Lloyd, n.d.). Families, and in particular parents, have been identified as providing an important context within which young people form their educational and occupational aspirations. While parents have long been acknowledged as influencing student aspirations in general, few studies have examined ...