OER4Schools/Collecting and interpreting information: Difference between revisions

{{activity|Small group activity}} Get into your small group of last week’s ‘making use of enquiry ideas A-D’ activity to discuss your homework tasks.You will be remaining in this small groups for most of the activities for this session.

Discuss briefly with each other any new discoveries you have made on using Google. If you have managed to search for the video clip on the internet on '''EBL''' '''& OER use at the Aisha Project School, Zambia, '''share with each other what you have learnt from the teacher on enquiry-based learning through the use of ICT.  

Share in your small groups, any updates of ideas about the ‘project day’ or ‘field trip’:

# Topic/level of students

# Lesson objective/success criteria

# Venue of event

# Use of ICT (if applicable)

* Papers of different size (at least two pieces of paper for each teacher)

* Different coloured pens (at least one for each teacher)

* Computer/laptop/netbook and internet.

{{activity|Small group activity}} (20 mins) Working in your small group of three to four participants, complete the following activity using GeoGebra.  In this activity, we will like you to experiment with drawing different polygons that you may not have seen before (ie. be creative!). Draw 10 different shaped polygons using GeoGebra. As you draw them, think about what is the same and what is different between those, and how you could classify them into different groups.  

Take some time to look at the different polygons you have drawn and try to find similar characteristics in some or all of the polygons. Try to group these polygons together and classify them with some sort of descriptor. For instance, some of them may look symmetrical, some may look like regular polygons, or some have right angles. Be prepared to discuss with your group participants how you have classified them. Share your findings with the other participants and share whether such an activity can be used in the class as a quick taster of what EBL is about.

Try to encourage the participants to draw polygons of different shapes, and to really try to make them different. The polygons should not just be different sizes of the same shape. It is possible that some shapes may look like just magnification or reduction of size of each other but hopefully, participants can draw shapes of different number of sides, length of sides and/or internal angles.  

Note that while the instructions for the task are short, it will take some time. Make sure you limit the time appropriately, so that there’s enough time for the remainder of the workshop. Decide whether or not to show the following video to illustrate the enquiry nature of this kind of problem-solving task:  

Each group of participants should have access to papers of different sizes. Each participant should fold a paper box using each of the papers. Use an appropriate method to measure the area of paper and volume of the paper box. Would the size of the paper affect the volume of the paper box? Or would it be dependent on how your fold the paper? What is your initial ‘best guess’ or hypothesis? How will you go about finding out whether your guess or hypothesis is correct? Share your findings with the other participants and share whether such an activity can be used in the class as a quick taster of what EBL is about.

{{activity|Small group activity}} (10 mins) This is a fast and simple activity in which you (or your students) fill in the blanks, and you learn more about each other. On a piece of paper, draw a simple profile of yourself (forehead, nose, mouth, and chin). You and your group members should choose at least four items from the following list of possible information of each other, and write them inside the profile using coloured pens:

You can post the profiles in the classroom or create a display section in a suitable venue in your school along with your (or your students’) real photos. For another variation, you can use a spreadsheet, to consolidate a particular aspect of the profile of the class (e.g. favourite time of day, favourite food). These can be shown on a regular basis as ‘data’ from your class. (e.g. My classmates all like to eat ’''nsima’'')  

{{activity| Whole group discussion}} (10 mins) Data collection is an essential part of many EBL activities. It is important that data is carefully and accurately collected. Otherwise, the interpretations and conclusions you draw from your enquiry can be very misleading! For instance, you would not want your profile in the previous activity to contain any mistakes about yourself! Some common methods of data collection include: reading reference material in library or on Internet, conducting an interview, using questionnaires or conducting an experiment. Discuss with each other whether you are familiar with each of these data collection activities. It is important to give students ownership of how they prefer to collect and record their findings by giving them options to choose from. It is also important for the teachers to discuss with them the reasons for collecting or recording findings, because they may not understand why they need to collect or record findings in a particular way.