Introduction to OER4Schools
The OER4Schools Professional Learning Resource
Review of homework
Small group activity (11 min). 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.
Homework A: Small group planning task (5 mins)
Spend a few minutes discussing with your colleagues the resources you have developed (on enquiry ideas A-D) that you will be using later. You may like to consider some final editing of the resources (e.g. worksheet) or to make sure that you have all the items required (e.g. papers for paper aeroplane) to carry out the investigation later.
Homework B: Developing internet search skills (5 mins)
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.
Homework C: Planning ‘project or field day’ (10 mins)
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
- Sample questions that ask learners what they know/think about some aspects of your chosen topic.
- Possible resources that you can make use of for this event.
- Use of ICT (if applicable)
Objectives for this session
The objectives for this session are to
- learn about what to look out for in collecting and interpreting data in an enquiry-based lesson
- continue to help participants to prepare for an enquiry-based learning session through a series of lessons, a ‘project day’ or ‘field trip’ for their maths or science classes.
Resources needed for this session:
- 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.
Further Tasters of EBL: Investigating characteristics of polygons
Small group activity (11 min). (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.
You may like to refer to this YouTube clip if you are not certain about how to make use of GeoGebra:
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 polygones 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:
You can also refer to this clip (already used in the last session):
VIDEO
The video ‘Interview with Abel on Geogebra, Abel describes use of Geogebra for area and perimeter’
The video ‘Interview with Abel on Geogebra, Abel describes use of Geogebra for area and perimeter’
Video/12 13 Abel 2 4 rectangles 5-desktop.m4v, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/12_13_Abel_2_4_rectangles_5-desktop.m4v, Duration: 12:34 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)
The following task may be used as an alternative if preferred or if there is no GeoGebra resource:
Investigating volume and surface area of paper boxes
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.
Simple Data Collection Exercise
Small group activity (11 min). (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:
- Name
- Favourite time of day
- Favourite colour
- Favourite sport
- Favourite subject
- Something I did that I'm proud of
- Birthplace
- Something that makes me laugh
- Favourite food
- Favourite animal
- Favourite song
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’)
Now try to come up with some interpretation of the data from all the profiles in your group.This is a great way to get to know each other and also the group as a whole.
Data Collection
Whole group discussion (11 min). (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.
Now watch this video clip on Nixolo helping students to collect data in her EBL lesson, bearing in mind the questions below:
VIDEO
Noxolo_3D_shapes_1.3_AfL3_recording.m4v
The description of the video
Video/Noxolo 3D shapes 1.3 AfL3 recording.m4v, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Noxolo_3D_shapes_1.3_AfL3_recording.m4v, Duration: 12:34 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)
Discuss these questions:
- Why you think it is important for the students to record their findings during the enquiry process?
- Are the students in the clip motivated to record their findings?
- Can you think of ways to help the students to engage with the recording information part of the enquiry process?
Collecting and Interpreting Data: Part one
Recall the four enquiry ideas (A-D) that were discussed in the last session. Get back into the small group you were in last session. We will assume your group has been able to develop one or two of these ideas into enquiry-based lesson(s) and you now want your students to start collecting data to answer the enquiry questions.
Idea A: Investigating paper airplanes
There are many different designs of paper airplanes. Some of them have a very plain design but can fly a longer distance whereas some can have a rather interesting design but do not fly as well. What are the factors that affect how far a paper airplane can fly?
Idea B: Investigating the process of hand washing
We have been told that washing of our hands is an important part of maintaining hygiene and preventing the spread of germs and viruses. How do you know that you have spent adequate time washing your hands each time?
Idea C: Investigating the vegetables and trees within our community
What are some of the vegetables and trees that are grown in our community and why are they being grown here? (e.g. consider tomatoes, rape, onion, cabbage, nimu tree, holy fiso, malaina, mango) Some possible areas of investigation: location of vegetable/trees (e.g. type of soil and availability of water source like stream), medicinal properties (e.g. is it used as a traditional medicine?), nutrition properties, economic consideration (e.g. source of fuel/income), ecological and environmental concerns, personal and spiritual values.
Idea D: Planning for a trip to the game reserves and Victoria Falls
Imagine you have two overseas friends who have just arrived in Lusaka and would like to visit a game reserve near Lusaka, the Victoria Falls and one other interesting site. The visitors only have one day to visit these three places by car. Can you recommend the third place to visit and inform the visitors the distance to these places from Lusaka city centre? Can you also suggest an itinerary that will take into consideration the shortest distance of travel to and between the three places, starting and ending at Lusaka city centre ? Please state the distance of travelling to each place and the approximate time required to travel.
Also think about the practical arrangements: how much luggage (water, food, equipment) will you need to take and how will you be able to carry this? Are there any elderly people or young children in your party, who might need special provision, such as extra food, or more frequent stops?
Small group activity (11 min). (10 mins) Discuss in your groups the following questions:
- What form of data collection will the students need to work on? Do they need to identify sources of information or conduct some sort of experiment or calculation?
- If it is a form of experiment or calculation, do they have the necessary skills or knowledge to conduct the experiment or calculation? How will they record their results? How will I make sure to integrate ICT into this process? Would the use of a spreadsheet help students to keep track of and if necessary further process results?
- If it involves identifying sources of information, where do they find the information? How do they know the information is valid and can they access the information?
- What other ways of finding information are there?
An enormous amount of valuable, deep and exciting information is available on the Internet, but an enormous amount of total nonsense, falsities, half-truths and unsupported theories is also out there. Your students have to learn to distinguish between the two, but you cannot give them hard-and-fast rules. Everything that comes out of an established publishing source isn't good information, and everything that comes from a personal home page isn't bad information. The kinds of things that students ask may be answerable only by other people, perhaps only by a knowledgeable other like a teacher, parent, medical specialists etc.
Group activity (11 min). (20 mins) After the discussion, assess if the resources that you have prepared so far would be adequate for the students to embark on the data collection process (whether is it in the form of experiment or enquiring through the internet/asking people). If not, make some changes or consider creating additional worksheets or perhaps a spreadsheet for the students. You should make sure that you have included an ICT element in each of your enquiry ideas.
Imagine that you are the students who are going through the data collection process. Now go ahead to complete the experiment or data gathering. By the end of the workshop, you should have the full data set and findings that you could be ready to share with the other groups next week.
Some post-activity questions for discussion (if there is time):
- What kind of challenges can you anticipate your students will face when completing this phase of the enquiry-based learning lesson?
- How can you support your students as they face these challenges?
- Does the use of ICT in your activity support students’ learning?
Collecting and Interpreting Data: Part two
Small Group work (11 min). (10 mins) You have now collected the data and should be ready to analyse or find solutions to respond to appropriately during the enquiry. Where should you begin and how do you proceed with this section of the enquiry? You might like to take note of the steps in the scientific method as usually followed in many scientific investigations and enquiries:
- A question or a problem is posed
- Research is done to find out what is already known about the topic
- A hypothesis is formed - this is usually a best guess based on what’s already known
- A very detailed step-by-step experimental procedure is designed to test the hypothesis – this is the Method of investigation and must take into account all variables affecting the experiment
- The investigation is done (using whatever equipment/materials you have chose to use) and data is collected
- Data is analysed
- Conclusions are reached
- Results are communicated
You should observe that the steps are very similar to the EBL steps. The steps marked in red should be particularly helpful reference to what you have carried out in the context of a scientific investigation method, and what you could do next. Before you carry on to study your data, discuss these questions:
- What is your ‘best guess’ at this point in time? Why?
- Do you think the data help you to respond to the enquiry? Why?
- How do you know that you can ‘trust’ the data that has been collected? Why?
- What is the best way to make sense of the data so that you are able to find some solutions to the enquiry?
Use the following information if required:
The analysis of the data involves responding to the questions above. These questions help you to evaluate your guesses, and assess whether the data collected is valid (ie. whether it can actually answer the enquiry questions) or reliable (ie. whether the data comes from a rigorous and trustworthy method of data collection). If you do not think the data fulfills the qualities of validity and reliability, then you should immediately highlight the problem and try to find out why this could have happened. It may be the case that you need to to rethink or repeat the data collection process. If you are satisfied with the data collected, you can then go ahead to make sense of the data so that you are able to present a solution or different solutions to the rest of the participants next week.
Remember, to ensure that data collected is reliable it may be necessary to repeat the experiment a number of times. Averages can then be calculated if further processing is needed - for example in the paper airplane enquiry. To ensure that the data is valid, make sure to consider the variables and which to control.
Making use of ICT in Enquiry-Based Learning
Small group activity (11 min). (20 mins) Navigate to the ‘Balancing Act’ simulation by following the link below. Play with the simulation for a few minutes and think about how you might use it in an EBL lesson. Can you come up with one or two enquiry questions that could be investigated using the simulation? Discuss with your colleagues on how would students record their answers to these questions.
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/balancing-act
If time permits, think about reviewing the two gold star rated resources (Teaching Ideas) that accompany the simulation to see how they could be good exemplars for your EBL lesson.
http://phet.colorado.edu/files/activities/3485/Balancing%20Act_Sample_Lesson.pdf
These are some possible extension activities you can do choose to do in your own time:
1. Study other simulations that have been developed in the web page:
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/new
2. Come up with some headings under which to review the simulations and resources that this website pages could offer for an EBL lesson. For instance, you could assess the simulations and resources in terms of:
- level of enquiry they promote
- ways of extending/differentiating the level of enquiry
- how user friendly is it for yourself and students
- how engaging will it be for the students
- relevance to your teaching subjects or curriculum in general
Homework
The participants should set concrete days for their Geogebra day, as well as for the project day. Part 1 of the investigation should be carried out between 5.3 and 5.4. As you go through the homework, explicitly discuss days or lessons which teachers can set aside for this.
Part A: Try out the same mini-GeoGebra enquiry as in the first taster EBL activity above in your classroom, with learners working in mixed groups of 3-4 around a computer. In this consider the following question: How did your students respond to the open nature of this task? What other observations can yo make that will help you to evaluate the use of Geogebra to explore this topic. Note down the responses and the observations: In the next session you will share this with the others.
Part B: Tidy up and make sense of the data for the group enquiry activities you have worked on in this session and be ready to present them next week. Decide on what would be the best way to present your ideas (e.g. charts, OpenOffice presentation) so that you can present your findings next week.
Part C: Continue to work on planning for a ‘project day’ or ‘field trip’ and share any development of ideas in the next session. It may be the case that you have introduced some form of EBL whether in the form of a mini EBL (as in Part A of this homework) or the ‘project or field day’. Be ready to share on the the positive, minus and interesting(PMI) points that you have noted so far of introducing EBL in your classrooms. The following additional set of questions can be considered for thinking and sharing of PMI, if you have already started to make use of EBL in your lessons:
- How are the students involved in framing the enquiry tasks and questions? (e.g. could groups or individuals generate and record ideas about "what I/we want to know"? Or for a whole class investigation, could the class vote on which enquiry is the most interesting yet feasible to pursue? )
- Are the tasks open-ended enough so that the students could also take some responsibility for how they develop, rather than just producing an answer or a solution? (open-ended tasks can still contain guidance)
- Can students conduct experiment, search for information or resources themselves?
- Can students interpret the information or data themselves?
- Can you persuade students to ask more questions without feeling shy or stupid?
- Can you show students that you can be a learner alongside them?
- Are the resources - inside and outside the classroom, human/material/digital - sufficient and accessible to all of them?
- Can you and the rest of the class give comments or criticisms that are constructive and sensitive? Can the group be encouraged to take on board constructive feedback?
- Are the students motivated to suggest more enquiry ideas of their own?
Part D: Carry out Stage 1 of your ‘project day’ or ‘field trip’. You could do this across a couple of lessons (or the longer sessions which we have arranged for in the timetable), or by setting half a day aside for this.
