Introduction to OER4Schools

From OER in Education

Review of homework

Activity icon.png Small group activity (11 min). (30 mins) Get into your small group of last week’s ‘making use of enquiry ideas A-D’ activity to discuss your homework tasks.

Part A: (5 mins) You were asked to try out a mini-GeoGebra enquiry lesson in your class. Discuss in your small groups the following questions:

  • How did your students respond to the open nature of this task?
  • Did you feel confident with teaching using GeoGebra? Why or why not?
  • What other observations can you make that will help you evaluate the use of Geogebra?

Part B: (5 mins) You were asked to tidy up and make sense of the data for the group enquiry activities (A-D) for presentation this week. Spend some time discussing who will be presenting and to finalise what resources (e.g. charts, models, maps) your group will need for the presentation.

Part C and D: (20 mins) Some of your colleagues may have carried out the beginning stage of a ‘field’ or ‘project’ day in their class. Invite these colleagues to share how their extended enquiry-based learning (EBL) lessons are going. They could do this by giving PMIs of at least two of the following considerations of a successful EBL lesson:

  • Nature of enquiry tasks (e.g. are they open-ended enough so that students could also take some responsibility to research and find ways to investigate different enquiry ideas, rather than just producing an answer or a solution?).
  • Students’ involvement in framing enquiry tasks and questions (e.g. can you persuade students to ask more questions without feeling shy or stupid?).
  • Students’ engagement and competence in conducting an experiment, searching for information or resources themselves.
  • Students’ engagement and competence in interpreting the information or data themselves.
  • Teacher’s role as a guide and co-learner with the students.
  • Availability and accessibility of resources (e.g. internet).

Objectives for this session

The objectives are to

  • learn about what to look out for in presenting data and findings for an EBL lesson
  • carry out an actual presentation of an EBL activity
  • reflect on how EBL activities can be carried out more seamlessly in ‘everyday’ lessons

Making use of ICT in EBL

Activity icon.png 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 how students would record their answers to these questions.

If time permits, think about reviewing the two gold star rated resources (Teaching Ideas) that accompany the simulation to see if/how they could be good exemplars for your EBL lesson.

These are some possible extension activities you can do choose to do in your own time:

1. Study other simulations that have been developed, on the web page:

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:

  • i. level of enquiry they promote
  • ii. ways of extending/differentiating the level of enquiry
  • iii. how user friendly is it for yourself and students
  • iv. how engaging will it be for the students
  • v. relevance to your teaching subjects or curriculum in general

Presenting Findings: Watching Some Examples

Activity icon.png Whole group activity (11 min). (30 mins) You will be watching a few video clips on students presenting their work after some research and preparation of an enquiry topic. Consider the questions that follow after each of the video clips and discuss as a whole group.

Video A: Grade 7 Zambian students in Abel’s class presenting outcomes of their GeoGebra enquiry on the relationship between area and perimeter (spend 10 mins)

Consider these questions as you watch:

  1. What kind of feedback would you give the students?
  2. Would it be useful if the students presented some reflections on their work (as well as their solutions)? What kind of reflections could you ask them to include?
  3. Could there be other ways for the students to present their work? What kind of preparation would they need and how could you assist them?

VIDEO

Students presenting work on area and perimeter

Students present outcome of findings of GeoGebra investigation on rectangles with the same area but different perimeters.

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Educator note

The teachers should emphasise at each stage of the enquiry that students’ investigation is a journey and that finding new information is exciting, especially when unexpected. The final presentation stage is an integral part of an enquiry activity which contrasts with traditional pen and paper assessment methods. The emphasis should be on telling a particular audience the personal story of the “learning journey”, rather than just recounting and reporting the facts as in a test paper. The objective is not just to state the answer but to share how the students arrived at a particular finding(s) and what OTHER possible enquiry questions may have arisen from this current enquiry activity.

Video B: Secondary school students from various countries presenting their recommendations on basic rights of education for a child during a Project Citizen National Finals, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy (10 mins)

Consider these questions as you watch:

  1. What do you notice about the fluency and confidence of the presentations?
  2. How can you help your students to be more fluent and confident in their presentations?
Educator note

Do not be overly concerned if your students have gaps in their basic skills like reading or spelling in their first few presentations. You can point it out if you feel it’s necessary but the most important aspect of the enquiry approach is to help the students to become motivated to find out answers about what they are curious about the world around them. Notice that the students who present in this video clip have demonstrated poise, confidence and a lot of passion!

We should hope that your students would be equally excited to present their learning journey and the affirmation they receive from you and their classmates should energise them further in making more enquiries on their own.

Video C: American secondary students presenting their findings on cyber-bullying to a panel of professionals in a Project Citizen State Showcase (10 mins)

Consider these questions as you watch:

  1. What do you notice about the way that the students organise themselves to present their findings? Is it effective? Why?
  2. What do you notice about the resources that the students have prepared for the presentations? Is it effective? Why?
Educator note

It takes a lot of time and practice for a group student presentation to reach this level of quality. The facilitator should point out that even though this is an older group of students presenting, it should not be impossible for their students to be able to prepare the necessary resources and allocation of different roles through extended time of preparation. The key here is time for preparation! Do not expect your students to be able to come up with a good presentation unless you have shown them good examples of a good presentation and also, give them the time to prepare and try out different presentation formats! For example, they might ‘storyboard’ the presentation (plan it out step-by-step, using drawings or notes where helpful) before doing it live.

Modes of presentation

Activity icon.png Whole group activity (11 min). (10 mins) In all of the video clips you have seen, students present through speaking to the class and using visual props / displays of their work. What other means of presentation can they use, for more variety and to capture different kinds of outcomes? Which of these are feasible in your context?

Educator note

Presentations can take place through posters, dance, role play, cartoons, photograph sequences, charts and graphs, mind maps etc. Encourage the participants to think laterally about different options. Some may even involve audience participation?!

Presenting Findings - Criteria of Assessment

Activity icon.png Whole group activity (11 min). (20 mins) You have watched and discussed the different considerations of what a good presentation may entail. List all the criteria that you think your students should be informed about, when they prepare and eventually present their enquiry findings.

Educator note

The facilitator should write down all the suggestions on the blackboard or a sheet of paper

Now look at this example of an assessment rubric for class presentation:

http://drsaraheaton.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/presentation-grading-rubric4.pdf

An assessment rubric like the one you have seen above provides the criteria for assessment and the list of descriptors of performance at the different levels.

Discuss these questions:

  1. Do you agree with the list of criteria and the descriptors of performance for a presentation?
  2. Are they appropriate for use in your class?
  3. How would you revise the assessment rubric for use in your class?
  4. How useful such an assessment rubric is for your students in terms of:
  • i. Helping them to be aware of the criteria and standards of presentations that you expect from them.
  • ii. Providing feedback to them during their preparation and after their presentation.
  • iii. Discussing with them what are exemplars of a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ presentations.
  • iv. How can the assessment rubric be used for the other stages of EBL activity?


Presenting Findings – Group Presentation

Activity icon.png Whole Group activity (11 min). (30 mins) Have a go now at presenting your enquiry findings (for activities A-D) that you have worked on together in your small groups for the past weeks. Ensure that you present HOW you arrived at your conclusions. Decide on the maximum time that you would allow each group to present (we suggest 5-8 mins) and allocate a time-keeper. At the end of each presentation, allow the audience to ask questions for clarification (we suggest 3-5 mins).

The audience should make use of the assessment rubric above (or any revised version of the criteria and descriptors) to provide constructive feedback on the strength of the presentation and what areas could be improved on (as we will expect learners to do in the classroom).

Homework

Part A

You should try out a mini-EBL lesson (if you have not already done so) and proceed on to complete the more extended EBL ‘field or project day’; this is where your students will complete their enquiries, analyse their findings and present them to the class. The presentation session needs careful handling if the learning outcomes are to be fully achieved.

[Resource] Note that the site http://www.our-africa.org/zambia/climate-agriculture may be useful for the project on what crops are grown.

Conducting the enquiry / Data collection

Please ensure that students’ work throughout the enquiry is documented. You could use a digital camera to photograph both the students doing their activities and the outcomes.

Ask them to record what they are doing throughout, using separate sheets of paper where applicable rather than subject notebooks, so that these can be collated at the end and photocopied. These records can feed into your portfolio.

Presentations:

  • Ensure that your students present their findings in the form of their learning journey (ie. WHY and HOW they have arrived at their conclusions? How much evidence is there for their claims?), rather than just presenting a particular solution.
  • They should be able to reflect on how they may approach the enquiry task differently next time and how they this task has prompted them to think of other enquiry topics or questions. Encourage your students to make use of different presentation formats (e.g. role play, skit, song and dance presentation) and resources (e.g. charts/tables/diagrams, actual models, notes for the audience, series of images).
  • Highlight to the audience that they should be listening and watching their classmates’ presentations and be ready to raise questions and comments. Both peers and you, the teacher, should provide constructive feedback that is related to the assessment criteria.
  • If possible, video record or at least audio record some of the presentations. The workshop facilitator or another colleague may be able to help you do this.

The reporting stage can be followed by a ‘consolidation’ stage where the pupils are encouraged to use the information they have gained to further advance their knowledge and understanding. This kind of reflective discussion, where the group outcomes are shared, can be very useful. (from TESSA Key Resource: “Using investigations in the classroom”)

Part B

The full sets of reflection questions on your own planning and implementation of EBL lessons are listed below. You may like to take some time to make use of the questions to reflect on how successfully you think you have managed to capture the ‘spirit’ of enquiry in your class in the last few weeks. Please make a full audio reflection for Parts B and C using your dictaphone.

Watch the following clip to review what EBL is about:

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You might still have some concerns about whether EBL will really work in your classroom. What are your concerns and what are some take-away messages for yourself? How will you proceed to use/adapt EBL more seamlessly in your future lessons?

Planning Stage

  • Will there be shared lesson objectives or would it differ considerably depending on that enquiry work is chosen?
  • How will the enquiry tasks support enquiry, questioning and discussion?
  • Will the tasks constitute a project or activity extending over and between lessons? If not, how can this be arranged?
  • If so, will students do anything in between lessons? Will this involve research? Will the parents or other family/community members be involved?
  • Will the tasks be undertaken by
    • individuals (perhaps cooperating by sharing equipment and helping each other with both technical issues and the task) - could enquire as a group but not strictly co-enquiry!
    • groups (collaboratively planning and developing ideas, conducting the work, learning to compromise and giving feedback)
    • or the whole class working together collaboratively?
  • How will students record what they learned?
  • If groups, will there be group presentations to the class?
  • If groups, will different groups investigate different aspects of the topic and then share their knowledge with the class?
  • What criteria will the class use to assess the outcomes of their enquiry? How will you ensure that any criticism is constructive and sensitive? How will the group be encouraged to take on board constructive feedback?
  • How will students assess their own work?

Implementing Stage

  • 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 also could 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 C

(after the final enquiry stage is implemented)

You have learnt quite a lot about EBL and have had gone through a full cycle of EBL with your colleagues in the past few weeks. Write down your thoughts on EBL (based on the reflection questions, concerns and any other take-away messages) and a few ideas on what you would like to try out for your future planning and implementation of EBL in your class. This can be one of the documents to be filed in your portfolio.

Referring to what you have written down, complete the following questionnaire to review how much you have learnt and tried to practise EBL in your classrooms. Circle the choice that best represents how you feel about each topic in this unit. There are no right or wrong answers! You may be inspired to write down some further thoughts on learning about and trying out EBL in the future after you have completed the questionnaire.

5.1 Introduction to EBL
How much do I know about the benefits of EBL? very much somewhat not much
How interested am I to learn more about EBL? very much somewhat not very
5.2 Starting the enquiry process
How much do I know about the different parts or sections of EBL? very much somewhat not much
How much do I know about the different levels of EBL? very much somewhat not much
Do I know which level of EBL I am most comfortable to try out in my class? Yes Not sure No
How skilled am I at posing good enquiry questions? very much somewhat not very
How often do I encourage my students to pose good enquiry questions? routinely sometimes not often
How interested am I to learn and improve on making use of good enquiry questions as stimuli to engage my student’s learning? very much somewhat not very
5.3 Collecting and Interpreting Information in Enquiries
How much do I know about the various ways of collecting information in EBL? very much somewhat not much
How much do I know about the appropriate analysis of information? very much somewhat not very
How confident am I in giving good feedback to the students on their collection and interpretation of information in EBL? very much somewhat not very
How interested am I to learn more about collection and interpretation of information for EBL? very much somewhat not very
5.4 Presenting Findings of Enquiries
How much do I know about the different modes of presentation of findings in EBL? very much somewhat not much
How much do I know about the different criteria and descriptors for assessing a presentation? very much somewhat not very
How confident am I in giving good feedback to the students on their presentations? very much somewhat not very
How interested am I to find out more on different modes of presentation? very much somewhat not very
How interested am I to find out more on using criteria and descriptors for assessing all the parts or sections of EBL? very much somewhat not very
5.1-5.4 Use of ICT to support EBL
How much do I know about using ICT to support the various parts of EBL? very much somewhat not very
How interested am I to find out more on using ICT to support EBL? very much somewhat not very
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