Assignment 2B - Resources Used
Assignment 2B - Teacher and Researcher Resources
Below is a summary of the resources I researched for this assignment. You will find the Whiteboard and Twitter Lessons attached to the bottom of their summaries while the Essay for the four research tools is featured under the subheading "Google Scholar".
Teaching Resources
Interactive Whiteboards
Interactive Whiteboards are whiteboards that are connected to a computer and projector by USB cable. (Department of Education WA 2011)They are operated by teachers using touch technology either through their own finger or special pens. As interactive instruments, students can also use these whiteboards (also called ‘Smartboard’) to further their own learning.
The Learning Federation provides resources for teachers that allow for interactive lessons with students. The example chosen, “Number Trains”, (Curriculum Corporation 2005) is aimed at Year One students and focuses on whole number sequencing (from one to ten) using dots, digits and words. The benefits of this activity are many and include allowing the students to recognise numbers in different forms as well as practicing number order. The game is simple to learn and play and is taken in small ‘chunks’ of four, so the student only has to deal with four numbers in sequence rather than ten.
(Learning Federation 2010)
The game is of educational value because it encourages counting forwards and backwards as an introduction to addition and subtraction. I worked through this with my six year old son and he enjoyed it immensely. The game would also be easy to use in other formats that add on to and work with the Smartboard. One add-on idea I had was to have the children cut up different forms of numbers ie 1, two, . . ., 4 and glue them onto paper carriages that they have coloured in. They could then move the carriages into their correct positions and perhaps glue them onto coloured paper. This activity would cover curriculum activities such as art as well as mathematics.
The Learning Federation uses Smartboard technology to its full advantage by highlighting the learning year and area, learning object description, key learning objectives, and educational value. Wandering through my children’s school, I was disappointed to find that Smartboard is the exception, not the norm. It was available to some classes, but not the ones my children were in. However, as exciting as the technology is, I don’t see that either of my children has been disadvantaged by the lack.
PDF for Interactive Lesson Plan
When it comes to using the Internet as a teaching resource, it’s hard to go past Twitter. Twitter is a tool that allows users to micro-blog their day. While there are many ways in which the teacher can use Twitter within the teaching environment, the difficulty lies in trying to wade through the myriad of sites aimed at the general public (this morning for breakfast I ate…), the consumer (buy my book at…) and (much) higher education. I found many sites aimed at Engineering students and photography students but few for teaching K-10 students.
Edudemic says this about education and technology resources:
“Do you ever wonder how schools, universities, colleges, and large groups in general should use social media? Students are often early adopters, frequent users, and overall lovers of technology and social media.” (Edudemic 2011)
Amongst other things, Edudemic offers hints on how to implement social media such as Twitter into the classroom on this page: http://edudemic.com/2010/06/the-ultimate-twitter-guidebook/
Twitterforeducation (twitterforeducation 2011) led me to “31 Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom” of which this was one of my favourite ideas:
(Creative Commons)
Twitter is looking to be an exciting tool for the classroom. There are fantastic ideas out there to get the children interested, but it’s a new enough media that there is still room for pioneers.
PDF for Twitter Lesson
Researcher Resources
Endnote
Endnote is a computer and web-based tool that allows for easy collection, storage and retrieval of bibliographical material. (Thomson Reuters 2011) The greatest benefit of Endnote is that all information is keyed into and kept in one data base. The necessary bibliographic citation is downloaded onto the document with one click in the correct format and order thus saving a lot of time.
Another benefit that I have found is that the data can be entered according to unit, so all my reading can be kept in one file for ease of identification. This saves a lot of time when referencing assignments as I don’t have to scroll through different publications trying to find the relevant articles.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a free, easy-to-use online search engine (Jacsó 2005). Like Google, it makes finding information on the internet easy but, as its name suggests, is aimed at a more educated researcher.
According to the site (Google 2011), the features of Google Scholar include:
Features of Google Scholar
- Search diverse sources from one convenient place
- Find articles, theses, books, abstracts or court opinions
- Locate the complete document through your library or on the web
- Learn about key scholarly literature in any area of research
I have used Google Scholar extensively in my studies this year and have found it to be an excellent resource for all units. Journal articles held online can be researched at home and are more readily accessible than travelling to the library in the hope they have the book I want.
In researching Mathematics in Primary Teaching, I used Google Scholar to narrow down my journal search:
(Google 2011)
Which then took me to the Murdoch data base:
(Murdoch University 2011)
And finally to the article:
(Herrington 2003)
Of the resources available to students, Google Scholar remains, for me, the easiest and most accessible. I was even able to access it while sitting in a Wi-Fi café, thereby broadening my search experience.
For my researcher essay I used the following search tools:
Journal: Google Scholar (using 'authentic teaching of mathematics in primary school')
Website: Google (using 'Mathematics primary resources')
Book and Book chapter: Murdoch Library FindIt Database (using 'mathematics primary' and 'mathematics primary teacher' respectively)
(Murdoch Library 2011)
(Murdoch Library 2011)
Click here to read my Researcher Essay.
References:
Teaching and Learning Resources:
Creative Commons. 31 Interesting Ways* to use Twitter in the Classroom. https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_118cfb8msf8.
Curriculum Corporation. 2005. Number Trains. The Le@rning Federation L2318.
Department of Education WA. 2011. Interactive Whiteboards 2011 [cited 30/4/11 2011]. Available from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/iwb/index.htm#classroom.
Edudemic. The Ultimate Twitter Guidebook For Teachers. Edudemic 2011 [cited 5/5/11. Available from http://edudemic.com/2010/06/the-ultimate-twitter-guidebook/.
Google. 2011.
Google. 2011. Google Scholar.
Herrington, J; Oliver, R; Reeves T.C. 2003. Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology 19 (1):59-71.
Jacsó, Péter. 2005. Google Scholar: the pros and the cons. Online Information Review 29 (2).
Murdoch University. 2011. Findit@Murdoch. Murdoch University.
Thomson Reuters. 2011. Thomson Reuters EndNote Information Thomson Reuters 2011 [cited 30/4/11 2011]. Available from http://www.endnote.com/eninfo.asp.
twitterforeducation. Educational Uses for Twitter. Tangent LLC 2011 [cited 5/5/11. Available from http://twitterforeducation.wikispaces.com/Educational+Uses+of+Twitter.
References for Learner Resource Essay:
Copley, Juanita V.; Jones, Candy; Dighe, Judith et al. 2007. Mathematics : the creative curriculum approach Washington: Teaching Strategies.
Google. 2011.
Google. 2011. Google Scholar.
Haylock, Derek. 2010. Modelling and Problem Solving. In Mathematics Explained for Primary Teachers: Sage Publications, Ltd.
Murdoch University. 2011. Findit@Murdoch. Murdoch University.
Pitchford, Gareth. 2011. Primary Resources - Maths. RM Education, 2011 1997 [cited 11/5/2011 2011]. Available from http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/maths.htm.
Reynolds, David and Muijs, Daniel 1999. The effective teaching of mathematics: A review of research. School Leadership & Management 19 (3).