Digital Fluency Intensive Week 1

Digital Fluency Intensive  Week 1

I found the first DFI session to be very informative and fast. I appreciated the style of learning  with educators roaming to answer question and clarify teachings. The diverse abilities  of learners made for a good classroom setup, helping others with features I am familiar with and requesting help from others. I am glad to be attending with my colleague and we have helped each other during the DFI session and back at school.

I realise the value of the digital tools for teaching and learning but am cognisant of efficient digital tools sometimes having a backfire effect through duplication of tasks. I appreciate being free to pick and choose the best-fit tools for my teaching and unique workspace. 

While Google and Chrome are  very useful and helpful to link seamlessly I have strong views regarding the amount of data voluntarily shared, mined and used by a non-state corporate whose ethics and tax practices I am uncomfortable with. Though the Voice Typing and Google Keep features were very impressive I don't think I will use them in the classroom for these reasons.   

The revolutionary power of using Google in the classroom for positive effect always needs to face constructive critique of potential abuses of the platform by other users or its owners and I am looking forward to future sessions on cyber security. 

The most useful thing I learned was a simple yet very important shortcut- the Command-Shift-V which I had never heard of before and which I'm already using as second nature. 

As a teacher at Pt England for the last three years I am familiar with the kaupapa of Manaikalani but it is always incredible hearing  the effectiveness of the  Summer Learning Journey and blogging and jumps in literacy from using technology strategically and intentionally, based on research,  best practice pedagogy and the curriculum to help our community's education.

As a visual learner and recorder I was impressed by formatting and Explore function within Google Docs. Being able to present to both students and outside parties through eye-grabbing visuals within the native Chrome word processor is very useful and I created this Robotics Rōpū link  to explain in a short presentation our Robotics initiative. Unfortunately I was unable to adjust the width of the doc in my blog so have inserted it as  an image.  

Term 2 Week 10 Inquiry

A child discovered the 'Character 'option while tinkering, this discovery has been very valuable in teaching the x y z axis, Vertical and Horizontal, raising and lowering  and orientation using a familiar character: a robot  

TERM 2, 2018 INQUIRY UPDATE

TERM  2 INQUIRY UPDATE.

As predicted I have not been able to see my focus group as regularly as would be optimal, however they and all 3D printing groups have enjoyed experimenting using Tinkercad software without having printed any objects.

This confirmed my prediction that focussing on the digital tool before printing with the hardware gives students more scope to explore the creative design tools rather than aim to print  any physical object as soon as possible.

I have introduced the Pasifika mat idea to the students in the group and they are enthusiastic. I cannot group them by their DMIC groups due to timetabling, so am unable to have a  control group.

Following a suggestion from a colleague, rather than use PAT or e-asTTle scores I made a short test  that specifically asked multi-choice questions about the geometric language and measurement we are using.

The above data shows the lack of fluency in terms such as vertical, horizontal and diagonal. Not one student labelled  a vertical line, most preferring the literal,  but not mathematical term 'up and down' which highlights that this test can only judge the correct mathematical terminology; students know what they are looking at but lack the correct vocabulary. 

Students had a 50% strike rate in labelling clockwise and anti-clockwise and found  the concept of degrees in objects particularly difficult. Half the students correctly picked the number of degrees in a right angle, however only four chose the correct number of degrees isn a circle and  only one  chose the correct number of degrees in a triangle. This may indicate they have retained more geometric knowledge in measuring squares and rectangles.

This data is very helpful for my enquiry in regards to the lack of knowledge about degrees, especially in triangles- our focus shape. I had not predicted that the students would score so low, so it gives me pause to think about effective ways of teaching the properties of triangles.

Inquiry 2018: Proposal

3D printing Inquiry. End of Year Reflection and Next Steps

Observation of Student in Inquiry

3D Printing Professional Inquiry Terms 2&3