ICT and other Resources
Standard 3: Plan for and Implement effective teaching and learning
Standard Descriptor:
3.4.1 Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning.
The artefacts shown depict the resources I chose and used for a Year 3 lesson where students were divided into 6 groups and rotated to different mathematics workstations throughout the lesson. The resources and activities used include an array bingo game, a rainbow serpent game, a problem solving using counters activity, an array bust sheet, a ‘times as many’ dice game and an activity utilising ICT to access study ladder online.
The wide range of resources and the use of technology for the group work activities was effective in engaging the students who seemed enthusiastic about trying out and rotating around the different activities. Mixed ability grouping was utilised so all students can benefit from the activities as Boaler (2013) declares that mixed ability grouping is most effective as it allows support students to observe the strategies extension students employ, and extension students are more likely to retain information through explaining concepts to lower achieving students. Furthermore, modelling that is done by other peers of a similar age within learning activities has been proven to be more effective than modelling by a teacher (McDevitt, Ormrod, Cupit, Chandler & Aloa, 2013). Therefore, students work together to utilise these concrete materials to learn from these resources and from each other, proving more effective in mathematics lessons than teacher directed approaches to learning that results in students being disengaged and unenthusiastic about their learning (Powell & Kalina, 2009).
Through experiencing the positive reactions, enthusiastic engagement and immense learning achieved by the year 3 students during these interactive activities, it enabled me to realise that all students can enjoy mathematics when given the right resources and activities to thrive and enjoy learning. These resources utilised within the lesson including counters, laminated cards, arrays, dice, bingo sheets and laptops were all successfully utilised to reinforce core concepts in mathematics and provide students with concrete materials to engage them in the content and deepen their understanding and skills in mathematics, therefore demonstrate my attainment of standard 3.4.1.
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