Teaching Math With AdvancedTeaching Math With AdvancedLearning BlocksLearning Blocks

TIME2010, Malaga, July 10th, 2010

TEACHING MATH WITH ADVANCEDTEACHING MATH WITH ADVANCEDLEARNING BLOCKSLEARNING BLOCKS

Matija Lokar,Matija.Lokar@fmf.uni-lj.si

with Primož LUKŠIČ and Boris HORVAT

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http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/

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http://http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/

http://http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/

IndividualizationIndividualization

We live in a society, where everything is individualized and personalized and :

computers built to our exact specificationsYou choose the color of your car

Ford, model T – any color as long as it is black one]

we personalize our cell phones with ringtones, wallpapers, and skins…

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IndividualizationIndividualization

Video:The public education system nowadays continues to insist that a one-size-fits-all, full time classroom-based model can and will effectively serve all students

Education needs customization as wellJust part of this: customization of the resources

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Main challengesMain challenges

Appropriate usage of technologyPersonalitization and customization

Different role of teachers

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The 21The 21st st century teachercentury teacher

Change in a teacher's functionsWe are not “walking encyclopedias” or “talking textbooks” anymore

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Teacher of the 21Teacher of the 21st st centurycentury

Instead, teachers are:Planners, strategists, researchers, pedagogical diagnosticians, work organizers, counselors, tutors …

Task:Guiding a learner through pieces of information (teaching resources) towards knowledge

With the requirement toConcretize educational content and adapt it to the interests and abilities of a particular learner

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Organizing and using teaching resourcesOrganizing and using teaching resources

One of the fundamental steps in the learning processIn this step we take into the account the class we are teaching, the day, the pedagogical situation …So we

Choose a certain textbox and stick with it from the first page to the very last one

Of course not (or very rarely at special circumstances)

Making a selection of different materialsChoosing workbooks, choosing tasks, choosing pages on the Internet, choosing ...

Thus:

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Path through resourcesPath through resources

"Pile" of resources Necessary to provide the learner with a path through resourcesPrescriptions are given:

Let's start with page 15 in textbook Y Follow the explanation and then turn to page 21 for exercisesTo see how this knowledge can be used in "real life" see handouts you were given Then continue with page 12 in textbook X …

Or else technology is used:

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Prevailing technology …Prevailing technology …

Source: www.cksinfo.com

Source: simplepress.wordpress.com

Source: www.freefever.com/freeclipart/tape.html

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WHY AN IDEAL RESOURCE WHY AN IDEAL RESOURCE FOR ALL OCASIONS DOES FOR ALL OCASIONS DOES NOT EXISTNOT EXIST

Is making combinations of resources really necessary

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ReasonsReasons

Authors of resources consider a hypothetical pedagogical situation with hypothetical studentsThe actual teaching process is always at least slightly different

And never the sameA good teacher

Uses resources in the most appropriate waySo s/he is “forced” to adapt the resources

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What about “modern” e-materialsWhat about “modern” e-materials

Could teachers … use … them more effectively?Unfortunately not! (most of the time)Lots of teaching e-materials are prepared in technically "closed form"

Hard to change Complete portals, web pages with embedded flash animations, usage of frames, applets without the source …

combine

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TeacherTeacher

is the one who must adapt the resource to concrete teaching situation and to a particular studentSo the teacher takes from the various resources and reorganizes and adapts author's ideas and models in his/her own wayVarious studies on teachers attitude towards teaching resource

Among the first three ones – always possibility to change the resourceEven though the majority never changes the resource

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THE TEACHER “COMES FIRST”THE TEACHER “COMES FIRST”

s/he should have control over the content s/he uses to teach the student

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A WHY NOT THE LEARNER?A WHY NOT THE LEARNER?

Teacher is the one "responsible" for learner's educational outcome.

We are talking about resource to be used!

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Put teachers “back into the game”Put teachers “back into the game”

E-resources should be flexibleAllow the teacher to adapt them, combine in his/her own way ...Resource authors should prepare:

Basic “building blocks”Pre-constructed modelsInstructions / tools for making new combinations

Source: http://www.lego.com

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More than LegoMore than Lego

Basic blocks should be adaptable, tooThus the teacher should be able to reword a question, change the explanation slightly, add a link to another material on the topic in the feedback … Change the order of questionsMake a Jack in the story into MikeInstead of cars we could count baloons ...

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More than Lego IIMore than Lego II

The teacher should be able to use a particular building block in different shapes. For example: to use an exercise (a question) as

a text (e.g. as part of a test written with the help of a word processor), a question in a Moodle virtual classroom, in the shape of Java assisted interactive question on a web page …

So the teacher would be able to use the technical form that is best suited to the given moment

PDFFormat suitable for Interactive whiteboardiPad...

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Re-using resourcesRe-using resources

Author creates the resources for an ideal situation, teacher teaches in “real world”Teacher should gain control over the resourceAuthor should merely be an initiator of the resource in various forms

Teacher is the one who upgrades the idea, adapts it to a certain pedagogical situation, his/her beliefs, …

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And technology nowadays … And technology nowadays …

allows this!

Using standardsSmall, flexible units covering small pieces of subject taughtAvailable in different formats

Additional advantageReady for the future

New devices, new technology …

Content is mostly still appropriate, there are merely changes in (re)presentation

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The NAUK research groupThe NAUK research group

NAUK (advice / study) NApredne Učne Kocke – NAUK Advanced Learning Blocks

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NAUK projectsNAUK projects

Aim: to create a computer-powered system for managing and serving e-learning content that will be extremely suitable for teachers. Instead of the author-learner relation, we want to introduce the three-way author-teacher-learner relation.

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Everything starts with an ideaEverything starts with an idea

The teacher should be able to take teaching materials from different online sources, and change and combine them to make a lesson that suits his or her style of teaching and the current situation in the classroom.

Using the resulting content in different situations.Different ways of export, that conform to the most important up-to-date standards.

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http://gradiva.nauk.si http://gradiva.nauk.si

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E-LEARNING CONTENT E-LEARNING CONTENT SHOULD BE EASILY SHOULD BE EASILY ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE BY THE BY THE TEACHERSTEACHERS

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ContactsContacts

Matija.Lokar@fmf.uni-lj.si

http://www.nauk.si http://gradiva.nauk.si http://am.fmf.uni-lj.si

Gracias por su atención!

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http://test.nauk.si