Using a range of resources
Watch a teacher engage students at a remote Australian school in complex learning activities and tasks involving measurement and geometry.
Resource information
In a year 4/5 Mathematics class, a teacher engages students at a remote Australian school in complex learning activities and tasks involving measurement and geometry. After establishing the mathematical concept to be explored, the teacher outlines a scenario that requires her students to adopt specific roles, use a range of resources and problem solve in order to find a solution. A range of resources, including ICT, are used to undertake the components of the task as well as to record the ‘thought processes’ of the students as they progress through the activity.
Ross Park Primary School is the oldest operating government primary school in Alice Springs. It has almost 400 students, of which 25 per cent are Indigenous. The teacher’s Mathematics class is comprised of students in years 4 and 5. The teacher’s vision for learning is articulated at an early stage in the clip when she explains how students learn more easily if they visualize an object that they have constructed. The illustrations of student learning shown are exemplary examples of students working collaboratively to share, partner, build and create.
Discussion questions:
- What is the value of providing students with a ‘range of resources’ for learning?
- In what ways have you used ICT to engage students in their learning?
- What classroom management strategies are important in order to have effective collaborative learning?
