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 | | AutographKS3 - KS4 (Years 7 - 11) Mathematics | KS3 Classroom Evaluation by Peter Garner
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During the trial period I introduced the students to the topic and how we would investigate it using the software. This case study will focus on the lessons, which investigated the equation of a straight line and how the position of the line is defined by its gradient and the y intercept. As this was the initial lesson, I had set up the electronic whiteboard so that I could demonstrate to the class how to input the equation of a straight line for subsequent investigation. Once this had been completed and the various questions the class raised had been answered, they were all directed to their individual workstations and expected to work through an exercise.
With this kind of work, the difficulty is always ensuring that the student has to be involved in the plotting process and is not just carrying out a sequence of instructions. Thus I ensured that the set work required a lot of descriptive and explanatory type answers. At the end of the lesson, I gathered the class around the whiteboard so as to go over what we had discovered.
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Teaching with this Product |
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The key teaching objectives of the case study lesson were:
1. Plotting a straight line given its equation
2. Calculating the gradient and y intercept of a straight line and seeing how they relate to its equation
3. Demonstrating how an equation of a straight line varies, as either the gradient, or y intercept varies from positive to negative values.
The learning objectives relate to the students' understanding of the above principles, so that they would be readily able to derive a line's equation from it's plot.
In the last part of the lesson, the students were given a series of pre-plotted lines that had been generated using Autograph and were required to reproduce the same plot, having analysed each line to determine its characteristics.
The students had already met the topic earlier in the year and thus we were using the product as a form of revision, so little preparatory work was required before the lesson began.
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For the lesson I initially seated the students within the horseshoe that our purpose designed computer suite is made up from. It gives me a chance to establish control of the class and remind everyone about rules of behaviour for the lesson. They were instructed to log on and access the software using the path specified on the electronic whiteboard. I circulated in a clockwise fashion to give assistance to those who were having difficulty.
The students were then required to observe the demonstration of the product that was then given on the electronic whiteboard. Those declining to be involved in this were given a pen and paper exercise to complete, instead of the dynamic software. This always ensures maximum focus from the class during the demonstration phase. I posed appropriate questions at students with various levels of attainment and then after issuing a worksheet with instructions, they were directed to work through the set tasks.
Throughout the lesson I then circulated, facilitating the progress of the students. When a common misconception arose this was dealt with centrally for the whole of the class, using the electronic whiteboard.
At the end of the lesson, the class was directed to focus on the electronic whiteboard and we then went through the exercise to see what had been discovered.
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Use of ICT to Achieve Objectives |
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The product is able to meet the required teaching and learning objectives, as it enables the student to readily plot a comparative series of straight lines and make appropriate comparisons between them.
Key questions that should be asked of the class, relate to the gradient of the lines and what affect it will have if it is altered in size and sign. Similarly, the title enables the class to investigate the affect of altering the size and sign of the y intercept.
The traditional pen and paper approach requires a lot of tedious hand calculation and plotting of results, which can obscure the result of plotting the equation of a straight line. Many students do not fully get past the early stages of the exercise and do not get a chance to investigate the process sufficiently.
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The product did not require the use of any additional software, but it did require that the students were familiar with the following:
1) Basic Network access skills i.e. log on protocol, use of Windows to locate and open an application
2) Confidence to use toolbars and drop down menus, as found in Word
3) Familiarity with save routines
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Apart from the normal monitoring of a student's work by inspection whilst walking the classroom, I found the best way to utilise the software to verify that teaching objectives had been met, was to set an exercise that required use of Autograph to resolve it.
For this particular exercise, I presented the students with a set of straight lines drawn using the program without their equation being given and required that they recreate an Autograph plot of these lines. The students were encouraged to first work out the gradients and y - intercepts of each line. They could then incorporate these in their equations and test them by plotting the lines using the product.
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The software was found to be easy to access by those members of the class who have English as an Additional Language and suffer from Dyslexia. Also, because of the instant response to a pupil's input, those with emotional difficulties were much more able to work for longer and produce better work and gain a better understanding.
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This product is distributed by Eastmond Publishing Ltd (Tel: 01832 273444)
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