LAIT2 Assignment2 - Mash up Task

This is a task for student to learn about Mash Up as part of their Mathematics task.  Student will use document as the task is given, video to learn a new skills, using Spread Sheet to manipulate data and finally use Power point to present their findings.

Year 11 General Mathematics – Data Analysis

(Duration: 2 * 70 minutes periods)

The goal of this project is to use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to analyse data about rainfall in Melbourne over the past month. This data can be retrieved from the Melbourne Water website and then analysed. After analysis, you must present your findings using Microsoft Powerpoint.
Rainfall data for the past month can be found on this Melbourne Water web page:
http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/water_storages/water_report/rainfall_data.asp
This web page lists the monthly rainfall amounts for each area of Melbourne. Here is a video to help show you how to import the data into an Excel spreadsheet:

Excel has many built-in functions for doing data analysis. After you've imported the data for the past month, investigate these functions and find out how to to calculate the following from the data:

• Melbourne's highest rainfall for the month
• Melbourne’s lowest rainfall for the month
• The total rainfall for the month
• The mean, median and the mode for the overall rainfall
• The inter-quartile range

You can learn more about Excel functions using the online help files, and by searching on the Internet.

Make a PowerPoint presentation containing your findings.  While the PowerPoint presentation will show the results, you also need to give a five minute talk on the methods you used to find, analyse and present the information.

Extension:

• Download rainfall data for the whole year.
• Calculate the total rainfall in Melbourne for each month.
• Calculate the total rainfall for each area over a year.
• Plot a graph showing the month-by-month rainfall for Victoria over a year.  Describe the rainfall pattern from the graph.  Which area has the highest monthly rainfall?

Learning outcome:

Students learn to import and use data from the web.  This skill allows student to manipulate data they find on the web.  Students in Mathematics class can learn basic concepts and terms of statistics.  In this task, students apply the knowledge they’ve learned from Mathematics and IT in a real life situation.  The size of the data means that it cannot easily be calculated using pen and paper.  Hence, students have to find a way to make Excel do it for them.  This involves past experience with the Excel program and, also some research skills. For example, students need to do some research to be able to find the inter-quartile range because it is not a standard Excel function.
Student needs to present the data in Powerpoint.  This means they have to find a way to show the Excel data in Powerpoint.

ICT resources

Resource	Type	Year Levels	Audience	comment
"Sams teach yourself Adobe Flash CS4 professional in 24 hours"	Flash	Yr 9	Teacher	This is a resource for teachers. It is a comprehensive book, including basic introduction to action script and web applications.
Learn Flash CS 5 Tutorial	Flash	Yr 9	Teacher	This is a simple resource. Student can work through this easily. However, there are some that are fairly simple chapter that can be skip through. I particularly like the section on "The Flash Tools panel" because it is a good reference for students to find the meaning of tools quickly.
"Creating a Hello World iPhone Application Using Flash CS5"	Flash	Yr 9	Teacher	This is a simple application. Only display "Hello World" on iPhone. The most important part is that you need to get developer certificate to put this application on the iPhone. This is a good tutorial to get it all set up. Best to use this when student already know how to write application in Flash.
Derivative Plotter	Mathematics, Calculus	VCE	Students	This is a flash applet that student can explore the meaning of derivative. Student can use the example they gave. Or student can add their own example. As student progress through the years, they can try out different functions. It also allows students to change the domain and range of the graph.
Integer Additions using Geogebra	Mathematics,Number	Yr 7	Students	This is a nice application to helps students to understand adding negative numbers together. In my placements, I found students have difficulties understanding the meaning of adding a negative number. This give students a visual support.
GeoGebra Wiki	Mathematics	All	Teachers, Students	This wiki contain lots of resources to help students to understand different mathematical concept. They are not stand alone for student to use. It is hard for student to find what they need here. However, when teacher find the appropriate resource, student are able to explore the idea with these files.
"Khan Academy"	Mathematics, Science, and Humanity	All	Teachers	This website has a wide range of video in teacher science, humanity and mathematics. The convention of Mathematics notation could be a little different to what we use in Australia However, as long as student are aware of the differences, they are great video tutorial. And their mathematics exercises are excellent. It is interactive. If students have problem, they can ask for help and hints. The only disappointment was that they don't have the science and humanity exercises or resources for teachers.
"Game Learning"	Games	Yr 8	Teachers	You need to click on the resource page to get the resources. It contain a few different Game Maker project. It also contain resources for other game platform such as StageCast Creator 2 and Blitz Basic. Unfortunately, the lesson plan is not available. However, teacher can give the game for student to play and as them if they can duplicate or improve the game. Or teacher can use this idea and write his/her own lesson depending on how much scaffolding student might need. This could also lead to the idea of open source software and the advantage of the open source community.
"Schoolgamemaker"	Games	All	Teachers	This is an amazing website. I don't have time to explore all the resource there. It contain research paper for when you need to convince you school that's the path you want to go down. It contain different programming language such as Python, different game platforms, lesson plan and teacher forums. Some of the link require password or login. But some of it is free.
"XNA development"	Games	Yr 10 and VCE	Teachers	Game programming became very popular in the last couple of years. In my placement school, students as young as Yr 9 started learning to write program C# and XNA. They have lunch time programming game club once a week. This website help set up XNA environment and tutorial on how to write program for games. This is more complex then the GameMaker or Scratch environments. However, students can use what they learn to help with their VCE unit 3 and 4.

Comment on Richard Post

Richard has posted his ICT in Classroom Assignment 1 (part 3).  The way he describe how he learn IT is very similar with my own experience.

His explanation on Vygotsky’s social development theory also an important to me because I know when I was in that environment, I learn faster and deeper.  It is always useful to learn from a more knowledgeable other.  More importantly, when explaining an idea or concept to others really help your own understanding.  I found it happen so often when I teach Mathematics.  I can solve fraction questions.  However, when I have to explain it to others, I found myself having to think deeper and explain in such a way that students could understand.

Appropriate use of technology in the classroom

(ICT in secondary Eduction Assignment 1C)

Recently my son, who is in year 6, wrote a letter to the principal of his school about a prestigious award he’d received. I was shocked by the poor quality of his writing! As one example, he had not capitalised the “I” personal pronoun. When I questioned him about it, his response was “Microsoft Word automatically makes it capital for me. So I never bother using capitals”. Ok, it’s great for us that student learn how to type, as typed material is much easier for a teacher to decipher when marking. However at present, students are still required to sit for exams such as their VCE. How does 12 years of typing essays help you in an exam? When do students master the basic skills of English formatting and spelling? When do students master and continue to use legible handwriting?

The Victorian Government puts a lots of money into equipping our schools with computers, because they believe it is vital that all students should know how to use them. Recently, I read an article in The Age titled “Computers ok? Not in Silicon Valley”. It is particularly interesting that the parents who send their children to this kind of school are very often those who work in the information technology field. They are experts in this area, yet they believe that children acquire computer skills so easily that they will pick it up quickly when the need arises. Most of the software on the market is so user-friendly that it is hard for students to break the application. So as long as students can try things and learn from their mistakes and their curiosity, they will find learning new applications to be quite easy.

In the past, when students searched for information on a topic, it usually came from newspapers, encyclopedias in the library, or books they might have. With the availability of the web, students can find anything with the click of a button. As a teacher, the challenge of teaching in this modern environment is to manage how students use this powerful and yet dangerous world of technology. Careful consideration needs to be given to the outcome we want our students to achieve. How best to achieve this outcome? Is it ok to just copy and paste from an article? How do we know whether the student learned anything from copying and pasting?

At my placement school, all Year 7 students have iPads. As a result, students don’t have to buy text books. The school has also tried to reduce the amount of printing and paper used. As a result, teachers have a limit on how much they can print, and students are required to have their iPad or laptop ready for class. All students and staff have access to the school’s wireless network. The challenge for teachers is to find material for students to use, to deliver it to students in order for it to be ready when the class starts.

Over-reliance on technology can have a real cost. One day in a Year 7 class, my mentor teacher wanted the students to work through a particular worksheet. She assured me that the students already had it in their iPads because it had been downloaded at the beginning of the unit. When the time came to use this worksheet, student were not able to find it. They had so many notebooks in their iPad that they couldn’t locate the one they needed. This meant that many students claimed that they did not have it. Students were told to download a new copy from the “Drop Box” website, which was stored on a server outside of the school. This became a problem because the service that allowed student to access outside the school was down. After losing 10 minutes of class time, there were only three students in the whole class who had managed to find and open the document. I decided that there was no point waiting any longer and proceeded to write all the questions on the board for students to use.

In this particular instance, the iPad was performing the same function a text book. It did not increase student engagement. It did not allow students to explore concepts and ideas in a way they could not have with a text book, pen and paper. In fact, it caused more problems then having a text book. I now prepared 5 hard copies of the necessary material for every lesson I give, just in case of technology problems. In the end, I have used more paper than I would have in a classroom with text books.

Use of technology in secondary schools is not all bad. In my placement school, students and teachers use Wikispaces to share and archive work. Recently I attended a professional development session on gifted education at the school. To support the session, the teachers had made a wiki page with all the resources and useful information. Other staff members were encouraged to add information that they thought was useful to share. In Year 9 IT class, students had a page where they could show the work they did in Flash and Photoshop. Sharing the work they did provides students with ideas of what they can do in their own projects. Copying an idea from a classmate still requires the student to have an understanding of the skills required to create the same result. Since students are assessed on the skill they develop in Flash and Photoshop, rather than the story line, it is acceptable for them to exchange ideas. In fact, collaboration is very healthy as some students are strong in some skills and not in others.

In Mathematics, Prianyka and I also explored the idea of using GeoGebra to help student visualise the idea of angles in a circle for our assignment 2. GeoGebra is useful for visualising other Mathematics ideas such as gradients, y-intercepts, dilation, understanding where π comes from, the idea of parallel lines and parallelograms, and so forth. The list is endless.

Tools such as MS Word and Powerpoint are also very good tools for students to learn to explore. When student want to add a new feature but do not know how, it is a safe environment for them to try different things on the tool bar to see what works. It lets them build their knowledge without fear of being laughed at, and can give them confidence that they can problem-solve. These are all valuable skills to work on as part of their personal development. However, it must be used appropriately and in moderation just like many things in life.

Comment on ICT Assignment part 2

Hi Eric,

I really like your articles on

ICT Assignment Part 2

That would definitely get student's attention.  Did you gave a lesson with that idea?  How did the student react?  Did you have issue bringing student on task?

I tried something like that with my year 11 IT class.  We talked about open software and the copy right issue.  I ask them if they know any open software.  And soon it was all about games.  Great discussion but I found it hard to bring them back to the real issue which is copy right of software.

GameMaker

Over the school holiday, I was exploring GameMaker with my son.  It was part of the task I was doing for Learning Area IT 2.

Tim is in Year 6 at school.  And he is 12.

We spend a bit more then an hour on this introductory tutorial for the game maker called Fruit Clicks.  The game is the player trying to click on the fruit.  For the one that move quickly, the score is higher.  And the one that move slowly, the score is lower.

The instruction is clear.  Tim is able to read by himself and follow instruction.  He really enjoy testing it.  In the process, we talked about saving files during work.  We talked about why things don't work.  The program simplify the difficulty of programming and allows students to focus on the design of the game rather.  It is an excellent program.  The problem is that Tim can't get enough and he is asking to spend more time on it!

 FruitClick.exe
FruitClick.gm8

Assignment 1b: ICT provides a rich and flexible learner-centred environment in which students can experiment and take risks when developing new understanding.

ICT provides a rich and flexible learner-centred environment in which students can experiment and take risks when developing their understanding.


There are many software packages in the learning area of Mathematics which allow students to explore Mathematics concepts.


During my placement, I observed a teacher using Geogebra to explain the relationships between angles and circles to a year 9 class, for example, “The measure of an inscribed angle of a circle is half of the measure of its intercepted arc”. The software package allows students to visualize, experience and explore moving the angle within a circle. Students can test the theory and explore the limits. It is much better than having a teacher draw diagram after diagram to prove their point. This software allows students to see that the theory works in practice, and it is easy for students to check different cases by themselves and actively reconstructing the knowledge.


Using Geogebra to demonstrate the inscribed angle theorem is shown in this Youtube video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNwwrOnkqDA


The Geogebra website (http://www.geogebra.org/cms/en) has a lot of material for students and teachers to look at. Many of the theories and concepts of mathematics can be explained and explored with this application. Physics is another subject area where teachers could use Geogebra, to explain different ideas such as reflection and motion.


There are other programs that allows student to explore. In my Year 7 class, students have been working on Algebra. They are learning to understand rules and how to write them. The teachers in my placement had put together a list of activities that students can do on the FUSE website.


An example FUSE page - attribute trains


These activities allows students to use trial and error, and to work at their own pace. If students did not get the rule at the first attempt, they can try again. With visual prompting, students are able to try different things to find one that works.


The Learning resource ID on FUSE are ZPPGQ7, 9UEJA5 , 59L99F, BJU6UV, NNY4JA and many more. On each of these interactive pages, students are not only able to explore, they are able to practice and check their answers immediately.  Students will know whether their choice is correct without waiting for the teacher to come and check. They are able to try again if it is not correct.

These are just a few of the things that I have seen. ICT allows students to take charge of their learning. They are able to check their own work to make sure they understand. Students are able to work more independently. If students are anxious about making mistake, they can work by themselves and not worry about their friends finding out about mistake. This encourages students, especially students with low confidence to be braver with their learning. The resource that available on line mean that students are able to explore a lot more by themselves. And they can explore a lot wider and deeper in a shorter period of time.