Thanks for checking back in with my math blog. As promised, this week's blog will definitely be worth your while. We covered a lot of ground in math class this week and I have a lot to share! I wanted to start by asking you the question:
What are some things that students in Grades 4-10 need to know and/or use to help with their learning and lives, in their 21st-Century math classes?
Well, the answer to that is not so simple. Modern day learners, as you might already know, are exposed to a lot more than when you and I were in a math class, years ago. Now, students' lives and learning are digitalized and they have instant and unlimited access to the internet. Additionally, students are entering a diverse and challenging global economy. That's why I believe that these kids should be taking advantage of the digital tools created to help them in the math class. I also believe that our students need to be regularly exposed to concepts in financial literacy, to help them prosper in the future. Thus, scholars, today I will be talking about exactly these two things: digital math resources and financial literacy.
Math Apps, Online Math Games & Video Games
via GIPHY
When I was in school, the only digital resource we had in the math class was the scientific calculator. Now, there are so many digital tools and resources that help students practice, solidify, understand and challenge their math knowledge and skills. I had the wonderful opportunity to witness and use some of these resources during my first placement. The school I was teaching in really focused on the integration of technology and use of digital resources. During my time there, I was able to attend many professional development meetings that brought various apps and games into the spotlight, with the aim for teachers and staff to use them in their classrooms. I think that having these regular professional community meetings played an important role because teachers felt supported and more aware through this integration process. Especially if some teachers were not the most comfortable about using and teaching with technology.
Some examples of the technology and apps (that could all be used in a math class) I had seen in placement were: Kahoot, Prodigy, iPads, iPad apps for the differentiation to autistic spectrum learners and students with intellectual disabilities, FlipGrid, Google Read and Write, ChromeBooks, Google Classroom, personal laptops for fine motor skill development, DoInk (green screen app), online graphic organizer apps, Google Slides & Powerpoint, Dash-N-Dot robots and Scratch (coding app). I might have missed a few, but I really did have a lot of exposure to these digital resources none-the-less! Knowing about and seeing these digital apps in use will surely help me when having to plan my instruction for my next lessons.
This week in class, we learned more about what makes a good math app and game. Below, I will talk about some of the things to consider when looking for good math games and apps. This, along with my placement experience, will help me clarify the use of digital tools in my math class even more!
The Bunz Model of Technology Integration and Evaluation
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| The Bunz Model. (2017). Image. Retrieved from: How to Integrate and Evaluate Educational Technology by Rebecca Bunz |
Lucky for me, my current math instructor has specialized in the evaluation and integration of digital tools in the classroom, catered to our modern day learners. This week, she talked about her research and gave us insightful recommendations in order to help us pick and choose the best and most appropriate math apps and games for our students!
Above is an important model my instructor created and shared that is designed to help educators with evaluating and integrating digital tools, titled the 'Bunz Model of Technology Integration and Evaluation'. She further mentioned the importance of each step in the model. For example, it is important to first develop proactive and collaborative professional learning communities, where all professionals are on the same page and ready to search out some digital resources (like having frequent staff meetings). Second, teachers should think about the pedagogy behind the tools they choose, for example, ensuring the tool can be used to differentiate. Next, the math app or game should reflect the purpose of instruction, for example, targeted to independent learning. Then, the math app should be functional and ready to be used. Now, after all of these ideas have been sorted out, the teacher or professional community should search to find a math app and evaluate it, based on the prior criteria identified. Finally, if the found app hits all the check-marks, it should be planned into the math class and then used by the students. My colleague Emily went into detail in her blog and described the app that she chose in class after following this process. Check that out here.
In addition, my instructor created a self-check quiz that will help me and other educators tackling this issue. The link to this helpful quiz is here!
I want to also reflect on the webinar that my colleague and I hosted this week. We discussed financial literacy, which is a topic not a lot of teachers nor students are very familiar with. Financial literacy is a dense subject. My colleague and I believe that no child from Grades 4-10 is too young to work on this topic! The main goals of our webinar were to highlight key concepts that should be taught in schools, such as personal financing and the financial system and economy as a whole. We then talked about ways in which teachers could integrate financial literacy: through gamification and finding cross-curricular links. Please watch the video below to see 4th graders share their investing strategies in the stock market!
Gamification
Lastly, to tie things together, I wanted to mention how gamification (digital tool integration) could help with integrating financial literacy. Since we wanted teacher candidates to know that they can use gamification to support financial literacy concepts, we wanted to share some of the games and apps that we found along the way! We didn't have the Bunz Model of Technology Integration and Evaluation when we were looking, so the next time we do search, it will be much more effective! Nonetheless, we happened to stumble across a great website that identified some of these games and apps for students. They include, 'Financial Football & Soccer', online 'Monopoly' and 'The Stock Market Game'. Here is a link to website with much more apps and games to choose from!
Conclusion to My Post
Before we end things off, I would like to mention an interesting point another colleague of mine stated. He said that in his opinion, GOOD math apps are actually pretty hard to find, especially for the older intermediate grades. I really hope that as the digital age expands, better apps, games and video games will be created to help students and teachers with math in the classroom!
Thank you for reading this week, I hope to see you s00n for my sixth and final post!
Best Wishes,
Teddy
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