Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet

Please note that this cookbook refers to Glow Meet using Marratech.  Glow Meet is now delivered over Adobe Connect which offers enhanced functionality.  To find out more about Glow Meet using Adobe Connect click here.  The principles around the benefits of Glow Meet are the same regardless of the technology used for Glow Meet.

Overview

Katy Vincent teaches one of the Primary 7 classes in Williamston Primary school in Livingston, West Lothian.  This year, she has had four exceptionally bright pupils in her class whom she felt needed to be challenged and supported in maths. The pupils have been working at a level equivalent to the old 5-14 Level F. The topics they have been working on are now covered in 3^rd and 4^th levels of Curriculum for Excellence. Katy approached the Maths Department in Williamston’s associated Secondary School, the James Young High School, for ideas.

Context

Having spoken with John Sexton in James Young’s Maths Department, it was arranged that John would work with the four pupils once a week, via Glow Meet. A ‘Maths Transition’ Glow Group was set up within Williamston and John Sexton was added as a member.

It was agreed that John would work on developing the pupils’ problem solving skills as Katy felt that whilst the pupils knowledge and understanding of maths concepts was sound, their ability to then translate this knowledge to solving problems perhaps needed further support and development.

How the sessions were run

The four pupils worked at a laptop in their classroom and John spoke to them via Glow Meet. He added notes to the shared whiteboard to help illustrate teaching points and give a visual aid for the pupils. He set tasks and challenges for the children, who worked on their solutions, then wrote them on mini-whiteboards which they then held up to the web cam to show John. John was then able to give feedback and comments on how they had tackled the problems.

Whilst the four pupils were working with John, the rest of the class were working on their own maths topics with Katy. However, after a couple of session, they became so interested in what was happening at the laptop, Katy decided to include the entire class in the work that John was doing and for subsequent sessions, the Glow Meet was displayed on the class’s interactive whiteboard for all to see.

The original four pupils that John had been working with then took on a new role. As well as working on the problems and challenges themselves, they then supported the other pupils.

All of the pupils involved loved the sessions. Katy reported that all of the children were highly motivated and extremely keen to take part. She said that the novelty of learning in this new way, and also the fact that the teacher was one from the High School, really engaged the children.

The topics

John chose topics that would engage and motivate the pupils, as well as challenge them. For example, he looked at curve stitching – a practical activity which allowed for creativity within mathematics. The pupils really enjoyed this topic. They also enjoyed learning about different methods of multiplication, such as the Russian method (find out more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A22808126).

John also did a practical lesson on applied Probability theory, looking at Horseracing. This did not involve gambling(!) but involved the pupils playing a dice game, looking at the likelihood of particular totals resulting when two dice are rolled. This then related to the chances of a horse winning the race in the game and the resulting prize money that might be won. This introduced them to the Normal Distribution curve – although this terminology was not discussed.

John was also able to explain that whilst the theory of probability might predict a certain result to be most likely, in reality, that does not always work out to be the actual result. This was illustrated when the pupils played the game, as although rolling 7 is the most likely total when two dice are rolled, when the pupils played, 9 occurred more frequently.

Watch excerpts from this lesson in the following video clip:

Glow Meet maths lesson – Probability game (5:43)

Follow-up activities

John often set ‘homework’ challenges for the children. These took the form of completing activities they had started with him, or looking at further activities which he provided links to. These activities were not compulsory, but were designed to capture the interest of the children.

There is a Discussion Board in the Maths Transition Glow Group, and pupils were able to post comments on the problems they were trying at home. John was able to respond to these comments and also post solutions to homework, strengthening the link between him and the pupils.

In addition, John used the Group’s Document store to upload a range of resources to support the lessons he covered with the children, such as templates for the curve stitching activities and a Powerpoint presentation used when the pupils were learning about Prime Numbers.

Ingredients

In order for the pupils in Williamston to be able to be taught by Mr Sexton, Katy had to have the following set up:

- A Glow Group at school level
- Add in Mr Sexton as a member of the Glow Group and send him the URL
- Add a Glow Meet web part to the Glow Group and create the Meeting room
- Have a webcam, speakers and microphone
- Have mini-whiteboards for the pupils to write their solutions on

In the following videos, we will find out how to replicate some of these elements:

How to create a Glow Group (2:55)

How to give people from another school membership of a Glow Group in your school (6:57)

How to set up a Glow Meet in a Glow Group (5:36)

How to join and take part in a Glow Meet (3:38)

How to use the video, audio and chat facility within a Glow Meet meeting room (6:19)

How to use the shared whiteboard in a Glow Meet meeting room (8:25)

Impact

Katy feels that the maths lessons had a huge impact on the pupils who took part and were of tremendous benefit. Pupils were enthused and highly motivated – even pupils who were not normally keen mathematicians. She feels that this was largely down to the novelty of learning via Glow Meet, rather than text-based learning. There was far more interactivity in the lessons delivered by Mr Sexton and pupils really enjoyed this.

She also believes that it has been an excellent transition exercise. When the pupils recently visited the High school, they were delighted that they already knew a member of staff and they made a point of stopping by to say hello to John when they were in the Maths Department. John also commented that he really liked this.

Find out in the following videos what the pupils had to say about their experiences of learning maths via Glow Meet:

Pupil Video 1: Why I enjoyed the Glow Meet lessons (0:14)

Pupil Video 2: Why I liked the Glow Meet sessions (0:14)

Pupil Video 3: I enjoyed the Glow Meets (0:06)

Pupil Video 4: Transition (0:14)

Pupil Video 5: Homework (0:17)

Katy is keen to keep these links with the James Young High school going next session. She would like to try to link it more directly with the maths topics that the pupils will be working on, rather than concentrating solely on problem solving.

Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet5.052