Maths Alive Games – click to enlarge

Recently, a large amount of Maths content was added to Glow Learn. This content comes in the form of Maths Alive Games and Maths Alive Videos and is suitable for both Primary and Secondary pupils, containing nearly 200 activities from first to fourth levels. In Part 1 of this cookbook, we will look at how the resources can be accessed and used. In Part 2, we’ll learn how one school has been using the Games and Videos with pupils. 

Context
The Maths Games and Videos are located in two places in Glow Learn – in the Resources Tab and in the Courses Tab. Where you access the games and videos from will have an impact on how you can use them and whether or not pupils will have access.

Resources Tab:

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In the Resources tab, the Maths Alive resources sit within the National Folder. Click the plus sign to open this folder and you will see three sub folders. The first two are called Maths Alive Games by RM Education and Maths Alive Videos by RM Education. (The third is a collection of Spanish resources, called Sonica Spanish.)

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Within each of the Maths Alive folders, there are sub folders for the Curriculum for Excellence Levels. Inside each of those folders are folders for the Maths and Numeracy lines of development, such as Angle. Symmetry and Transformation, Data and Analysis, etc.

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Inside each of these folders are the activities.

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Each activity has teacher notes attached and is tagged with both the Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes it supports and with key words. This means that if you search for, say, Second Level, or Fractions, you will find all of the resources tagged with those terms.

You can learn more about this in the ‘how to’  videos later.

Courses Tab:

The activities have also been made into courses.

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Again, these sit within the National folder, this time on the Courses tab. There is a sub folder within called Numeracy and Mathematics. This folder contains two courses – Maths Alive Games by RM Education and Maths Alive Videos by RM Education.

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As described above, within each course, the games and videos are organised by curricular level and then by the Maths and Numeracy lines of development and are fully tagged.

Using the Maths Alive Games and Videos

The games and videos can be accessed and used in a range of ways.

It is important to know that the computer being used to access the resources has to have particular software installed in order for the games or videos to launch and run.

For the games, Adobe Shockwave Player is required. This can be downloaded free from http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/

The videos require Quicktime. This can be downloaded free from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

Whole Class Teaching

If you have access to a data projector and interactive whiteboard, you can use the Maths Alive games and videos as a whole class teaching resource. By launching one of the games from within the Resources tab, the whole class can engage with the game or video. en. The video openers offer great opportunity for stimulating class discussion and for setting the context for the learning about to be embarked upon. The games can add enjoyment and challenge to lessons and can help to engage children.

Pupil Access

Pupils have no access to the Resources tab in Glow Learn.

Pupils can therefore only access Maths Alive games and videos which have been added to a course which the pupils are then enrolled onto. Here are a couple of suggested ways of doing this.

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One way, would be for the teacher to create a new course in Glow Learn, browse the resources for the Maths Alive Games and Videos, then add in the ones they would like to include. Pupils can then be enrolled on this course. In addition to the Maths Alive resources, the course could additionally include objectives, such as specific Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes, or other teaching resources that the teacher would like the pupils to have access to, such as lesson notes, homework sheets, or Microsoft Powerpoint files. Find out how to do this in the ‘how to’ videos in the ‘Recipe’ section below.

A second way, would be for the teacher to take a copy of, say, the Maths Alive Games by RM Education course from the National folder on the courses tab, then paste it into their My Courses folder (or the school folder). The course can be renamed as desired. Pupils can then be enrolled onto this course, giving the access to the entire range of games (or videos). In addition, individual games or videos can be assigned to pupils and their progress monitored and tracked. Again, find out more about this in the ‘how to’ videos below. 

Recipe

Watch the videos below to learn how to access the Maths Alive Games and Maths Alive Videos and how to enable pupils to access them.

Accessing the Maths Alive Games/Videos from the Resources Tab (7:30)
Maths Resources in Glow Learn – Part 1
 Copying the Maths Alive Maths Courses for class use (9:19)
Maths Resources in Glow Learn – Part 1
 How to create a Glow Learn course (5:18)
Maths Resources in Glow Learn – Part 1
 Adding Maths Alive Games/Videos to your Glow Learn Course (10:58)
Maths Resources in Glow Learn – Part 1
 Enrolling pupils onto your Course (4:38)
Maths Resources in Glow Learn – Part 1
 Pupil View of a Glow Learn course (2:19)
Maths Resources in Glow Learn – Part 1
 

 Impact

 There are many benefits to including the Maths Alive Games and Videos as part of the range of learning resources made available to pupils as part of their learning.

Adding a range of different resource types can increase pupil motivation and promote learning. Using the Games can help achieve this, as pupils often see them as a more fun way of learning. 

The videos offer an interesting way of introducing a new topic, stimulating discussion or providing a plenary activity. They can also help add real-life contexts to topics which can be seen as abstract.

By giving pupils access to the videos and games, they have a resource that they can use as often as they wish, helping with initial understanding, consolidation and mastery of a topic.

Coming soon! – Watch out for Part 2 of this cookbook which will look at how one school has been making use of the Maths Alive resources and using the Glow Learn markbook to monitor pupil progress.

Building the Curriculum 5

From the recommendations contained within Building the Curriculum 5 Jennifer Richardson then South Ayrshire’s Curriculum for Excellence Assessment Team Development Officer, had decided to initiate a pilot project to use Glow to help schools meet the requirements. The documentation states that,

“children and young people should agree learning goals and should record them in ways that are meaningful and relevant.”

It also calls for the creation of a Learner Profile which should include targets and goals with information on all areas of the curriculum and wider achievement and a range of evidence of learning. It states that learners should have opportunities for reflection, sharing and dialogue.  Maintaining an electronic portfolio within Glow could provide schools and pupils with the ongoing information required for a Profile.

In this cookbook we will focus on work done in Barr Primary School in South Ayrshire as part of this pilot process.

Originally South Ayrshire were interested in some work done in East Ayrshire using Glow Groups as e-portfolios. However, since their introduction in the summer of 2010, Glow blogs have become an increasingly important tool within Glow. It quickly became obvious that they would be an excellent opportunity to provide an e-portfolio solution which would have many advantages over using a Glow Group.

Jennifer was originally keen to go ahead with using Glow blogs for this purpose as she saw the following benefits:

• they provide an accessible, electronic and manageable method of storing different types of evidence in one central place
• it can be accessed by both the learner, teachers, parents and peers (optional)
• learners can independently access and update their e-portfolio at any time and from anywhere with an internet connection
• teachers, parents and peers could comment on the learners work
• the e-portfolio can automatically transfer with the learner from class to class and from primary to secondary school.

Nation e-portfolio Glow Group

National advice and access to templates and helpsheets is available from the National level Glow Group here. The advice is given that the e-portfolios are created in a Glow Group in the pupil’s My Glow area. The My Glow area is chosen so that the pupils can have more ownership of the process but also because as the pupil moves to secondary school, if they are correctly identity matched to the same account, then they retain their My Glow and any groups within it. Rather than simply creating the blog on their My Glow it is created in a Glow Group so that membership can be set for teachers in the Glow Group without giving access to the pupil’s My Glow area. When a pupil enters secondary school membership can be reset for all teaching staff for the secondary in the way it was originally set at the primary.

Context

Barr Primary

In South Ayrshire we decided to build a template for schools to use, although local authorities are now able to work with the National Team to design a ‘Theme’ which can be used across the whole authority. Towards the end of 2010 South Ayrshire asked for volunteer schools to come along to a twilight training session. Both primaries and secondaries were keen to be involved. Fraser Baird came along from Barr Primary to find out how to get started with his pupils and kicked the process off with them when he returned to school.

Barr Primary School

Barr Primary were initially keen to use Glow Groups for e-portfolios and had already got started with doing this but then opted to give the Glow blogs a try instead. They began with creating them with the senior pupils in P5-7 but then set them up with the junior pupils as well. All pupils in P1-7 at Barr Primary have their own Glow blog to use for an e-portfolio.

To put the project in context click below to see Brian from Barr Primary take you on a tour through his e-portfolio blog:
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Ingredients

The prcess the South Ayrshire schools went through to create the e-portfolios was as follows:

• Pupils created a Glow Group with their own name as a title in their My Glow Area using the Glow Light interface.
• They added this Glow Group to their favourites.
• The pupils used the Advanced Settings link to add staff as Administrators of their Glow Group.
• They added the Glow Blog web part to the Glow Group
• They created a Glow blog, naming it with their Glow username, in order to keep the blog name unique.
• The pupils applied a template to their blog but this would now be done by adding a theme decided on by the local authority
• The pupils created their own header for the blog.
• A Glow Group was created by their teacher at school level.
• Pupils copied the URL for their blog and added this to a web links web part in the school-level Glow Group.

Recipe

If you go to the National E-Portfolio Glow Group mentioned above you will see videos and Helpsheets taking you through all the stages required for schools to set up e-portfolio with their pupils.

Brian shows us how pupils access their e-portfolios to make a post (1:22)

e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Brian shows us how to move from the dashboard to the e-portfolio (0:20)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Impact

The senior pupils at Barr Primary School

Barr Primary are very pleased with how the e-portfolio pilot is progressing and the pupils appear to really enjoy this way of working. They were generous enough with their time to let me go into the school and film their opinions on using their e-portfolios. Click on the videos in the sections below to find out what firstly, the pupils thought of various aspects and then what their teacher, Fraser Baird thought:

Introductions to the pupils (0:39)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

The pupils on creating the e-portfolios (0:51)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on why they’re using the e-portfolios (1:37)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on what they post on (2:04)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on using your blog as an evidence store (1:05)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on how to post (1:37)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on using vokis on the blogs (0:52)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on using it from home (0:30)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on getting comments from teachers (0:32)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on the decision to use blogs (1:13)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on getting started (1:27)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on e-portfolio for measuring pupil progression (1:09)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on the advantages of blogs over traditional methods (0:49)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on the pupils and blogs (2:21)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on what and how often the pupils post (1:05)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Olivia and pupils

Olivia Wexelstein teaches a P4-7 class at Wellwood Primary School in Fife. She has been using Glow since January 2010 and is very positive about the opportunities it has opened up. Glow is rapidly becoming embedded into daily life in the classroom: to share learning, to record pupils’ experiences and achievements, and to give pupils a voice.

This cookbook looks at the P4-7 Glow Group which Olivia and her class use daily. A second cookbook to follow in Spring 2011 will explore how Olivia has created e-portfolios within Glow and how pupils use these to reflect on their learning.

Context

Seeing Olivia’s Glow Group for the first time a couple of things are immediately apparent – and appealing. Firstly, the Group is constantly evolving with more content and extra pages being added as learning progresses in the classroom. Secondly, there is a strong sense of identity – this is a Group that the teacher and pupils have very much made their own working space. For example, for reading work the class splits into 5 small groups. Each group has their own page in the Glow Group, with a photo of the group members, a list of learning intentions, an image of the book they are currently reading and a document area where they can upload their written work. Pupils are proud of their group and keen to share this with their parents and carers at home.

Olivia Wexelstein talks about her P4-P7 Glow Group, part 1Embedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

Cake baking – click to view

The most recent Maths topic saw the class cooking fairy cakes together, to gain practical experience of measurement and weight. Photos of the activity have been uploaded into a Picture Library, providing an excellent record of pupils’ learning experiences. A Discussion Board web part was used to capture and display the results of a class discussion about common examples of weighing and measuring. Pupils were then able to continue to add to the discussion board as other examples sprung to mind.

The Maths page also includes links to ‘weight’ related games and Olivia has also embedded games from the BBC website directly within the Glow Group. She finds this aspect of Glow – being able to collate resources, links, learning intentions and discussions all in one place – very valuable and finds that it supports even the youngest members of the class in working independently.

Olivia Wexelstein talks about her P4-P7 Glow Group, part 2Embedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

Solar System page – click to view

The class is currently working on a rich task about the Solar System. The topic started with some brainstorming to discover what pupils knew about the solar system and what they wanted to find out. Photos of the pupils at work, discussing and drawing up mind maps, have been uploaded to a Picture Library as a record of pupils’ understanding and learning experiences. At the conclusion of the topic similar mind maps will be recorded to show how the pupils’ understanding has progressed.

Solar System – pupils' key questions

Pupils are leading the learning on the rich task. They have set themselves a challenge, brainstormed a list of key questions to be explored, and decided upon activities. One day pupils were delighted to receive a surprise visitor to the classroom – Spud Lightyear! Pupils have enjoyed interacting with Spud and designing activities for him.

Pupils clearly feel a sense of ownership and are highly engaged in their exploration of the topic. The challenge, questions and activities are all prominently displayed on the ‘Solar System’ page so that pupils can refer to these whenever they wish. Throughout this topic Olivia again has found Glow an excellent tool, as it allows her to bring together a wide range of content and activities, that is easy for pupils to find and use.

Survey on pupils' use of ICT at home

Parents and carers do not yet have their own Glow accounts at Wellwood, but Olivia has been keen to get them involved. She recently ran workshops to introduce parents to Glow, and was delighted with the very positive response, with parents keen to understand how their children were using Glow in school and how they could support them at home. Olivia added a Parents page to the Glow Group, where parents can post up any queries about Glow and respond to a survey about what access to technology their children have at home.

A survey is also used on the ‘Celebrating Success’ page. Each week pupils nominate their peers for each of the Curriculum for Excellence capacities. Previously this feedback had been gathered on paper, which proved time-consuming. Using the survey, pupils can log on to Glow at any point during the week to submit their nominations. On Friday it is then a straightforward matter for Olivia to look at the survey results and announce the winners.

Blogs are a new feature within Glow, introduced in August 2010. Olivia has integrated these into the P4-7 Glow Group, with each member of the class having their own blog. A blog – described by one pupil as a ‘personal diary’ – allows the user to add text, images, audio and video. The Wellwood pupils are using their blogs to write about what interests them and share this with an audience both within their class and beyond. The blogs include creative writing and descriptions of school trips, along with posts about school holidays and likes and dislikes. Pupils have been keen to use their blogs at home during evenings and weekends, as well as in class. Olivia is delighted with her pupils’ responses, seeing even previously reluctant writers keen to update their blog. This motivation and increased confidence with writing is paying dividends with the quality of written work in the classroom.

Wellwood pupils give their feedback about using GlowEmbedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

The pupils’ blogs are a key element of the e-portfolios which Olivia is creating in Glow. These are still under development and a further cookbook in Spring 2011 will explore how they have progressed.

Ingredients

Olivia created her Glow Group on the Wellwood site in Glow. She has customised the Glow Group by:

• adding new pages/changing the names of pages
• creating multiple Documents, Web links, Picture Library and Discussions web parts
• using Text Editor web parts to display learning intentions
• using XML web parts to embed games from the BBC website
• creating surveys 

Recipe

The ‘How-to’ videos below show how to replicate many of the elements Olivia has used in the P4-7 Glow Group.

* how to add, remove or rename pages in a Glow GroupEmbedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

* how to create a new Picture Library (or other web parts)Embedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

* how to compress images before uploading to GlowEmbedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

* how to upload and view images in a Picture LibraryEmbedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

* how to create a survey and add it to a Glow GroupEmbedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

* how to change permissions on the Survey web partEmbedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

* how to respond to a survey and view survey resultsEmbedding Glow in daily learning and teaching

Impact

Olivia is delighted with her pupils’ response to Glow and the impact it is having on their engagement with learning: “This has been the children’s first experience of using Glow. It has had an amazing impact on their learning. They are more engaged and feel in control of their own learning. Glow is very flexible allowing the content to be tailored to the current needs and requirements of the class. The children are very motivated to use Glow in the classroom and are always excited to see and use new content as it is put on.”

Glow is also having a significant impact on the way Olivia teaches:“Teaching has become easier as it very easy and quick to focus learning in the area you require through the use of web links, instructional text boxes and discussion boards.” 

Parents have also noticed the impact Glow is having on their children’s enthusiasm for learning: “The feedback from parents has been very positive and they love being able to share with their child the learning that has taken place in school. One of the things the pupils like best is the ability to upload their work into Glow to share with their parents and others which is something they were unable to do before.”

Photo credits (images used in ‘how-to’ videos): Mads Boedker, Ernst Vikne, Turbojoe, Mike Monteiro, Royalty-free image collection

Planning a party. Click to enlarge.

Lauren Budd teaches at Woodlands Primary School in Carnoustie. Last year she collaborated with teacher Fiona Main, of SS Peter and Paul Primary School in Dundee, to develop an Active Maths project.

Maths in the news. Click to enlarge.

Here Lauren describes the project activities and how Glow discussion boards became an integral part of the pupils’ work.

The Ingredients section below describes how the Active Maths Glow Group was set up, and in the Recipe section you can find video clips showing how to replicate the ideas used in the Group.

Context

Lauren and Fiona were both teaching P5 classes last year (2009/10). Together they designed the Active Maths project which aimed to get pupils more actively engaged in learning, using and applying maths.

They first planned six tasks which pupils would undertake. These activities included a broad range of mathematical concepts and revised prior knowledge, reinforced vocabulary and developed problem-solving skills:

1. Design a poster. Pupils were asked to plan and create a poster, to help teach a P4 class about fractions.
2. Maths in the News. Pupils were given a range of newspapers and asked to explore how maths is used and presented.
3. Invent a dice game. Pupils were provided with a range of dice. Pupils were asked to design two games: one suitable for P1/2 children and another to appeal to P6/7.  They then needed to create rules and write instructions.
4. Create a playhouse. Pupils were provided with nets for a range of 3D shapes and asked to design and build a playhouse.
5. Invent a board game. A range of templates were provided and pupils were asked to design a game, to create the rules and write the instructions.
6. Plan a party. Pupils were given menus from a local takeaway, set a budget and asked to plan the food for a party.

All the scenarios were designed to be as realistic as possible, to reflect the type of activities that pupils might be asked to do outside the classroom – for example, planning their own birthday party, or that they would initiate in their free time – such as inventing their own games. Lauren and Fiona were determined that the activities should be child-led, so instructions and information were kept to a minimum.

The main focus of the project was for pupils to be actively engaged, but the teachers were also keen to see how pupils could constructively use peer feedback. So they created the ‘Active Maths Project’ Glow Group. This would provide a hub for the project and allow the pupils to share their learning both within their own class and with the partner school.

The classes were then divided into 6 groups; each week a group would undertake a new activity. Friday mornings were dedicated to the project, with pupils required to plan and complete their activity within the given time.

After the first activity, pupils were asked to use the discussion board in the Glow Group to reflect on their group’s work, to consider what had gone well, what hadn’t and how they would change their planning in future.

Lauren Budd shows the Active Maths Glow GroupWhat would you do with a million pounds?

Before each subsequent activity, pupils were asked to read the postings on the discussion board and to consider the feedback from other groups. They were then asked to use this information in their own planning.

Pupil feedback on activity. Click to enlarge.

Over the course of the 6 week project, this became a very effective planning/implementing/feedback cycle. With each new activity, pupils became very adept at using others’ feedback, planning more thoroughly how they would approach the activity, considering the best way to plan their roles, resources and time in their group and allotting tasks appropriately.

Building a playhouse. Click to enlarge.

Another noticeable consequence of the reflection and feedback was how the activities progressed. Pupils began to set themselves challenges, and naturally wanted to surpass the achievements of previous groups! Undertaking the ‘Maths in the news’ activity, pupils began to consider what they could find to buy, if they had £1m to spend. This provided excellent practice in understanding place value and money and working with large numbers. Similarly, over the weeks, the task to create a playhouse evolved into designing and building an entire play park. Valuable feedback had included the relative success of different types of glue, through to the merits of working cooperatively as a group.

Pupils talk about how they used Glow in the Active Maths projectWhat would you do with a million pounds?

Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes

Through the Active Maths project, pupils engaged with a range of Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes. These include:

MTH 2-12a: I have worked with others to explore, and present our findings on, how mathematics impacts on the world and the important part it has played in advances and inventions.

MTH 2-16a: Having explored a range of 3D objects and 2D shapes, I can use mathematical language to describe their properties, and through investigation can discuss where and why particular shapes are used in the environment.

MTH 2-07a: I have investigated the everyday contexts in which simple fractions, percentages or decimal fractions are used and can carry out the necessary calculations to solve related problems.

MNU 2-09a: I can manage money, compare costs from different retailers, and determine what I can afford to buy.

Ingredients

Lauren created a Glow Group on her school’s site in Glow and gave her pupils Contributor permissions. Fiona and her class at SS Peter and Paul Primary School were added to the membership, Fiona with Administrator and pupils with Contributor permissions.  Lauren and Fiona then customised the Glow Group by:

• using a Text Editor web part to provide information about the project;
• creating new Discussions and Picture Library web parts;
• using the discussion boards for pupil reflection and feedback;
• using the picture libraries to display photographs of the activities.

Recipe

* How to set the membership of a Glow Group to include a class from another schoolWhat would you do with a million pounds?

* How to create scrolling textWhat would you do with a million pounds?

* How to create scrolling imagesWhat would you do with a million pounds?

* How to create new Discussions and Picture Library web partsWhat would you do with a million pounds?

* How to compress images before uploading to GlowWhat would you do with a million pounds?

* How to upload images to a Picture Library and change the display of the web partWhat would you do with a million pounds?

Impact

The Active Maths project ran in the early weeks of 2009/10 and became a launch pad for using Glow throughout the school year. Pupils’ ICT skills and confidence have benefited significantly, and pupils now actively seek out opportunities to use Glow. They have a great sense of ownership, and are confident with creating their own Glow Groups, starting discussion threads and uploading work for peer review.

Lauren Budd describes the impact of using GlowWhat would you do with a million pounds?

Pupils were immensely enthusiastic about the Active Maths project. This can be seen clearly in the video clip below, recorded at the end of P5, around nine months after the project took place.

Pupils talk about the activities in the projectWhat would you do with a million pounds?

Lauren was delighted with the response and progress of her P5 class last year, and is hoping for similar things this year with her new P4s. Angus schools have recently had access to Glow Meet for the first time, and Lauren is excited about the opportunities this will open up for future collaborative projects between schools.

Photo credits: wwarby, Valerie Everett, avlxyz, John Gallant, San Jose Library, 8one6, Ardonik

Click to enlarge image

Overview

In June of 2010 when this cookbook was recorded, Hazel Lowe, affectionately nicknamed Mrs Maths by her pupils, was seconded to Perth and Kinross council as a Numeracy Support Teacher. Following an introduction to Glow, Hazel set about discovering how she could best utilise the Glow tools and functionality in her support role. In this cookbook, Hazel gives us a flavour of the comprehensive Glow Group that she has developed which is aimed at providing stimulus and support for numeracy across the curriculum in Perth and Kinross.

Video Clips

Ingredients

What Hazel has used to develop her Glow Group: 

1. A Glow Group
2. Additional page tabs
3. Multiple Document web parts
4. Picture Library web parts

Benefits

Hazel’s Numeracy and Mathematics Support Glow Group provides a number of benefits to staff in Perth and Kinross:

• A single point of contact where staff in P&K know they can find up to date information on numeracy and mathematics
• Detailed information, presentations, resources, sample lesson plans and examples of practice on particular topics relating to numeracy across the curriculum
• A place where staff can collaborate to develop resources
• A place to showcase and celebrate practice
• Access to presentations, reports and group discussions archived from CPD events

In the video clip below, Hazel sums up her views on the benefits of the group.

Number Partners is a volunteering scheme that brings together business volunteers and schools. The scheme gives pupils extra help with Maths in an active, fun way. This cookbook describes how one school in Angus has used a Glow Group to support their Number Partners sessions.

Context

Number Partners has been a successful volunteering scheme in England since 1998. In 2005 Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scottish Businesses in the Community (SBC) started a pilot scheme in seven local authorities in Scotland.

Number Partners matches a school with a local business and the volunteers visit the school for weekly sessions to play Maths-based board games with pupils. The sessions aim to give pupils opportunities to:

• practise their mental maths skills
• build their self-confidence
• enjoy Maths in a fun setting

Prior to starting work in the schools, volunteers attend a training session run by the local authority co-ordinator. The training gives the volunteers the opportunity to become familiar with each of the board games and the mathematical skills involved. The training then focuses on exploring the range of mental strategies which can be used to solve problems and how volunteers might discuss these strategies with pupils.

Southesk Primary is one of 13 primary schools in Angus which has been involved in the pilot. The school has been partnered with the healthcare company, GlaxoSmithKline, which has a site close to the school in Montrose. Volunteers from the company visit the school each week to work with a group of P4 pupils.

Picture Library – click to enlarge

Southesk have now started to use Glow to support the Number Partners sessons. The Glow Group is used to share images of the pupils and partners enjoying the board games. Descriptions of the activities are added to the images, reinforcing the development of self-confidence, social skills and positive attitudes seen during the sessions. Pupils are able to show the Glow Group to their parents at home, and discuss the activities with them.

In a discussion board in the Glow Group pupils give feedback about the games they have played, their attitude towards Number Partners, and the impact they feel the sessions have on their numerical skills. Pupils’ comments show their enthusiasm for the games, for the interaction with the volunteers, and the benefits in their increased confidence and enthusiasm for Maths. The pupils are clearly enjoying being successful learners!

Lynn Shellard shows the ‘Number Partners’ Glow Group Number Partners

Ingredients

Staff at Southesk created the Number Partners Glow Group and set the membership. They then:

• changed the names of the Glow Group pages
• removed any unwanted web parts from the pages
• used a Text Editor web part on the Noticeboard page to display information about the Number Partners scheme
• added a Picture Library web part and uploaded images
• amended the display of the Picture Library to add descriptions of the activities and provide feedback to pupils
• used the Discussions web part for pupils to comment on the games and the impact of their skills

Recipe

The video clips below show how to use and customise the Picture Library web part.

* How to add the Picture Library web part to a Glow pageNumber Partners

* How to compress image files before uploading to GlowNumber Partners

* How to upload images to the Picture Library web partNumber Partners

* How to change the display of the Picture Library web partNumber Partners

Impact

Southesk staff and pupils and GlaxoSmithKline volunteers are very positive about the benefits of the Number Partners scheme. See the video on the LTS website .

For further information on the Numbers Partners scheme, and the evaluation of the pilot, see the LTS website.

Photo credits (for images used in the recipe video clips): Patrick Q, R. Robertson, John Gallant, Zoonabar, Dougww, Erik Mallinson, sinosplice, 8one6, San Jose Library, The Illustrated Librarian

Overview

click to enlarge

Robyn Moonie teaches P6 in Glencairn Primary in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. She is a Glow Mentor for North Lanarkshire and began to use Glow with her previous P7 class for the last month of term. With her P6 class, she had been using Glow since August 2009 and had found it a purposeful way to extend learning in a new context. She wanted to use Glow to allow the pupils to be able to share and extend their learning in Maths. She decided to use a page of the class Glow Group to enable this to take place. She was keen that this method would allow classes within the school to be able to share and store evidence of their work but that also this would allow a mechanism to enhance their learning on particular concepts in Maths. She was also very clear that the approach for the way she had structured the Maths page would promote far more self-directed learning from the pupils. This is the fourth of 4 Cookbooks looking at Robyn’s P6 Glow Group. Other Cookbooks explore using Glow to set out Learning Intentions and Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes; using Glow for celebrating Responsibilities and Achievements and Using Glow to enhance teaching and learning of Novel Study in the classroom.

You will find the other Cookbooks here:

Using Glow for Responsibilities and Achievements in Glencairn Primary School

Using a Glow Group for Novel Study at Glencairn Primary School

Using web parts to share Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes in P6 Glencairn Primary

In this cookbook, we will find out:
• What the Glencairn Primary P6 Glow Group looks like
• How a range of web parts have been used within the Maths Page
• How to replicate the Maths Page
• What the impact was

Context

Robyn Moonie

Glencairn Primary school has a role of approximately 180 pupils, not including the role from the attached nursery school. Robyn received training as a Glow Mentor in Phase 2 of North Lanarkshire’s rollout in May 2009. She started with her P7 and Glow in the summer term of 2009 with joining some transition Glow Meets but since the start of the new term in August 2009 she has embedded Glow throughout the curriculum rather than it appearing as a one-off lesson for the pupils. She introduced her P6 class to Glow with some specific tasks in the group 2/3 times per week and it has grown from there. Home Access was made available to the pupils in March 2010 and P6 were trialling this for the rest of the school.

click to enlarge

Home Access has been sourced for the pupils by making sure they can access Glow if not at their own home then at friends/grandparents or other relatives. Robyn feels that Glow is helping with partnership with parents, where previously jotters went home to help with this and might not always have made it back into school, all information and progress can be shared through the class Glow Group. P6 are also acting as Glow Buddies in the school and introducing it to pupils in other classes to get them logged on to Glow. All of the pupils from P3 upwards have logged into Glow. Robyn is also involved in training all the staff in the school and has set up all of the Glow Groups on the school site. Other teachers are being influenced by the success of Robyn’s class in using Glow and as a policy within the school, all staff have access to the group. Robyn’s P6 group is also linked to from North Lanarkshire’s Glow Showcase Group with membership set for all staff in North Lanarkshire. Glow Development Officers, Scott Clark and Eileen Mallaghan had regularly used Robyn’s Group for supporting staff across the authority in developing their use of Glow. To find out more about this local authority Glow Group please click here to see the

North Lanarkshire Glow Showcase Cookbook.

In this cookbook, we will look at how Robyn set up the Maths page in her group using Discussion web parts, Picture Libraries and web links web parts amongst others.

Ingredients

Click to enlarge

The Maths page is visually stimulating within the Group. It includes web parts such as text editor to allow images and information on learning intentions and CfE Outcomes to be shared; Discussion Boards used to expand thoughts and opinions on mathematical concepts; a Picture Gallery allows pupils to reflect on more Active Maths and by its very visual nature is more accessible for pupils with reading difficulties.

Learning Intentions and Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes

The pupils refer to these web parts all the time in their learning, to check on what they are learning and become familiar with the language of Curriculum for Excellence.

Useful Maths websites

The majority of these links have been suggested by the pupils. Alternatively they may have asked for a game to help them with a particular aspect of Maths that they may be finding difficult. They access these both in class time and at home to give them practice with different skills.

Click to enlarge

Links from the National Site

Robyn has expanded on the “I can” statements from a Curriculum for Excellence by using the notes aspect of a web links web part. She has linked these into Maths Games from external websites to illustrate the statements and concepts for the pupils. As she notes,

“It’s a really useful web part for the pupils to look at to get an overview of all of level 2 in CfE Maths”.

Pupils can follow the description or notes to identify what they are struggling with and then follow the link through to play a game for practice on this aspect.

Maths Comments

The page also includes a discussion board where pupils set their targets at the start of the term and then went back and reviewed these targets and reset them. Robyn has also used this web part to set Maths tasks and challenges for pupils and notes that they enjoy checking to see if there are any new problems for them to solve.

Active Maths Picture Gallery

Click to enlarge

The picture gallery showcases a variety of active maths tasks which have been completed by the pupils and gives an overview of the kinds of things they undertake in Maths. It allows the pupils to be able to reflect on the way various tasks were set and what was learned from them.

What did Robyn need to do to give pupils access to be able to extend their learning in new contexts on the Maths page in the class Glow Group?

• A Class Glow Group for P6
• Set pupils with membership allowing Contributor access to the group
• Create a new page in the Glow Group for Maths
• A text editor web part for the header and images on the page
• Separate text editor web parts for Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes
• A web links web part with links to various Maths games
• A web links web part with further national links to Curriculum for Excellence information and external websites
• A Discussion Board for pupils to set and review targets and for Maths Challenges to be set
• A Picture Gallery for showcasing Active Maths work with pupil description

Recipe

The first video below shows the Maths page of the class Glow group and the uses made of a range of web parts. (3 vidoes making up the tour of the P6 Glow Group can be seen in the Impact section.) The videos that then follow show how some of these elements can be recreated. Details are:

The Maths page within the Glow Group (2:17)
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

How to add images into a table in a text editor web part (5:53)
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

How to create a new web links web part (3:34)
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

How to add notes and links to other websites and change the view to display these (4:17)
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

Details on how to do other things within the Maths page. For example, using a Picture Gallery to showcase work and add descriptions, can be seen within the other Cookbooks on this Glow Group.

Impact

Active Maths Discussion – click here to enlarge

Robyn feels that  the way Glow allows the pupils to present their learning gives them a pride in the ownership of their learning. It promotes independent learning and allows them to direct their own learning and actively participate in the learning in their group.

Robyn notes that they change the web links to activities regularly depending upon what is being looked at, at the time. Children may come to her and ask for additional help with a particular concept and Robyn will search out mathematical games from websites related to that. Some pupils are using the games at home with their parents and Robyn feels this is working very well for the parents to become involved in their own child’s learning.

Review of Maths Targets – click here to enlarge

Robyn puts in the language from Curriculum for Excellence in the web links as she feels its really important that the pupils know exactly where they’re going with their Maths and what they have to work on. They can then follow links to games for practice.

“They can see the overview of what they’re going to be doing throughout that stage that they’re working towards. The children are familiar with the language, I can, I will be able to, and are more confident in referring to these. And when they set their own targets, these are the statements they use.”

Robyn feels that the picture gallery was an important web part for recording achievement and storing evidence for active maths.

“They are doing more and more active maths now and this web part is a very useful way for others to see what the children are doing.”

The pupils are also asked to update the description part of the picture gallery and have to then reflect on their own learning and decide why and how the activity had an impact on them. They are also commenting upon why they enjoyed a particular activity in this web part. Robyn feels that because the pupils know that this web part is there, they are far more motivated during the activities. She tells us,

“They want their photo to go up onto Glow and enjoy looking back at them.”

Emily, Caity and Michael

She also recognises that it suits perhaps more reluctant learners, those who wouldn’t be keen to take part in class discussion giving their opinions, to fully participate using the web parts available. For example they are much more keen to take part in peer and self assessment using the discussion boards provided by Robyn in the Maths page. She also feels that the pupils are aware that their work on Glow can be accessed by other pupils, teachers from across the school and parents. This encourages them to be more reflective and evaluate more deeply what they are working on as they have a real audience,

“I feel that they try harder on Glow because they know that other people are watching and looking at what they are doing.”

Robyn Moonie speaks about the Maths page (3:20)
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

Michael, Emily and Caity speak about the Maths page (4:02)
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

Head Teacher, Lorna Galbraith speaks about P6 using Glow at Glencairn (1:04)
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

North Lanarkshire Glow Development Officers Eileen and Scott speak about Robyn’s Group
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

The P6 Glow Group at Glencairn as a whole
Part 1
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

Part 2
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

Part 3
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary

Visit the other Glow Cookbooks on Glencairn Primary School:

Using Glow for Responsibilities and Achievements in Glencairn Primary School

Using a Glow Group for Novel Study at Glencairn Primary School

Using web parts to share Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes in P6 Glencairn Primary

Peer Teaching – click here to enlarge

St Brigid’s Primary School in Newmains in North Lanarkshire have come to the end of their second year of using Glow. Marjory Murphy is the Glow Mentor in the school and is responsible for ICT across the school. Marjory has been able to introduce Glow gradually to every pupil, class and teacher in the school. In this position she has been able to ensure that Glow is used across the school in a relevant and meaningful way at all stages. Across a series of 6 Cookbooks we will look at different examples of the school’s innovative use of Glow for learning and teaching. In the next two Cookbooks we will focus on the P3 Active Maths Glow Group.

In this cookbook, we will find out:
• What the P3 Active Maths Glow Group looks like
• How some of the items on the page were put together including the videos

In the next cookbook, we will find out:
• How to put the remainder of the page together including the scrolling text for the Maths Challenge Question

Context

The early years classes in St Brigid’s have a joint Glow Group spanning P1 – P3 with activities and materials available for them. For example they run a Star Writers activity where the best work is chosen from P1, P2 and P3 and scanned in to be displayed in Glow. The pupils then, with the help of their teachers, leave 2 stars and a wish style comments for pupils across the 3 classes. P3, however, have a completely separate Glow Group for Active Maths. At the moment the group is focussing on the Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes of MNU 1-02a and MNU 1-03a. These 2 Cookbooks will look at the different activities Marjory has designed in Glow to support the pupils in their learning.

The school already use peer teaching frequently to reinforce concepts. They wanted to be able to use Glow to give them another angle for this. Not only do the pupils go through the experience of the peer teaching in the classroom but once the video is uploaded onto Glow it is available time and again. Teachers can use the videos to reinforce the concepts both in this year and with the next class the following year.

In the Recipe section you will find a video and a link to information that John Johnson (North Lanarkshire ICT Development Officer) has put together for Glow. John feels that the videos are quicker to load on the page using his method. I have also included links to the original Podcast session on North Lanarkshire’s site and a document with instructions. Marjory went along to a training session for this and used this method to embed the videos into her Glow Group. You will find a how-to video showing an alternative method of doing this using text editor web parts.

Click here to enlarge

Ingredients

The P3 Active Maths Glow Group has been customised and reduced so that it is a one page Glow Group only displaying a Noticeboard page. The page is organised with 7 main web parts. These are:

Text Editor for scrolling Maths puzzle

Marjory has used a text editor web part with scrolling text to set a small mathematical challenge for the pupils at the top of the page. More information will be available on this in the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group.

Page Viewer web part for BBC Video

Marjory has placed a Page Viewer web part giving the pupils access to a BBC hundreds, tens and units song video on the page.

Text Editor web part for “What we have been learning”

This web part lists what the pupils are learning in simple age appropriate language. Every time something new was being learned another learning intention would be added to the list in here. We are seeing the group after everything has been worked through. More information will be available on this in the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group.

Text Editor web part for Curriculum for Excellence Links

This web part gives pupils access to the actual Outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence related to their activities. The web part also contains links to the outcomes on the Curriculum for Excellence website. More information will be available on this in the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group.

Web links

The web links web part allows pupils to access fun games related to tens, hundreds and units in Maths.

Two xml web parts displaying videos of the pupils peer teaching

Marjory has used John Johnston’s (ICT Development Officer from North Lanarkshire) method of embedding 2 Quicktime movies onto the page. The teachers, pupils and parents can all view the videos of Jacob and Jordan teaching the class.

What did Marjory need to do to get the P3 Active Maths Group ready for the pupils

• Create a sub Glow Group for P3 Active Maths from within their Early Years Glow Group
• Set all pupils and teachers in the school with Reader membership
• Add several text editor web parts to the page
• Create a scrolling text Maths Challenge Question
• Upload videos of pupils teaching concepts
• Paste Learning Intentions into a text editor web part
• Paste links to Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes into a text editor web part
• Place several links to Maths and Numeracy Games into a web links web part

Recipe

The first video below acts as a virtual tour by Marjory of the P3 Active Maths Glow Group. The videos that then follow show how some of the elements within the page can be recreated. Videos for other elements within the page are available on the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group. You can find “Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths” by clicking here.

Details are:

Glow Group Tour (2:36)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

Removing unwanted pages and web parts (2:14)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

Adding a Page Viewer web part and displaying a web page (3:09)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

John Johnston’s video for Embedding Quicktime (5:46)
(Please note that the sound on this video is slightly distorted)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

The link to John’s original podcast – http://pod.nleducation.org.uk/groups/podcasts/weblog/11bbb/Embedding_QuickTime_in_Glow.html

Click here for John’s Helpsheet - Embedding_Quicktime_in_Glow

John’s link for embedding the Code

An alternative method of displaying video in text editor (6:00)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

Impact

Jacob and Jordan – click here to enlarge

Pupils are proud of their work and the fact that all classes can access it on Glow. Marjory was also able to show it to the parents who were amazed that their child’s work was being showcased on Glow. A simple one-page Glow Group has made a big impact with Primary 3.

In the videos below, Marjory speaks about the Glow Group. This is followed by an interview with the stars of the peer teaching project, Jacob and Jordan and a short comment from Karen Sommerville, Head Teacher at St Brigid’s.

Marjory Murphy speaks about the P3 Active Maths Glow Group (1:40)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

Jacob and Jordan speak about the P3 Active Maths Glow Group (1:24)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

Karen Sommerville, Headteacher speaks about Glow at St Brigid’s Primary School. (0:39)
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

There are 6 other Cookbooks on the fantastic ways St Brigid’s are making use of Glow. The link to the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group is here.

Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

As the other Cookbooks are completed you will find links to them here:

Our Targets for Literacy at St Brigid’s P6

scrolling challenge – click to enlarge

St Brigid’s Primary School in Newmains in North Lanarkshire have come to the end of their second year of using Glow. Marjory Murphy is the Glow Mentor in the school and is responsible for ICT across the school. Marjory has been able to introduce Glow gradually to every pupil, class and teacher in the school. In this position she has been able to ensure that Glow is used across the school in a relevant and meaningful way at all stages. Across a series of 6 Cookbooks we will look at different examples of the school’s innovative use of Glow for learning and teaching. In the next two Cookbooks we will focus on the P3 Active Maths Glow Group.

In this cookbook, we will find out:

• What the P3 Active Maths Glow Group looks like
• How to put some of the page together including the scrolling text for the Maths Challenge Question

In the next cookbook, we will find out:

• How the remainder of the items on the page were put together including the videos

Context

P3 Active Maths Glow Group – click to enlarge

The early years classes in St Brigid’s have a joint Glow Group spanning P1 – P3 with activities and materials available for them. For example they run a Star Writers activity where the best work is chosen from P1, P2 and P3 and scanned in to be displayed in Glow. The pupils then, with the help of their teachers, leave 2 stars and a wish style comments for pupils across the 3 classes. P3, however, have a completely separate Glow Group for Active Maths. At the moment the group is focussing on the Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes of MNU 1-02a and MNU 1-03a. These 2 Cookbooks will look at the different activities Marjory has designed in Glow to support the pupils in their learning.

The Glow Group was put together to allow pupils to undertake a variety of activities to enable them to achieve the above learning outcomes from A Curriculum for Excellence. Often teachers have used scrolling text within Glow to make a title for a page or to welcome pupils to the page. Marjory has made an innovative use of scrolling text with a mathematical challenge for the pupils which can be regularly changed. It’s a great introduction to a very Active Maths page.

Ingredients

The P3 Active Maths Glow Group has been customised and reduced so that it is a one page Glow Group only displaying a Noticeboard page. The page is organised with 7 main web parts. These are:

Text Editor for scrolling Maths puzzle

Marjory has used a text editor web part with scrolling text to set a small challenge for the pupils at the top of the page.

Page Viewer web part for BBC Video

Marjory has placed a Page Viewer web part giving the pupils access to a BBC hundreds, tens and units song video on the page. More information will be available on this in the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group.

Click to enlarge

Text Editor web part for “What we have been learning”

This web part lists what the pupils are learning in simple age appropriate language. Every time something new was being learned another learning intention would be added to the list in here. We are seeing the group after everything has been worked through.

Text Editor web part for Curriculum for Excellence Links

This web part gives pupils access to the actual Outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence related to their activities. The web part also contains links to the outcomes on the Curriculum for Excellence website.

Web links

The web links web part allows pupils to access fun games related to tens, hundreds and units in Maths.

Two xml web parts displaying videos of the pupils peer teaching

Marjory has used John Johnston’s (ICT Development Officer from North Lanarkshire) method of embedding 2 Quicktime movies onto the page. The teachers, pupils and parents can all view the videos of Jacob and Jordan teaching the class. More information will be available on this in the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group.

What did Marjory need to do to get the P3 Active Maths Group ready for the pupils

• Create a sub Glow Group for P3 Active Maths built under their Early Years Glow Group
• Set all pupils and teachers in the school with Reader membership
• Add several text editor web parts to the page
• Create a scrolling text Maths Challenge Question
• Upload videos of pupils teaching
• Paste Learning Intentions into a text editor web part
• Paste links to Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes into a text editor web part
• Place several links to Maths and Numeracy Games into a web links web part

Recipe

The first video below acts as a virtual tour by Marjory of the P3 Active Maths Glow Group. The videos that then follow show how some of the elements within the page can be recreated. Videos for other elements within the page are available on the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group. You can find “Peer Teaching with Videos on P3 Active Maths” by clicking here.

Details are:

Glow Group Tour (2:36)
Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

Using text editor web parts for learning intentions and Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes (5:22)
Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

How to create Maths Puzzles in scrolling text (4:31)
Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

Creating scrolling text using an external website (3:38)
Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

Impact

Jacob and Jordan – click to enlarge

Pupils are proud of their work and the fact that all classes can access it on Glow. Marjory was also able to show it to the parents who were amazed that their child’s work was being showcased on Glow. A simple one-page Glow Group has made a big impact with Primary 3.

In the videos below, Marjory speaks about the Glow Group. This is followed by an interview with the stars of the peer teaching project, Jacob and Jordan and a short comment from Karen Sommerville, Head Teacher at St Brigid’s.

Marjory Murphy speaks about the P3 Active Maths Glow Group (1:40)
Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

Jacob and Jordan speak about the P3 Active Maths Glow Group (1:24)
Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

Karen Sommerville, Headteacher speaks about Glow at St Brigid’s Primary School. (0:39)
Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

There are 6 other Cookbooks on the fantastic ways St Brigid’s are making use of Glow. The link to the partner Cookbook on this Glow Group is here.
Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

As the other Cookbooks are completed you will find links to them here:

Our Targets for Literacy at St Brigid’s P6

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

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)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
How to give people from another school membership of a Glow Group in your school (6:57)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
How to set up a Glow Meet in a Glow Group (5:36)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
How to join and take part in a Glow Meet (3:38)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
How to use the video, audio and chat facility within a Glow Meet meeting room (6:19)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
How to use the shared whiteboard in a Glow Meet meeting room (8:25)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet

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)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
Pupil Video 2: Why I liked the Glow Meet sessions (0:14)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
Pupil Video 3: I enjoyed the Glow Meets (0:06)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
Pupil Video 4: Transition (0:14)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet
Pupil Video 5: Homework (0:17)
Challenging able pupils: Primary/Secondary Maths Liaison using Glow Meet

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.