Angela’s experience What I did: Acvity 1-­‐ Measurement


I wanted to try out ‘spaced learning’, which aims to break up classroom sessions into short chunks by mixing thinking me with physical acvity. The group had been working on the circumference and area of the circle using worksheets but some of the learners were struggling with the principles and calculaons. I hoped that this exercise would make the theory more tangible. I asked the group to measure the diameter of their car tyres, downstairs in the car park. The learners brought the measurements back and used them to work out the wheel’s circumference. They then went back and physically measured the circumference and compared the measured circumference to the calculated circumference.


What I learned about myself as a praconer: Acvity 1-­‐ Spaced learning


I really enjoyed the acvity involved in the exercise and this reinforced for me the benefit of encouraging both physical movement and acve learning where learners have to make decisions about their learning. For example, rather than provide a measuring instrument in this class, learners had to decide on what to use to measure the circumference: for example, a standard measuring tape, a piece of string or a paper tape available in pharmacies and used for waist measurement. Making mini-­‐decisions such as these within the classroom encourages learners to become acve parcipants in the learning process rather than passive recipients. Swan (2005) suggests that maths may be seen by learners as something that is ‘done’ to them. As tutors, we should strive to create an environment where learners are engaged to discuss and explain ideas, to challenge each other and to work collaboravely to share results. Listening to the group discussion (which I had recorded with learners’ permission) led to some interesng observaons on the accuracy of the measuring instrument, possible sources of error and the fallibility of the calculator. As a tutor it was enlightening to listen to my facilitaon of the discussion and nocing that I tend to over-­‐explain at mes and to jump in with answers without giving the learners me to think through their ideas. Involvement in this project, gave me the opportunity to review my pracce. I now try to resist the temptaon to fill a silence in the classroom by supplying an answer. Oen a prompt is all that is required to encourage learners to have a go and to arrive at understanding, oen through discussion.


What I did: Acvity 2 -­‐ Scale


The concept of scale had arisen in the classroom in relaon to reading maps but the rather awkward scale used made it difficult for the group to grasp the maths involved. In order to make the concept more authenc I suggested we try to plan out the layout of a living room. Learners worked in pairs using one cenmetre squared paper and had to choose a reasonable scale to represent the room and to furnish it with scaled representaons of furniture chosen from an Argos catalogue.


What I learned about myself as a praconer: Acvity 2 -­‐ Collaborave learning


This exercise demonstrated the value of a quiet buzz of acvity in the adult numeracy classroom. Having at least one acvity per session where there is movement, group work, collaboraon and acve learning taking place, in my opinion, promotes learning on a deeper level. The learners stated that they enjoyed working in pairs and learning from each other. I asked the group how I could extend the exercise if I was doing it with another group and they came up with some great ideas, such as pung a budget on the furnishing, working out best value, adding in sale items with percentage discounts. Asking the group for their suggesons demonstrated that I valued their opinions and that learning in the classroom is a collaborave effort between tutor and group.


Overall, I found being involved in this acon learning project very worthwhile. It provided me with a specific opportunity to reflect on my pracce. Reflecon may not necessarily be comforng, it may cause us to queson our movaons and to re-­‐frame our perspecves. However, this process may result in helping us to make sense of our experiences as tutors, giving us an enhanced confidence in our abilies and a strengthening of our convicons in our teaching methodologies.


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