Language and maths…

There are three different models to learning:  THE TRANSMISSION MODEL  THE DISCOVERY MODEL  THE TEACHING OF THINKING MODEL

This model is ideally suited for low-level or preparatory task such as the conveying of information, instructions or orders. The child may need to be given the knowledge that can act as a catalyst for new understanding.

This model involves the child being actively engaged in a structured learning situation, in a productive mode of learning. The child becomes involved in processing information, in investigating and solving problems.

It approaches learning through higher oder levels of thinking. Its focus is not on a telling or doing approach but on a thinking approach. The main question is “What do you think?”. It combines reflection with practice and it starts from the ideas that children have.

Language and literature Maths Science Technology Aesthetic (music, art, craft, design) Physic (phyisical education, dance and games) Moral (personal and social education) Spiritual (religious education)

The teachers need to show children different ways of looking at the world, different ways of patterning their experiences. CURRICULUM The boundaries between arts and science need to be broken down and replaced with a model that present thinking and problem solving ARTS: Creativity and humanistic SCIENCES: Logico-technology and abstract

 The theoretical aspects of a subject should be used to encourage free immaginative thought, speculation and conceptual connections between subjects or areas of study.  Theoretical knowledge needs to be linked with the practical.  A school curriculum is not just the teaching provided but also what the child takes away from the learning experience.

INNER SPEECH TALKING LISTENING WRITING READING Linguistic intelligence

Inner speech is the talking to ourselves. It plays a vital role in controlling and influencing our behaviour. It affects our understanding of the world. It helps impulsive children to achieve a more careful. It can help to mobilise what the child knows and link it to what the child can do.

Some children gain by working in pairs or groups and thinking aloud while trying to solve shared problems. There are two reasons why this can be valuable:  by listening to classmate solving problems the child may learn about other people’s approach to problem solving;  by expressing their thoughts to themselves and to others, the child’s own approach to the problem can be checked and analysed THIS ENCOURAGES MORE THINKING.

Children learn well when their minds are engaged and their thinking is supported and stimulated. One way to encourage children’s efforts in constructing understanding is to question their thinking. (Asking children to respond to bizarre questions can produce interesting results). It’s an important way to understand our children.

Through talking and listening the adult learns much about what and how the child thinks. The child also learns how to shape thoughts in words and how communicate his view of the world. Ways to encourage the child to extend his thinking through talking include: Pausing ( waiting for an answer demonstrates a trust in the child’s ability to answer ) Accepting ( do not “rush to judgement” on a child’s response ) Clarifying ( the teacher does not understand fully what the child is trying to say ) Facilitating ( to talk and to think through feedback and response ) Challenging ( to be understood by others is part of the stimulus a child needs but children also need challenge and should be encouraged to callenge each other and adults )

When many childrens, at a literal level, read, they interpret only what the words say, not what they mean. WE WANT CHILDREN NOT ONLY TO READ THE LINES BUT ALSO TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES. READING = a thinking activity that involves critical thinking and creative thinking. Good readers are actively engaged in a problem- solving activity, striving for cognitive clarity by seeking meaning from words. Becoming a fluent reader does not consist in associating words and letters with spoken forms; it consist in a number of discoveries that engage the processes of thinking.

Vygotskij: The abstract quality of written language, its meaning are not self-evident The vagueness children have about the usefulness of reading and writing, so that they have little motivation to apply themselves to the tasks of learning. LACK OF FLUENT SKILL IN READING AND WRITING WE MUST GIVE THEM A RICH AND VARIED EXPERIENCE OF WORDS AND BOOKS

HOW TO SEEK MEANING FROM TEXTS Child’s reading comprehension by: 1. Monitoring for meaning (what the child understands) 2. Questioning the text (clarifying the meanings) 3. Analysing text features (looking at the contex) 4. Elaborating the text (predicting what will come next) 5. Judging the text (evaluating the ideas) 6. Reasoning (why things happened) 7. Rewiewing (check the coherence) Word key MOTIVATION

Writing activities can improve reading skills and children can develop thinking skills. WRITING = COMPOSITION (the creation of a text ) + TRANSCRIPTION (writing down the text)

Writing for oneself others pre-writing (brainstorming) writing post-writing (editing) The audience is the writer himself. Who is the audience? The child is free to reflect back over Why are we writing? recent learning experiences. How should the message be presented? It is not necessary a special writing What ideas have we got? style. How should we write it? Diary, memo book It needs a message

A key element in mathematical thinking is the ability to recognise patterns and to see relationships. Mathematics is a highly structured network of ideas. To think mathematically is to form connections in this network. Mathematics is an interrelated framework of concepts and procedures.

Maths is something you need, with help, to process for yourself. Mathematics is a way of solving problems in the mind. It can be represented in a variety of ways: Verbally (using linguistic intelligence) Interpersonally (learning through collaboration) Physically (working with pratical apparatus) Visually (making draws) Symbolically (using abstract symbols)

Teachers are interested in children’s ideas about numbers rather than methods of calculation. Thinking “if …. then” is important to link the real life thinking. Children need a lot of experience in patterning numbers and these experiences should call on all forms of intelligence (games, rhymes, missing-number puzzle). Geometry is to do with the patterning of lines, surface and space. The ideas of children are the most important thing.

Children are interested to method of investigation, so we can ask them first to estimate, second to test their estimate, then finally to review the margin of error and work out strategies for improving the prediction. Children’s statistical judgement will develop through pratical experience of analysing data from a variety of sources. The true use of maths is seen in its application to real-life problems. A mathematical problem has a starting point and a clear goal. It is necessary that this problem is connected with the reali-life if we want that children learn to think mathematically. Mathematical thinking is encouraged by talking about and talking through the process and strategies used.