Professional Learning Goals

• Deepened our understanding of inquiry-based learning as it relates to math learning
• Developed assessment strategies for inquiry
• Focused on the critical-thinking and the collaboration competencies for 21st-century learning
• Explored ways to use technology to further enhance student understanding of mathematics as they share their thinking

Activities and Resources

Students in all four classes completed a math attitude survey both before and after the inquiry took place.

Winter Festival Inquiry

Grade 2 students created flags and planned a hot chocolate party for the festival. Math strands integrated into the inquiry included geometry (2D and 3D geometry), number sense (fractions, addition, division, money), and measurement (linear, capacity, volume).

Grade 4 students developed games and activities for the Grade 2 students. The development of the activity involved measurement, number sense, geometry and patterning and algebra.

Resources used included Adobe Spark Video to document learning, Google Forms for a pre- and post-attitude survey.

Global Communities/Early Societies Inquiry

Grade 2 teachers familiarized the students with 2D and 3D geometry terminology. Students then created 3D structures from modelling clay based on global architecture (modern and traditional). Their guiding question addressed how the features of their community met the needs and impacted the environment.

Grade 4 students began by participating in a simulated design a hotel challenge using snap cubes. They then began researching early societies and were challenged to develop an early society-themed resort. This inquiry required skills in number sense (two digit by one digit, adding money amounts, rounding, etc.) and geometry (3D figures and nets, grid and co-ordinate geometry). The final resorts included features of the early society, including social structure, environment, food, daily life, culture, etc. Students were required to make a map of their resort and 3D model.

Resources used for both inquiries included Adobe Spark Video to document learning, Google Forms for a pre- and post-attitude survey. Assessment resources included Google Forms for student self-assessment and teacher anecdotal records using Google Forms docAppenders and student portfolios using Seesaw. Single-point rubrics were used to assess both inquiries.

Unexpected Challenges

Scheduling time was an issue that we also came across. We found that students required large blocks of time to explore and work through problems they encountered. At first, we were hesitant to provide the amount of time required because we were worried about covering curriculum but, after we saw how much the students learned in the first inquiry, we were more comfortable with providing the large blocks of time required for the second one.

We also found that students who tend to excel in a more traditional math program tended to struggle when challenged to work through real-world problems on their own.  We think this may be that math has always been easy for them and this was a challenging task. Also, the open-ended nature of the task with variable possible outcomes was new to them and therefore moved them out of their comfort zone.

Although not unexpected, assessment of the inquiry process was a challenge with which we had to deal. We learned that assessment of the process is critical in order to understand the learning that has taken place. To do this, we had students document their process through pictures and videos throughout both inquiries. We also led the class in development of a learning story using Adobe Spark for the Winter Festival and added Google Slides for the second inquiry. We would like to transition towards having students complete their own learning stories for each inquiry.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

One of the most obvious benefits was students developing a clear understanding that math is related to many areas of life. They developed a deeper understanding of how math is a relevant and important part of their lives. We also noticed that students who were reluctant participants in math activities developed a more positive attitude towards math. By not being restricted to specific expectations, we found that students often moved beyond the grade-level expectations and began to explore math concepts at a deeper level.

Our focus on critical-thinking and collaboration also led to an enhanced development of these learning skills. Students learned that they needed to solve problems for themselves and developed the skills to do so. Also, in these inquiries, students were not provided with problems to solve, but created their own authentic problems that they needed to solve to complete the challenges. For example, they needed to determine for themselves how they could build 3D figures that would look like the buildings they wanted to replicate.

Sharing

Throughout the project, we have been sharing our work via Twitter and through informal conversations with school colleagues. Our grade partners have also joined in the inquiries with their classes. The math and social studies curriculum resource teachers have been involved in our inquiries and have shared them with colleagues throughout the board in both elementary and secondary. One of our team members shared some of our work at the NPDL Global Deep Learning lab in Toronto in early May. Moving forward, an application will be submitted to share our work at the OAME Conference in May 2018. Inquiries were shared with our school community in the school’s Inquiry Showcase in May 2017.

Project Evaluation

The two phases of the inquiry exceeded our expectations. Students were building on and discussing concepts from the first part of the inquiry during the second phase. They were talking fractions during our social studies in countries’ flags.

We considered this to be a successful inquiry because students continued to push their learning. Their ideas moved, not  only beyond curriculum, but into the global context. They wanted to research difficulties people in their countries face and problem-solve possible solutions. This moved our seven-year-olds towards becoming agents of social change.

Our own learning goals were met because at the beginning we were uncertain if we could actually cover all the required curriculum expectations in teaching math in this way. We discovered that not only did we cover a large number of expectations, but the student learning went deeper than we had anticipated. Students were motivated to learn because they saw the connections of math with authentic world experiences.

In the math attitude pre-survey, 57 per cent of the students said they “like to learn about math” and in the May post-survey, 86 per cent of them “liked to learn about math.” In the pre-survey, 70 per cent felt that “math will be important when I grow up” and in the post-survey, 89 per cent of them saw that math would be “important when I grow up” and 93 per cent recognized that they use math regularly in their lives. As research shows that there is a correlation between attitudes to math and student achievement, we believe that the improvement in the attitudes towards math in our students will result in improved achievement.

We also explored many different types of assessment, primarily through conversation and observation of student work. Using the iPads, students were able to document their own work and we used their pictures and videos to create learning stories to share and use for assessment. As students worked in large blocks of self-directed time to complete their inquiries, we had plenty of time to observe and conference with them, allowing for triangulation of assessment.