Case Study 3

Developing a community of problem solvers

The ability to problem solve is a life skill that many of us employ in varied situations in our daily life. Many schools endeavour to provide students with opportunities to develop this skill. Schools in this ASISTM project have developed an innovative approach to problem solving using a real life context.

Red Cliffs East Primary School and Red Cliffs Secondary College are working together on their ASISTM project Learning Worth Bottling. The project is providing learning experiences for middle years students that require them to draw on their mathematical knowledge and understandings, to solve problems that occur in a local industry.

Prior to the ASISTM funding, problem solving in mathematics had been a focus at Red Cliffs East Primary School with professional development provided by Pauline Rogers the Mathematician-in-residence.

Craig Warn, the Project Coordinator explained that, ‘A significant number of the parents from both schools work in a wine-related industry’. ‘It seemed an obvious choice to utilise this local industry as a setting for a real life context.’

Brain Falkenberg of Deakin Estate Winery was approached to participate in the project and was delighted to be involved. It turns out that Brian is himself a keen mathematician and has proven to be a rich resource of ideas and a useful sounding board when the Project Cluster met to scope the project and develop problem solving tasks.

 

Full Story...

The Learning Worth Bottling project provided students with problem solving activities in real life work-based applications. Visiting the Deakin Estate winery provided students with opportunities to solve mathematical based problems. Primary students worked with the local secondary college and winery staff on the tasks.

The Full Story

A shared vision and approach

The Project Cluster meeting, held at the winery site and organised at the commencement of the project, was used to bring all partners together to develop a shared vision and approach. Teachers were able to see first hand how the winery operated and identify the links to mathematical learning that existed. The site manager provided guidance about which processes involved in wine production could be used as part of the problem solving activities.

Three student visits were organised for each school term. Years 5, 6 and 7 classes from both schools were divided into two groups so that each group was a manageable size and included students from each class. Each visit was designed around tasks that focussed on a different area of mathematics such as measurement, chance and data, number, structure or working mathematically. Estimation was also an important aspect of the tasks.

Each visit was organised for ninety minutes of student activity where students worked in small teams of 2-4 students to complete the set tasks. Students used the ‘Think Aloud’ strategy when solving problems. Classroom work was conducted during pre and post visits. ‘The student visits captured the interest of students and helped motivate those students who often became disengaged with mathematics.’

The project’s success

Before student visits to the site were conducted, Project Cluster partners including assistants from the winery and teachers, were given professional development about problem solving in mathematics. Craig says that this shared understanding was critical to the project’s success. ‘The mathematician-in-residence provided us with approaches and strategies we could implement in the project.’

Craig believes that the success of the program can also be attributed to the thorough planning of each visit and the extensive communication with the site manager. The site manager always made sure that the personnel were primed ready to go and that all the necessary equipment was ready.

During the course of the project, students were exposed to many different tasks that required a number of different problem solving strategies. To ensure students had sufficient working knowledge to ‘tackle’ the tasks at the winery and build on their existing mathematical knowledge when they returned to the classroom, the following approach was implemented.

Following this approach, students had regular opportunities to build their mathematical knowledge and articulate their understanding with others. Sharing these understandings with parents was a vital aspect of the project. Communication books were an important part of our ongoing reporting to parents. Parents have also been given the opportunity to comment on their child’s learning. Through these processes regular feedback has been received from the parents expressing their praise of the project and commenting on how their children are enjoying the maths and visits to the winery.

Measuring change

All the students involved with the project in 2006 were surveyed prior to commencing the project. These students were all the Year 5 and 6 students from Red Cliffs East Primary School and the two selected Year 7 classes from Red Cliffs Secondary School. The survey measured student attitudes towards mathematics. This baseline data will be used to compare students’ attitude after being involved in the project for the year.

Major challenges faced

Teaching and coordinating the winery site manager and other teachers across two campuses taking into consideration timetabling constraints, required extensive organisation and communication.

A lasting legacy

Craig says the ASISTM project has been a wonderful experience for all involved and expects some benefits to last long after the funding has run out. Extended visits to other local sites may be incorporated in the future, however staff have seen the value of authentic tasks and are keen to incorporate these into the school settings. Staff are looking at the school with new perspective; they’re looking for opportunities that exist in the schools to solve real mathematical problems. For example, marking out the sports oval for the sports day takes time and requires a degree of mathematical thinking. This is now a task in which students are involved. ‘There are more opportunities waiting to be utilised.’

When the Year 7 students move into Year 8 the opportunity exists for teachers to implement a similar approach towards mathematics with an emphasis on using materials, working in groups to solve particular tasks. There is also more connection for students as mathematics learners moving from Primary to Secondary school.

Disseminating project outcomes

As part of their dissemination strategy, project outcomes were to be presented at the Mathematics Association of Victoria (MAV) conference in December 2006.

A video diary, produced in DVD format, showcases the winery visits. It features students’ conversations about mathematics using the thinking aloud strategy while completing group tasks.

Craig says. ‘Power comes from real life learning.’ ‘You can read about it all you like, its only when you do it that you can see the real benefits for students.’

Further information

Craig Warn
Project Coordinator
Leading Teacher
Red Cliffs Primary School
Telephone: (03) 5024 1147

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