Activity 1

Report and reflect on the lesson

Take it in turns to share stories of what happened in your lesson. Give factual, descriptive accounts and show examples of pupils' work.

• Which problems did pupils choose to explore?
• What difficulties did they have with the mathematics?
• What difficulties did they have with with the computers?
• How did you encourage pupils to move away from trial and error approaches?
• What records did pupils keep of their work?
• What did pupils learn about mathematics?
• What did pupils learn about the use of computers?

You may like to watch Rob and Christine discussing their microworld lessons.

Activity 2

Explore the use of ICT as a thinking tool

Work on the problem Making and selling a magazine using the spreadsheet template provided.

• Would you choose to use a spreadsheet to tackle this type of problem?
• How is the computer helping you to think mathematically?
• What mathematical processes and skills do you need?
• What computer skills do you need?

Now suppose that you gave this same problem to your pupils:

• What tools might they choose to use (e.g. Graph paper, graphics calculator, spreadsheet)?
• Do you think they would be able to construct an appropriate spreadsheet from scratch? If not, what support you would need to give them? Would the hint sheet on Handout 5 help?
• Do your pupils do problems like this in ICT lessons? Do they transfer this knowledge? Why or why not?

Activity 3

Observe a teacher using Magazine Sales

Watch Peter's lesson on the Magazine sales problem.

• How does Peter help pupils to engage with the problem?
• Why does he ask pupils to tackle the problem on paper first?
• What are pupils learning about the mathematics?
• What are they learning about spreadsheets?

(Click on Introductory session at the top of the screen to return to the main session). (Click on Play continuously to stop the video pausing).

Activity 4

Relate ICT to the new programme of study for Mathematics

The programmes of study for maths emphasise the need for pupils to learn how to represent, analyse and solve unstructured problems with ICT. Discuss how you can use ICT to develop the Key Processes as shown on Handout 6.Representing

• Can you give examples to show how ICT can be used to help pupils represent problems mathematically?

Analysing

• How can ICT encourage mathematical analysis and reasoning?

Interpreting and evaluating

• How can you encourage pupils to interpret results and form hypotheses?

Communicating and reflecting

• How can ICT be used to help pupils communicate their thinking to others?

Activity 5

Look at the use of ICT in the Case Studies

Nearly all of the Bowland Case Studies make some use of ICT - several depend on fairly sophisticated software, others just include video clips for use on an interactive whiteboard or data projector. Look at Portraits of the case studies. Pick one you might like to try and which makes significant use of ICT. Discuss:

• Why do you think the designers chose to use ICT for this activity?
• How is the ICT used? What role does it play?
• Do you see any practical problems that might prevent you using the case study? What might you do to overcome them?

Activity 6

Consider using other resources to provoke thinking

• Which resources do you have in your classroom?
• Who decides when they are used?

Resources directly influence the ways in which pupils think about problems.

• Can you give examples from your classroom where the resources have helped or hindered learning?