Improving Pedagogical Practices & Incorporating Big Ideas into the Classrooms

Comments from evaluation panel: 

To encourage such research projects by teachers in school. Sustained department-wide research over 2 years, with impact on improving the 4-year curriculum and teaching practice.

Name of Team	-
Title of Project	Improving Pedagogical Practices & Incorporating Big Ideas into the Classrooms
Facilitator	Phua-Tan Gek Hoon
Team Leader	Christina Lye / Sharon Lee (2019)
Secretary	-
Members	Elizabeth Liow Ong-Yeo Pih Tai (2019) Sam Choon Juen (2020) Caren Hui (2020)
Initiated on (date)	Dec 2018
Completion date	Nov 2020
Objectives/Targets	To improve our pedagogical practices by developing a greater awareness and understanding of: -             the nature of mathematics -             the big ideas central to the discipline and bring coherence & connections between different topics so as to develop in students a deeper and more robust understanding of mathematics and better appreciation of the discipline.   To co-construct new ways to teach towards the big ideas
Implementation Process	Stages of Process Date ·         Survey for teachers conducted in 28 Dec 2018 -       What are the teaching techniques that you know of and have applied in the past 2 to 3 years? (see Annex A) ·         Sharing with teachers on 14 Jan 2019   28/12/18       14/1/19 ·         Reading MOE 2020 Secondary Mathematics Syllabus ·         Level Reflection (see Annex B) 1) What is already implemented in our department current practice for good teaching and learning of Mathematics? 2) What is new? What strikes you? 3) Is there anything that you are not sure of? ·         Department Checkpoint and Consolidation   14/1 – 10/2/19   11/2/19           18/2/19 ·         Product design and implementation (Minimum one per level per year ) -        One lesson unit cum notes that incorporate Big Ideas and show how teachers can teach towards Big Ideas. -        One lesson/lesson unit that has leveraged on SLS (if you can)   ·           Level Reflection 6 May ·         Level Presentation (Term 3) -        One lesson unit cum notes that incorporate Big Ideas and show how teachers can teach towards Big Ideas. -        One lesson/lesson unit that has leveraged on SLS (if you can) 19/2 – 5/5/19               6/5/19 Term 3 ·         Sharing of materials provided by CPDD and Master Trs eg Teachers’ Learning Guide, Lesson Plans and ideas On-going ·         Implementing Big Ideas into the classroom ·         Sharing of implementation within the level ·         Measuring the extent of implementation in 2019 vs 2020 On-going ·         Survey for Students -           Select the Big Ideas that you have come across this year (you may select more than one) -           Select one topic learnt this year and describe how the Big Idea(s) in that topic has helped you better understand or appreciate the concepts in that topic. -           Can you connect this Big Idea to another topic that you have learnt this year or previously?  If yes, describe briefly the connection. October 2020
Extent of Improvement/ Targets met	o   Teachers are more familiar with the MOE 2020 Secondary Mathematics Syllabus and ways to implement the big ideas into the classrooms   o   All levels had managed to create at least one lesson unit that incorporated the Big Ideas and this was shared with the department in Term 3 2019.   o   There has been an increase in the percentage of topics in which Big Ideas had been implemented across most levels. Teachers have been making a conscious effort to infuse the 8 Big Ideas into the classroom. Teachers also use the big ideas across topics to bring about coherence and connections.   2019 2020 Sec 1 6/12 50% 10/12 83.3% Sec 2 5/9 55.6% 8/9 88.9% Sec 3 11/12 91.7% 10/12 83.3% Sec 4 4/11 36.4% 11/12 91.7%     o   Findings based on IP, SIP and Advanced Math Programme surveys showed that students remembered the Big Ideas that had been introduced in class though the term “Big Ideas” had not been explicitly mentioned in class nor have the big ideas been taught as a single unit. Students were able to articulate what they had learnt and were able to connect the big ideas to the mathematical concepts. They were also able to connect the big ideas across topics. A few students were even able to connect some of the big ideas to Science. There were also students who did not remember or who were not able to connect the big ideas to what they had learnt. (See Annex C for results of survey)   Qns in Survey: -          Select the Big Ideas that you have come across this year (you may select more than one) -          Select one topic learnt this year and describe how the Big Idea(s) in that topic has helped you better understand or appreciate the concepts in that topic. -          Can you connect this Big Idea to another topic that you have learnt this year or previously?  If yes, describe briefly the connection.
Recommendations/ Conclusion	Moving forward, the department will look at how concept-based can be used to support the infusion of these big ideas further. The department will also look at how the Big Ideas of “Invariance” and “Models” can be infused into the classroom as these were the two ideas that were generally least recalled, remembered or mentioned.

Annex A

Annex B

 

Level Reflection on Reading

We have read MOE 2020 Secondary Mathematics Syllabus. We shall pen down our reflections as a level using the given table. 

 

	What is already implemented in our department current practice for good teaching and learning of Mathematics?	What is new? What strikes you?	Is there anything that you are not sure of?
Sec 1	We have already infused the teaching of big ideas into the sec 1 lesson notes. E.g. Notations and equivalence in Basic algebra. Students become more aware.    We have planned for PISCA. Though not all sec 1 classes have done it.  Use of lesson notes checklist.    Problems in real-world contexts e.g. 62.2 million passengers in changi airport vs exact number in EA.  Reasoning.    We use questioning techniques, exit cards and topical quizzes for assessment for learning.   AFL (skills/do): exit cards, short quizzes, error analysis (knowledge): recalling facts with Kahoot!, match making worksheet for definition of BA. (understanding): cognitive closure	All must put in conscious and conscientious effort to read through and check the 2020 doc for big ideas and learning experiences infusion.   There are many examples of infusion of big ideas and learning experiences in the 2020 doc.    Are there other AfL strategies besides exit cards, quizzes, diagnostic test? We also need to strengthen our data analysis and interpretation of assessment results which is also at times, limited by the mode of assessment. Eg Exit cards are a good way to diagnose students’ fundamental understanding and check students’ presentation. However, it does not give us a holistic view of the students’ understanding Eg: Key understanding (besides skills and knowledge). This leads to the crafting of essential questions and guiding questions for the unit.   Getting students become aware of the Pentagon framework. Introduce the Pentagon to them or let them experience the different aspects of the Pentagon?	When we teach some topics in future we may have questions about what is the difference between Invariance and Equivalence, Models and Diagrams.    How to put in big ideas in activity-based tasks e.g. alternative tasks?    How to use big ideas across topics to bring about coherence and connections?  The next time we talk about Notations and Equivalence we can ask students to recall what previous topic they have learnt about those Big Ideas before. How else can we bring about these besides recall?
Sec 2	Linear graph - use of ipad graph app to explore gradient and y-intercept of a line.  Introductory problem at the start of the chapter for students to appreciate the application of math discipline.	the conscious effort to link what we are teaching, to the terms of 8 Big Ideas.	The teaching pedagogy to bring across the 8 Big ideas.  How do we marry Big Ideas and CBL? Is there a difference between the two?  Whether there will be a shift of assessment to assess the understanding and creativity of big ideas? When there is only one assessment per term, should it be AFL or AOL?
Sec 3	We have included the use of Desmos and Geometer Sketchpad apps for inductive learning    Learning Math as a tool - using Math as problem solving using contextual problems + alternative tasks   PISCA - for metacognition   Main Themes of math such as functions, operations, equivalence, abstractions are frequently mentioned in class and in our notes.   Engagement - Teachers pose questions and follow-up questions in engaging the students    Extended learning in class - still working on how to make this a regular feature in our classes   Formative assessment - Exit Cards, Quizzes, Nearpod, Kahoot, Reflections and Review, etc.   Real World Context - examples show how math concepts are visible in real world situations, and how the math explains the reality	Questions which require students to formulate equations for a contextual problem (see A.Math paper 2018)	Lesson Preparation: Having standardized notes can be rigid and makes it harder to customize for different abilities.    Student Profiling - At the start of the year, we can get a sense of the attitude of students towards Math   Motivation - provide contextual problems which are interesting to them.     Teaching Math as a discipline, not merely as a tool