Jo Boaler’s course titled: How to Learn Math, inspired me as a math teacher and learner. This course challenged me to think of ways to include Number Talks as part of my online course for grade three students. One way I have done this, is by developing Three Act Math lessons* in the form of videos to promote discussion between my students and their parents. As I developed these math conversations in my online course, parents have shared the joys and challenges of participating in this new way of thinking.
Yet I wanted to do more. I wanted to get kids talking and showing what they could do with mathematical ideas, and I wanted kids to see and respond to the thinking of their peers.
There’s even more. I feel strongly about the power of writing and drawing, as a way to explain math thinking, and so I have students use math journals. However enabling students to respond meaningfully in a math journal is a challenge. Students struggle to reveal understanding when writing skills limit the explanation of their math thinking.
Student created math videos is an option I’ve long considered. And so I started to explore options for easy screen screencasting tools for kids. I started asking students to recored their math thinking using one of three iPad applications:
My students also have the option of using the video recording tool in Moodle, the Learning Management System I use. Moodle has a video recording plugin called, PoodLL, (Ha ha of course, you say, what better name could there be?) Happily all of these tools were easy to teach my students to use.
I started by creating my own math video as a model for students. I used ScreenChomp. Mine, was not polished production but a recording of my thinking and drawing. My purpose was to get students to focus on the math, and enjoy using new tools. We started with the the following math journal questions from our unit of study at the time:
How can you multiply two numbers?
When so you multiply?
How does an array show multiplication?
Do you ever have that moment when you see or experience something and your skin just tingles with excitement? Well that was my experience as I started viewing the videos my students created. Not only were they revealing their thinking, the whole process of creating a video powerfully strengthened their learning. It was evident that creating a math video required my students to communicate mathematical ideas as they explained and supported their reasoning.
As we’ve progressed my students are contributing to a bank of wonderful student explanations of math concepts. Which in turn, is becoming a rich resource for learning. I am beginning to think of new and creative ways to use these same videos to develop more math conversations. That’s more to tell in a future post.
Let me know what you have tried to do with students screen casting.
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