A collaborative approach to implementing coding in Gr.5-9 math classrooms involving pre- and in-service teachers, numeracy consultants, and university faculty: A partnership between Niagara Catholic District School Board and Brock University – Winter 2022
This past winter, 25 Niagara Catholic District School Board in-service teachers and 36 Brock University pre-service teachers worked together to prepare and implement coding and mathematics activities in Gr. 5-9 classrooms. The outcomes were richer than anticipated!
This provides one way of supporting the enactment of the new coding expectations in the Ontario math curricula. Below, through different resources, we share details of how this collaborative approach worked, including key insights on what was learned (on implementation and from such a collaborative approach), in terms of potential benefits and difficulties. We also outline concrete recommendations to numeracy consultants who may want to try a similar approach in their context.
Collaboration Resources (for teachers and numeracy consultants):*
* not to be used for research purposes
- Professional Learning Webinar summarizing this collaborative project
- Three short videos of pre- and in-service teachers about:
What Happened During the Implementation
Final Comment from a Teacher for Teachers
- Facilitation guide for collaboration (English and French)
- Guidelines for the meetings between pre- and in-service teachers (Intro and Preparation Meeting I; Activity Refinement Meeting II; Debriefing and Reflection Meeting III) [pdf]
- Additional course material for pre-service teachers (readings, project guidelines, etc.)
Four Experience Reports *
* not to be used for research purposes
The case of Abbey, Jessica, John, and Stephanie
Sub-procedures and Dilations with Scratch (Gr. 7-8)
“Watching the [pre-service teachers] interact with the kids, it was … of a different dynamic for sure … and [we were] learning from them as much as they were learning from the kids and they were learning from us.” ~ In-service teacher
Brief implementation summary video (pre-service teachers, Abbey and Jessica)
In the words of the two in-service teachers, John and Stephanie:
- How did you prepare your students before the activity?
- What did you observe about your students’ learning during the activity?
- What happened in your classroom after the activity?
- Can you comment on the value of the collaboration?
The case of Andrea, Ashley, and Rachel
Solving Algebra Word Problems with Python (Gr. 8)
“Some students were very receptive and excited to use Python and were exploring the code a lot by altering it. One student changed the problem in their code to be about a hockey jersey shop, and another made the price of each hat $1,000,000.” ~ Ashley and Rachel
Brief implementation summary video (Pre-service teachers, Ashley and Rachel)
In the words of the in-service teacher, Andrea
- How did you prepare your students before the activity?
- What did you observe about your students’ learning during the activity?
- What happened in your classroom after the activity?
- Can you comment on the value of the collaboration?
- Is there anything you would like to add?
The case of Daniela, Ginia, and 2 teachers
Surface Area Exploration with Scratch (Gr. 6-7)
“By letting the students know that running into errors and debugging is part of the coding process, we found that many students who went into the activity not very comfortable/confident with coding, gained more comfort/confidence by the end of the lesson.” ~ Daniela and Ginia
Brief implementation summary video (Pre-Service Teachers, Daniela and Ginia)
The case of Allan, Noor, and 2 teachers
Angles and Polygons with Scratch (Gr. 9)
“The associate teachers wanted to show their class that programming is a tool that can be used in a math classroom…. Students were challenged to construct shapes and modify their existing code to rotate, flip, or modify their baseline code.” ~Allan and Noor
Brief implementation summary video (Pre-Service Teachers, Allan and Noor)