September 16: Exit Slip

 

The activities today helped me to reflect on garden learning further and this week I was able to consider how garden learning could be relevant to mathematics and physics learning.

Firstly, we listened to Susan play the “country life” song on the accordion. Using music to set the tone for the lesson helps to disarm the student and to create an environment for collaboration and discussion. I remember singing along with Marlaina beside me and we both were smiling throughout. Next, we did the drawing activity. I identified so many different types of angles in both nature and in man made structures. Without being asked I was compelled to label the angles on my drawings and to notice how something like scaling an image has no affect on angle measurement. Something like scale is difficult to convey on a 2D textbook and the 3D nature with its infinite heights and distances allowed me to see the nuances in the angles and consider concepts in a broader context. I can see myself designing activities with my future classes, particularly regarding scale and angles and other geometric concepts, that involve an outdoor lesson component. One of the observations I made in the class was how man-made structures often have straight lines and 90-degree angles, however, this was challenged on my walk back to Scarfe. Nicole and I noticed a playground where many of the lines were curved and the angles were not right or straight. I immediately snapped a picture, realizing that Susan would likely encourage me to add it to the blog if she was present. I would not have been in the headspace of making these types of observations if it wasn’t for learning outside this morning. Taking the classroom outdoors makes the outdoors something that students become accustomed to exploring in a curricular context. It means that students are more ready for learning from their environment and the concepts covered in class become an integrated part of the student’s life whether it be a walk to the park or a camping trip.

Finally, we looked at the sundial and astronomy body lab. One thing that jumped out to me was how quick everyone was able to calibrate their fist length into degrees. I had been struggling to encourage students in my math summer camp to understand calibration and an activity like this would have served them well in that lesson. Seeing Dion get the time almost correct on the sun dial gave me a sense of awe. Lessons with a “wow factor” are difficult to achieve in the classroom. There was something about seeing the scale of the clock, the size of experiment that immediately grasped and held the audience’s attention. The movement of our bodies meant that we were never falling asleep and the use of nature as a teaching tool served to be not only a teaching experience but an unforgettable experience. It makes me wonder what other tools, toys, or parts of our vast world can be used in the physics classroom. Take a look at some pictures of my stick bugs what angles do their little legs make? Can you think of ways of using them in the geometry classroom?