Using Dialogue

Four Activities

The four activities which follow are designed to support many of the core mathematical topics being taught in class with pupils in the middle years in Primary School.  All make use of the pupil-led dialogue approach. 

They are intended for use in a spiral fashion, with each activity being returned to regularly at different levels with the same group of pupils. The same activity could be revisited several times over successive days, or returned to at different points throughout the year as different teaching topics are introduced. Most activities can also be adapted for work with older or younger age groups, so could be revisited with the same pupils over a number of years. With each new use of the activity, different ideas can be explored and the activity can be developed to accommodate different levels of understanding.

The activities are thus presented with an 'initial problem' and then with suggested lines of development. These should not be seen as prescriptive, but simply as pointing the way to creative avenues of exploration. Which avenues are explored, and in which order, will be up to the individual teacher and will depend on the needs of the particular group of children with whom he or she is working.

Some of the activities are specific to a particular maths topic (Eg 'Numbers to 100') and therefore should be used when that topic is being tackled in class. Others, such as 'How many each and altogether?' can be recast to support a number of different topics - in this case, multiplication and division - and so will be revisited in different contexts.  They should not be consigned to a special problem-solving lesson!

The principle behind all the activities is the same:

• Begin with the whole class in a giant group by working 'big' using large scale equipment - hoops, bean bags, metre sticks, class whiteboard etc. 

• Then move to using smaller scale equipment with the pupils working in pairs at their own desks. (Hoops and bean bags can be replaced with jam jar lids and counters, metre sticks can be replaced with individual number lines, class whiteboard can be replaced with small dry wipe boards)

• Finally move to the pupils working individually, drawing their own diagrams, tables etc in their jotters or workbooks to support their own learning.

It is desirable that children, through working with problems, develop an awareness of different problem solving strategies:

• Use a diagram

• Make an organised list

• Make a table or chart

• Look for a pattern

• Etc

Most interesting problems or investigations will require the use of several of these. The teacher should point these out by name each time they become useful and encourage the pupils to use the well-known terms when discussing the strategies that they decide to employ.

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