The setting for the observations
Part 1: The setting for the observations. You were giving a description of your environment and your role within it. Give specifics about the youngsters you saw and explain why you picked that particular group of children.
A total of five children were chosen for this assessment. All of them are five years old. Among these five children, three of them were boys and 2 of them were girls. The children are in the same class studying in the same school. They also reside near each other. To keep the natural and self-directed attitude among the children, the play was not interfered with or stopped due to any unnecessary issues. The setting was a silent room with a few toys and games to attract the children who were participating in this play. The objective here was to provide a regular environment to children, similar to the rooms in their houses. The same was provided with all the extra needs. I was aware of the fact that the proper environmental factors will affect the skills related to critical thinking and creative thinking which inspire kids to become more engaged with society and their surroundings (Katie Kinnear, 2021).
My role here was as a non-interfering observer. I was observing all the activities which the children were interested in doing. The children were native-born and they were friends. They used to play together and their families were having a good relationship with each other. Children were participating in both physical and mental games in school. The observations were carried out by making them play a game called tic tac toe. The basic rules of this game were explained to these children in a normal way so that they could understand it in less time. Observations were made on the rules, gameplay, strategies, and the rewarding system. These observations were linked to this play’s mathematical and scientific learning processes.
Part 2: A summary of the children’s interests and the mathematical/scientific learning processes and concepts are seen in their play.
We should take advantage of the curiosity which is observed in children. Their enthusiasm has to be channelled for improving scientific learning processes. There are a few benefits of scientific learning which help the children in the future. Mathematical/Scientific learning will let the children love science. Everything the children sees in their life will have another side of observation from him, which is called scientific observation. Children will start to search for logic rather than going with the flow. When children can find logic or decide, they will understand the concept of almost everything without any problem. This will help them to have a basic grounding in scientific concepts and thinking. Scientific learning develops a few other skills which are important for children to adapt to the conditions which they might face in the future (First discoverers, 2020). With the advancement in technology, we can see a few major changes relating to the learning process of children. These technological advancements are used by teachers and parents to provide better understanding and solutions about a particular topic. Learning media is used to provide information to children during teaching and learning activities. Teaching media will guide the children and motivate them to improve their thinking and analysing capacity in tough situations. The presentation of ideas and information is improved by motivating the children (Garry, 2019). I have chosen a game called tic tac toe to observe the mathematical and scientific learning processes of the children. This game was developed in Egypt (Zaslaysky & Kramer, 1982). There will be a total of 9 grids and each player has to put his symbol in each of the grids provided. The symbols should be matched in three rows or columns, straight or cross. Although this game looks simple, there are a few strategies which are used by players to confuse the opponent. This game also leads to a draw if none of the players are successful in defeating the opponent. This game is selected for this observation because it is easy, understandable and liked by most children below five years of age.
Summary of children’s interests and learning processes seen in their play
A few learning processes are observed in this play. The major learning process is applying strategy when there is a chance or requirement. Application of strategy will have a major impact on improving the mental health of children. Before the application of any strategy, the child will go through a lot of thinking processes. This process will give the child a solution. The success rate of this solution will only be known after completing the play, b ut, the main objective here is to observe the thinking process of a child. The knowledge of the children could be analysed with the aid of this game. Children who know and understand better about this game will have a high chance of stealing the victory from opponents. Self-analysis is another learning process which can be seen in this play. When a child is playing a game, he tends to analyse his play and compare it with the opponent. This analysis will help the child to understand his game and also the opponent’s strategy for a better next move. The mathematics of the game is very simple. When the child understands the grid and choices he has, he will choose the best move. The child will only observe the number of grids, lines, circles, squares, remaining grids, remaining options and final result. Tic tac toe can be considered a basic math game because it is based on numbers which are played along with a few strategies. The following mathematical processes are observed regarding each child’s behaviour concerning the game. Each observation is related to the understanding and enhancement of the learning processes and analyzing them. These observations will also help us to determine the method of approach a child is choosing to get the solution.
Project Work Answers
Observations
Mathematica Process
Understanding, counting and drawing the table which resembles the tic tac toe table
It involves measuring quantities or entities to develop the table accurately to produce three columns and three rows and a total of 9 choices to play in.
Designing is also exhibited in the development of the structure and overall shape of the table.
The drawing and anticipation of crosses and circles on the given grid
This involves locating by positioning oneself and other objects in a spatial environment.
The next step is performed by drawing circles and crosses on the grid
It implies the notion of playing to create abstract models of reality and creates social connections among the players.
Understanding and use of the rules in play in a proper manner
It invokes explaining, which is a process of expressing factual and logical aspects of ideas.
Knowledge and forward-thinking regarding the next step in the play.
This will help the child to have a strong mental understanding of his play.
The children were also observed to develop an ability to engage with one another socially and strategy-wise. The children explore various ways of strategy to fill the grid. The children were also able to explain the workings of their gameplay and multiple scenarios that were part of the finale of the different variations of the games. The children could elaborate the rules and gameplay to other children to help them assimilate more quickly to the game. This covered the basics of the 5E’s teaching and learning model.
Learning Experience Plan
Part 3: Learning Experience Plan. Insert your Learning Experience Plan here. Your Learning Experience Plan must be written in the future tense; it must be written up as what you plan to do rather than what you did.
- Date of planned experience
The following experience plan is expected to be implemented on 02/06/2022.
- Learning Focus
The focus here is to help the children understand the process of a situation and how the internal factors of a human being can tackle them. The children can better understand how to be fair in their plays and develop spatial skills to anticipate and foreshadow events. Children are always ready to engage with a few powerful processes as they develop their knowledge which could be related to mathematics, science and technology (Amy MacDonald, 2015). The mental abilities of children are to be developed to understand and perform better in any situation. Children will be able to correctly name and draw different geometrical shapes used throughout the play. Since children will be the ones taking a tally, this would be an opportunity to assess the ability of the children to take count and mental mathematics. This, in turn, offers a better mathematical and scientific understanding. It is expected that the children will offer at least one good statement to two different children to support their peers positively. This will indicate positive reinforcement in the children’s social skills.
The qualities which are to be acquired by the children with this learning experience will include mathematical skills, scientific skills and technological skills. A few of these skills are mentioned below:
- Improved scientific observations.
- Understanding the concept.
- Understanding the technology which provides a better understanding of a particular topic.
- Guiding and motivating children to improve thinking and analyzing capabilities with the use of teaching media.
- Children should be able to apply the strategies which are in their minds.
- Improving self-analysis.
I will consider the mathematical processes here to give a better understanding to children of the concept. I will choose mathematical concepts because they are more evident in the play. For this purpose, I will first check the child’s prior learning. This will help me to guide any differentiated instruction that may be needed. Before introducing mathematical concepts, I would ask the children about what they know about numbers, signs, symbols, shapes, calculations etc. This will help me to understand the basic knowledge of the child. The children I selected had little knowledge about mathematical concepts such as numbers and shapes. This will help me to proceed with further analysis. I will start asking them a few questions about their favourites. Later, I will start asking questions related to mathematical concepts. This will help me to grab the attention of children. Proper interactions with a few child-related plays are important to grab their attention. I will then ask the students to imagine something of their own and draw it on white paper. I will provide everything they need such as pencils, colours, crayons etc. This will help me to understand the thinking capabilities of the children and their assumption skills. Now, I will show a few pictures of numbers and alphabets and ask the children to identify them. I will later place numbers separately and ask the children to count them. When the rules and the numbers used in the game are such as 9 grids, 5 lines, and 9 boxes, they will remember the numbers and will use this knowledge for further games. When the children can remember the numbers and shapes, the aim of the planned learning experience will be achieved. These are the few steps I will use to achieve the objective. The child will be able to understand numbers from basics which are a major part of mathematical concepts in future.
- Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) Learning Outcome/s
The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) describes numeracy as the capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics in daily life. Mathematical and technological understandings are connected here. With these understandings, the outcomes which are observed here are to evaluate the knowledge of the child, improve his strengths and determine his activities. Mathematics involves understanding numbers and quantity, operations, patterns, space, measurement and shapes (AERO, 2020). As I have chosen mathematical understandings and explained them in learning focus, the EYLF learning outcome is relevant to mathematical learning. A child can understand the numbers in the initial stage. After numbers, quantities relating to these numbers such as measurements, whole numbers, fractions, decimals, etc are understood. The progress in young children’s knowledge about measurement is only determined by developing an understanding that measurement can be used to compare different types of objects (Amy MacDonald, 2015). The operations related to these quantities are learnt by the children in future classes. The main objective here is to make sure that the child can identify, read and implement the numbers which he/she learned before. When a child can understand and apply mathematical ways of thinking in their life, it will help them to become good and effective communicators and confident learners. Their self-confidence and sense of identity development, and their well-being increase (AERO, 2020).
- Set up and resources
The set-up is an indoor setup. The main aim of the set-up is to provide a natural environment for the child. A home-like feel is provided to the children so that they can be themselves and enjoy the process without any obstacles. A few toys which have numbers printed on them are provided. A digital projector is placed so that the subject is taught using technological factors. The walls are painted with light colours and some information about numbers is written on the walls.
- Details of the planned experience – what is it, and what will you do?
The planned experience aims to provide knowledge to the children about numbers and numeracy. This is purposefully planned and presented. The procedure is carried out only with informed consent where the parents and children have explained the process. Confidentiality of the procedure is maintained throughout the observations. A few activities are designed and students are prepared by having a natural environment with a mathematical feel around them. The importance of mathematics is explained in the beginning. Just to grab the attention of the children, a few toys which are already placed in the room are used.
Engaging with children is carried out by asking them about their names, personal interests, favourite subjects, favourite persons, hobbies and their interest in mathematics. This will help the children to open up and speak. They will start trusting and enjoying the process. Making the children understand and remember the first five numbers in math is the first step of teaching strategy. These numbers are presented to them in visual form. A few fruits, chocolates or any other objects are used which represent the numbers from 1 to 5. After this, the numbers will be changed from 6 to 10. A few patterns are used to explain to children about numbers. Patterns occur in everyday life, in both natural and man-made forms, and children are naturally exposed to the many patterns around them (Amy MacDonald, 2015). The numbers are presented until the children are interested to read and recognise them. After this, the numbers are presented on a projector with a few real-life examples such as fingers, number of pencils, number of fruits, number of objects, numbers of toys etc.
Questioning is critical in the development of powerful processes for mathematics, science and technology learning. Questioning helps to prompt actions that allow children to engage with conceptual ideas (Amy MacDonald, 2015). I will ask a few questions in between the learning process. I will ask them about their favourite number. I will ask them about the importance of learning mathematics concepts. I will try to understand their thinking about the numbers and usage of the numbers. I will ask them if they are stuck on any topic or any issue that is bothering them. I will support the children to understand the process more naturally by using visible examples. This will help the child to remember the topic. This will also help the child to know the usage and interconnection of mathematical, scientific and technological aspects in future. I will be using technology to give pictorial presentations of numbers to the children. A projector is used for this purpose. A small tab is also used to teach each child separately about the numbers. Children are attracted to technology; therefore, they will show interest when something is appearing on the big screen or a small screen which reflects light.
This learning experience will help the child to understand the basics of mathematics. These basics are going to help him in future. This will have a major impact on their learning process. When they start learning about new things, they will always search for visual information and logical answers so that it would be easy for them to understand. For this to happen, this learning process has to continue for another 5 to 6 years. When they can understand the topic and cope with the subject, then they are ready to differentiate between the importance of each learning experience. In conclusion, to foster understanding, the play’s themes will be revisited in the lesson. But this time, references will be made to the game that has just been played, depicting relationships between literature and practice.
- Plan for review
I will try to understand whether the child is comfortable with the learning process. The main objective here is to be flexible, and always think about engaging and sustaining children’s interest in the learning experience we are providing (Amy MacDonald, 2015). Therefore, I will be conscious of every child’s learning process and improve the children’s interests in the learning experiences. With the aid of educator-instigated experiences, which do not rely on child-initiated experiences to promote understanding of different concepts (Amy MacDonald, 2015), I will proceed by using my experiences. I will observe the children’s numbers when they are visibly available. I will ask each student about the knowledge they have gained in the class and record their answers. After recording the answers, I will conclude the learning outcome which I have chosen. The learning focus which I have chosen will be successful only when the child can demonstrate what they have learned in the class. My teaching strategies will be considered successful only when the children can understand mathematics and can apply them in real life.
Part 4: Reflections and recommendations for future practice considering what you’ve learned about preparing for children’s learning and engagement in mathematics, science, and technology, as well as how it could affect your future practice. This is about your professional growth as an educator. What you have learned from completing this assessment item and the subject—referring to the online topic content, subject resources, and relevant literature wherever feasible to describe what you found particularly useful in this subject.
As an educator, I have reinforced my knowledge by incorporating games into teaching. This method was observed to be more effective. The children’s attention was captured and held for a long time. It was easier to evaluate the ability of the children to apply various mathematical and scientific theories in real life. The ability to bridge this gap was seen to improve the reception of the children to the curricula. Games represented a phenomenon they were used to; relating the curricula to these activities established a new avenue to foster a more profound understanding. The report opens up the world of gameplay to help in the conceptual development of the understanding of science, technology, and mathematics. It was noted that the children interacted with games to foster their knowledge in this discipline. Mathematics has been discussed as the study of patterns; children could find ways in tic-tac-toe.
I had reservations about children engaging in technological activities due to the impacts on these children’s social and emotional welfare. However, the ever-changing technological landscape has made it possible to monitor the screen time children can access at a time. The number of benefits that can be reaped from integrating technology to learning has no limit. It then would be wise to use these methods to serve the advancement of mathematical and scientific concepts. The future of children’s games is quickly shifting to video games. Mathematicians have an opportunity to create games that are both intriguing and pack mathematical, scientific, and technological models. Most games already in production and in the market rely heavily on mathematical concepts. For example, in first-person shooter games, players have to take distances, navigate maps, make spatial decisions, and count targets and items. In sports video games, examples of football, decision-making during passing, finishing, and the multiple choices presented present a good learning experience in pattern identification, counting, and probability. The future of gameplay lies in the integration of artificial intelligence. Challenging one’s ability against a well-oiled system exposes weaknesses in the opponent’s game, thus improving the mathematical concepts and opening a whole new world of perception and strategy.
I have also learned a few strategies which were very useful to teach children and guide them on various topics. After this assignment, I can differentiate between the useful learning process and the learning process which is not very useful. This will help me to teach children in a simple and normal way and a positive output can be expected. The job of being an early childhood educator is cognitively challenging but richly rewarding. We need to have mastery of both conceptual and pedagogical knowledge. We have the responsibility of establishing a strong foundation for children’s lifelong learning (Amy MacDonald, 2015). In conclusion, the inclusion of gameplay in science, mathematics, and technology learning activities opens a new effective way of teaching children. The relation between the technological empowerment of game plays and scientific learning is expected to open a new world of infinite probabilities. The pursued aim is to create an exciting yet richly packed learning method for children.
References:
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