Discussion for 12th October- Maths and Drama

One thing I thought about when Lina was asking the question last night was, could the pupil use her love of acting and drama to create videos to share with younger pupils-that way, she will be practising and deepening her own understanding of the concept she is 'teaching.'
Lina mentioned that the pupil is learning number bonds for 5, so by creating her own video of her 'teaching' this concept, she would have to use key language, core representations and so deepen her own understanding of the concept.

There may be something useful on this link arkonline.org/news/nine-top-tips-teaching-maths-through-arts

Claire, there are some lovely ideas in that article. I love the idea of taping x and y axes on the playground and moving between coordinates! I think secondary pupils would love this, as it's so different from sitting in a classroom. Lots of primary schools have useful playground markings, such as clocks, number lines, snakes and ladders boards etc When I was teaching in primary school, we often used children standing at the front to demonstrate concepts, such as number bonds, getting the rest of the class to say how many more we would need to make up a certain number. That's not drama, but it's certainly more kinesthetic than seeing it on a whiteboard. As a cub leader I used to play a game where groups of six were given a number to make as quickly as they could, getting into the shape of that number as a team. They could be very creative! I'm sure we'll be able to come up with more ideas for Lina.

Thanks Sue and Claire some great ideas there!
Here are a couple more related links
nrich.maths.org/2433

www.halfmoon.org.uk/participate/educators/early-years-primary/dramatic-maths/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FQEEukPTvc

This is really interesting. Thanks for the links. I had read something about acting out scenarios which fit maths problems. I wonder whether there is a challenge in a tutoring situation when there are only two of you and wondered if having some puppets might mean that you could have more than two characters in your problems.

I was interested in the half moon website and it reminded me that a colleague when I worked in the Netherlands arranged a couple of day activities where there was an overall story and children went to different rooms and met different characters and then had to solve maths puzzles to move through the adventure.

With Foundation stage children, when I taught music, I got the children to act out counting songs such that they were the monkeys jumping on the bed, or the aliens flying in their flying saucers, or buying the current buns in a bakers shop. This would be too young for Lina's student but worked well in that setting.

The kinaesthetic link did remind me of Mahesh Sharma describing the girl showing negative numbers by moving her hand under the desk. Although not drama, it's a great physical way of showing where the numbers are and the directions for addition and subtraction. I used this recently with some children at school and it was a very effective and quick way to see if everyone in a group understood rather than asking one child at a time.

I hadn't really considered this as drama, until now, but when I think of it, it is acting.  I have a  (miniature)  shop, with different shelves etc.,that holds miniature items from M&S food hall. They are really  perfect replicas of the real thing, complete with the exact packaging found on the food items. You could/ can  collect one item for every £20 you spent.  My local M&S know I teach children though and used to give me handfuls (so worth talking to the manager, or a friendly person at the till!).   They also sold a miniature shopping trolley, shop assistant apron, and shopping basket etc. A really great tool for teaching about money , adding the cost of the different  items and giving change from play notes.  My pupil and I  swop roles between shopper and cashier.  Also good for auditory memory games...as in" I would like a Caterpillar Cake, Percy Pig Sweets, a sandwich and a chicken kiev (for example) - with the lists increasing in length. Learners up to about age 10 even seem to enjoy it.  I think there is Phase 2 of the promotion running now.  A lot of my pupils started collecting the items too (there are 25 in a set) and I could give an item from my duplicates at the end of the lesson, which always made them happy.

Another activity, which possibly isn't drama but fun is Octopus Game or "Twister" for bonds.  I put out the numbers on non-slip discs the floor then say, I am making 7, put your right hand on 2, now put your left leg on the number you need to make 7 (always placed in a slightly awkward place,  now make another 2 numbers that make 7, put your left hand...etc.  Always enjoyable, especially with a pair of children as I obviously can't do this myself!