Session 6 31 August 2011
The story How Big is a Foot is a stimulating story to set the reader wonder. I have encountered this kind of problems in my class when using non-standard measurements. Students come up with differing answers. Using the term ‘about’ is good way of relating the measurement. The use of language plays a key role in Maths.
Going down to the MRT station was eventful. All that I had was a small ruler. The amount of interaction at the station was equivalent to the interaction children get into when engaged with activities.
A new finding ‘The ruler’s marking does not start at zero, there are gaps without any marking at the two ends.’ Ha ha then how are we going to measure? We used the corner of the step to measure to get the height of each step.
There were four flights of steps. After counting one flight my group decided to multiply it by four, but decided to make sure and went to count the flights individually. The last flight of steps had only 14 steps, while the other three had 16 steps. Oh oh! Luckily I went down to count the steps with Denise or would have made a mistake here.
So my calculations will be as follows:
3 flights of 16 steps
1 flight of 14 steps
The height between each step is about 14.5cm
(3 X 16) + (1 X 14) X 14.5cm
= 48 + 14 X 14.5
= 62 X 14.5cm
= 899cm
The height is about 899cm.
The discussion on volume and capacity enlightens the difference between them. Volume is the space occupied and capacity is the space available in a container. Similarly, teaching the concept of time to children was another discussion, which was very related to preschoolers. It is very essential for children to comprehend that sixty minutes make an hour. Children are able to tell time by the hour and by using the multiples of 5. The comprehension of hour is always a missing info.
The caterpillar story is an eye-opener. I may also be guilty of killing the butterfly because sometimes helping comes in naturally. So the development gets hindered. Well, now that I am aware, it is time to be thoughtful of the way I react, interact and render help to my students. Hopefully, I don’t kill any more butterflies.
