Friday, September 10, 2010

M & M's & Mathematics/Dust Echoes Stories & English



Chocolate in the classroom, I really didn't think Greg could make these workshops any better, but alas he has this week!  Using M & M's as a mathematical tool in the classroom has to be one of the foremost motivators in any classroom in regards to learning maths.  I think each one of us had a little bit of a sugar high as we left the workshop class today. :)  Using Excel, we simply counted the colours of our M & M's and put them into a spreadsheet, which then allowed us to graph our findings--- easy as that Maths lesson!  Greg then gave us time to explore the M & M's website, where you are able to design your own M & M, which I did.  I then copied and pasted my photo in paint where I cropped it and placed it in Excel as a graphic, which spruced up my very simple graph.  

All with the click of a few buttons, I have learned that you can crop and paste any of the activities we do on the internet using Paint.  I have used this before, but never to the extent that Greg has shown us.  I am very thankful that Learning Technologies is incorporated into the Graduate Diploma of Education Primary program as the course and Greg as our instructor are filled with a plethora of tools for us to use. 

We also visited the website www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/ where we were able to watch the Dust Echoes dreamtime stories.  As I am an international student, I have been researching aboriginal culture and identity and dreamtime stories.  They are a multitude of beautiful stories teaching of love, friendship, family, war, country, law and customs which I have found to be very educational on a personal level.  The stories are beautifully illustrated and since they are short, they are so engaging for any age.  I chose to view The Mermaid, a story of personal growth, family, love and relationships.  It was a story of a man who felt worthless in his community and to his family who then embarked on a journey of self-discovery.  he encountered mermaids along his route who loved his company.  He stayed with the mermaids for quite sometime, but one day, he began thinking of the family he left behind.  The man began his journey back home and was greeted by the family that missed him so much while he was away.  I then used clips from the video using the print screen>paste to paint option to illustrate my story using Inspiration. 


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