Wonderings and reflections after a Dmic session held with a small group.
Do our students need some mathematical knowledge before we begin on Dmic maths?
Is maths hierarchical? Can we try and interest students by having discussions and trying to solve problems when their basic number concept is weak? Do we need to go over the basic concepts or can we leap in at a different level and fill in the basics later? Will peer to peer discussions help strengthen basic concepts?
By giving students a chance to think and remember will they be able to make connections to another similar problem?
Will this method give students the confidence to speak and listen? This is an important part of the programme especially the pupil to pupil discussions when ideas are "revoiced" or "fine tuned". How a student says it might make a lot more sense to his peers than the way a teacher says it in a more technical way. Students can learn from vocalising their thoughts and explaining how they worked something out.
How can I encourage some of our reluctant speakers to become involved, to work collaboratively and voice their own opinions or even challenge someone else's thinking? Does it give opportunities for all students? Over time will the students find that they need to gain and use more precise language to express their thoughts to others?
Too often we as teachers unconsciously "confine" our students to one way of thinking. We want our students to confidently and successfully solve a problem so we carefully scaffold them. This teaches students that there is only one solution and does not offer opportunities to explore other ways of thinking. I had to refrain from commenting while the two groups explored the dot patterns and was delighted to hear them discussing how one group got a "little" way of answering and the other group got a longer way. But they both saw that the answer was still the same.
Changing behaviour takes time and imagination!
