MESSY PROJECTS

This topic started on Facebook & could morph into an interesting discussion:

PB : We used to joke in our office of maths/science teachers…which Mum got the best mark for the latest assignment. Sure, there’s an “unwritten code of conduct” assuming the work submitted for assessment is done by the student. But hey, if one of my students was smart enough to go home and work with his/her parents to learn more about something…good on them I say. All you need to do is sit and chat with the student, it’s easy to spot what they have gained from the task. Better than any copy and paste effort.

SS: I know what you mean – how good is it that students are working with their parents? What a positive model of social learning. But a bit of a bummer for those whose parents cannot or do not work with them – or for those who pass the project over to their parents and relinquish all engagement with it.

LS: The line is not always clear. I mean how do you tell a mom or dad or some guardian that you should help the kids with their homework but you cannot work the problem out. You have to sort of help them enough and let them independently work the problems out. That could be more frustrating to a little kid more than anything else. I wonder!

PB: Here’s an example of how things could turn out…this young student wanted to investigate how long potatoes take to shoot. Grandma supports buying spuds, driving car, prompting with open questions etc. Something new arises from the task, chemical intervention effects budding etc. Student demonstrates understanding via shared video.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=exBEFCiWyW0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DexBEFCiWyW0