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Updated: Jun 2000

Patterning Phase of Development: Early Childhood Overarching Learning Outcomes from the Curriculum Framework I focused, in particular, on the following overarching learning outcomes in this series of lessons: 1. Students use language to understand, develop and communicate ideas and information and interact with others. 2. Students select, integrate and apply numerical and spatial concepts and techniques. 4. Students select, use and adapt technologies. 5. Students describe and reason about patterns, structures and relationships in order to understand, interpret, justify and make predictions. 10. Students participate in creative activity of their own and understand and engage with the artistic, cultural and intellectual work of others. 12. Students are self-motivated and confident in their approach to learning and are able to work individually and collaboratively. The following matrix describes the key learning area outcomes that were spotlighted in this unit of work. It should be recognised that many other outcomes, from this and other learning areas, will also be achieved during the course of the unit. Learning Area Outcomes Curriculum Framework Strand Statements Outcomes & Standards Framework Working Mathematically Students use mathematical thinking processes and skills in interpreting and dealing with mathematical and non-mathematical situations. Number Students use numbers and operations and the relationships between them efficiently and flexibly. As pre-primary students, these children are all working towards Level One Outcomes.   Context   Brief Description   Project Duration   Objectives   Learning Experiences Counter Patterning Computer Egg Patterning   Advice on Working with Technology   Reflection   Identifying Information Context School Landsdale Primary school was opened for Pre-Primary to Year Seven students from the beginning of 1999. It is situated in Landsdale Gardens Estate 17 km from the city. The P&C Association has eagerly undertaken varied fundraising activities to support the initiatives identified by staff, for high quality student learning and participation. The school has a state-of-the-art educational facility and the infrastructure for technology support throughout. It is a Level 5 school with 482 students as of February 2000. The school's vision is To create and maintain a school environment dedicated to preparing students to be productive, socially responsive citizens of the future. Class The class consisted of 27 Pre-Primary children of mixed abilities, several who spoke English as a Second Language. All children were working towards or at Level 1 in the two Mathematics strands in focus in this program. Their previous experience and skills with learning technologies were limited to home experience and approximately 5 - 7 weeks exposure and immersion during the first term of school. Learning Technologies Information Centre - 16 computers with Internet Access. Pre-Primary - 1 computer with Internet Access. Adjoining Wet Area - 2 computers with Internet Access. Two digital cameras. Learning Technology Support Our school takes a collaborative approach to the teaching and learning of staff and students. As a result a Computer Competencies Checklist was established to provide assistance for those staff who required help in specific areas. Weekly inservices on computer competencies identified as areas of need are also conducted by our Deputy of Learning Technologies. Teachers regularly share ideas and rubrics to extend the learning opportunities for staff and students and to decrease teachers workloads. Teacher Laura-Celeste Armstrong I have been teaching for 8 years, but have learnt to use a variety of learning technologies, including digital camera, scanner and Internet, only in the last year. Although I had used PC's before this time my skill and knowledge were extremely limited. Brief Description of the Program The children had been developing the skills of making and identifying patterns intermittently during the last five weeks of Term One. I developed a series of experiences using objects and people for patterning activities, followed by these two patterning lessons: Counter Patterning, in which the children integrated the use of a digital camera. Egg Computer Patterning, which required the children to use the Paint It program to produce a repeating pattern. Project Duration Each child took approximately 10 minutes to complete the Counter Patterning activity and the whole class had completed the activity within a day. The Egg Patterning activity, using the Paint It program, took approximately 20 minutes for each child to complete and the whole class had completed the activity over a period of four days. Objectives (For a description of the place of objectives in an outcomes-based environment, click here.) The students will: develop skills and understandings in the two strands of Mathematics (Working Mathematically and Number). explain the pattern made by the teacher and explain their own patterns. integrate the relevant learning technologies in their learning. become confident in their use of the learning technologies. display appropriate safety procedures when using technology (e.g. wearing the strap around neck when using the digital camera). develop eye/hand co-ordination when using the mouse. Learning Experiences During this unit of work students took part in a range of learning experiences. They: identified and made basic patterns using other students as models. made basic patterns using concrete items. completed concrete and drawn patterns created by other students. participated in mat sessions where patterning skills were revised. used the Paint It program for free activities. participated in directed activities with adults and/or peers to introduce different functions of the Paint It program. became familiar with the basic functions of the digital camera. Counter Patterning My pre-primary class had been doing numerous activities to further develop their skills in identifying and creating patterns. A major part of my reporting and assessment of children's development takes the form of portfolio assessment. I therefore decided to have the children use the digital camera to photograph their end results for inclusion in their portfolios. The parent helpers and I annotated the photos with phrases the children used to describe what they were doing. The expected skills for the activity were placed on a Parent Feedback Sheet, which I completed for every child during the activity. The children individually participated in the activity, following the prompt to begin their pattern. A brief description was placed above the digital photo to communicate the activity clearly to the parent helpers. Once the patterning was complete each child then took a photo of the counters and placed his/her name card above the patterns for easy identification when printing out. Assessment I assessed children on their patterns, monitoring their progress in the Working Mathematically and Number strands. The children discussed the quality of their photographs with adults and peers. No written assessment took place. Computer Egg Patterning Under the theme of Easter and as a final activity on patterning for the term, each child was required to use the Paint It program to make a repeating pattern on an egg shape which was already on the screen with his/her name. First I completed examples on the whiteboard and modelled the activity on the computer. Then the children began the activity for themselves. Each child individually participated in this activity with an adult nearby to help with any technological problems. The expected skills for the activity were placed on a Parent Feedback Sheet which I completed for every child during the activity. I included the skill of describing his/her pattern to account for those children who had limited mouse skills, and hence created visually messy results, but could identify what their pattern was. At the end of the activity each child printed out his/her work. Assessment I created Parent Feedback Sheets for each activity to assess the identified expected skills. (see above) Advice on Working with the Technology During the Computer Egg Patterning, it is important to make sure that an adult is nearby as several children with limited mouse skills managed to hide colour and tool boxes within the Paint Program. I initially set up a standard file with the basic egg template so that each child's work needed only to be Saved As rather than setting up 27 different files. There is no need to save children's work if you just wish to have a hard copy. If this is the case, make sure that the child's work has been successfully printed out before deleting it. It is essential for adult sanity that each piece of work has the child's name on it before printing - it is amazing how similar they all look!! I usually have the children use their name cards when they take a photo of their work. Reflection These two activities worked extremely well and the children were highly motivated to participate in them. The Parent Feedback Sheets are very useful as they not only prepare parents for their child's Primary schooling report format, but also provide a detailed means of assessment. Identifying Information Laura-Celeste Armstrong Email: lauraceleste@landsdaleps.wa.edu.au Landsdale Primary School.