Data Detectives

Solving crimes can be a good way for students to learn about databases. Nick Packard shows how to prompt students to come to fact-based conclusions. e-Learning Update issue 63/64

Illustrative mindmap about technology and data

If you ask most teachers what a database is, they may well explain that it s a bit of software and throw in an analogy to a card index, explaining that it might help you find the bit of information you want more quickly. It s a fair analogy at one level but at another level, it misses the mark by a considerable margin.

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      string(407) "thinking.Talking, thinking and justifyingPerhaps inevitably, pupils began the Crooks activity bytrying to find the ‘right answer’. However, they soon foundthat none of the activity structures supported thisapproach. Teachers refused to label the pupils’ conclusionseither ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Instead, they encouraged pupils toconsider their responses more carefully by asking questionssuch ..."
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      string(2559) "thinking.Talking, thinking and justifyingPerhaps inevitably, pupils began the Crooks activity bytrying to find the ‘right answer’. However, they soon foundthat none of the activity structures supported thisapproach. Teachers refused to label the pupils’ conclusionseither ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Instead, they encouraged pupils toconsider their responses more carefully by asking questionssuch as ‘tell me why you think it is x’. Further questions like,‘what is your evidence’, helped pupils to justify their choiceof culprit. Of course, teachers needed to be familiar withthe cases so they could offer other potential solutions andprompt pupils to consider different scenarios.Some of the pupils picked the idea up quickly. It wasinteresting to note that the content of their own discussionswith their working partners changed significantly. Theybecame far more reflective and began to refine their ownthinking and amend their search criteria accordingly. In short,they began to think critically about the information theywere presenting and became more confident (andenthusiastic) about their ability to justify conclusions.It will come as no surprise that other group membersfailed to make the leap from ‘answer’ to ‘reasoned response’,though almost all made some progress towards this end.As simple searches produced information that could fitseveral different answers, pupils were forced to refine theirsearches. This often involved detailed debate about thecriteria to be used. At other times pupils found that moresearching did not help to further their enquiries  – a betterstrategy was to read their case notes more carefully.Bridging and transferThe Crooks activity developed ICT skills (developing searchtechniques) and ICT knowledge (exploring the purpose ofdatabases and considering the nature of information).There is much potential to go on to discuss kinds of reasonsand conclusions in other curriculum settings: What kindsof conclusions do we look for in history and science? Whatkinds of reasons support those conclusions? Can ICT helpus make discoveries in either of those subjects? Suchbridging helps pupils develop an understanding of reasons,conclusions and ICT across the curriculum.Nick Packard is an educational ICT consultantThis database, and the relevant information for bothteachers and pupils has since been developed into acommercial product. If you would like furtherinformation about the Crooks database, please contactSANE Publishing. Email SANE@editsite.demon.co.uk.Phone or fax to 0191 270 1022."
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Data Detectives

24 Feb 2011

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      string(5618) "peersupport that consolidates consistency in all ofthese aspects.■ The OECD TALIS report recommended that schools‘deepen the content and duration of teachers’ professionaldevelopment activities,’10 including educational conferencesor seminars, individual or collaborative research andprofessional qualifications.■ Vision, values and principles explicitly support a learningethos that encompasses a commitment to CPD.■ Leaders ensure that each aspect of school improvement issupported and informed by professional development.6. Pupil voiceInvolve pupils when developing andevaluating provision. Seeking to understandthe perceptions of pupils brings valuableopenness and critical honesty to actionplanning and impact judgements. Reynoldssuggests gathering learner perceptions ofeffective teaching and learning through theuse of surveys and observations. The mosteffective schools have developed a widerange of approaches, including the use oflearning detectives and school-to-schoolenquiry visits.■ Pupils have contributed to the school’s values and vision, andare accountable for their actions to support this.■ Pupils are involved in reflecting on, and the skills andresponsibilities of, successful learning, high self-esteem andambition.■ What pupils think, feel and do is part of the process ofidentifying, supporting and effectively addressing barriers tolearning.■ Pupils understand and reflect on their targets, contributing tolearning reviews/logs.■ Pupils respond to feedback/marking, developing a dialogueabout their learning. They also contribute to evaluating theimpact of provision and their own actions on learning.Table 3: Reynolds’ six strategies for consistencyStrategy summary What might we see?1. Change ethos and cultureDevelop a learning-focused ethos andculture in which there is individual andcollective commitment, responsibility andaccountability for learner achievement.The most effective schools secure this byinvolving the entire school community –pupils, teachers, teaching assistants, leaders,parents/carers, governors, partnership schoolsetc.■ Values, vision and principles explicitly support a learning-focused ethos. ‘Change’ is equated with ‘improve’. All seek toidentify ‘what we do well’ and how we might be ‘even betterif…’.■ The culture of high expectations and drive to identify andaddress barriers are founded on an ethos of commitment andresponsibility.■ Assessment data is used by leaders and staff in wayswhich demonstrate a commitment to responsibility andaccountability for learner progress.■ Assessing to fine-tune learning is a shared activity betweenstaff and pupils.■ Monitoring and evaluation is an objective, consistent andconstructive process, supported by development tools whichinclude enquiry, mentoring and coaching.2. Develop a data-informed schoolUse data to inform teaching practice andschool policies so that there is evidence-based intervention for groups andindividuals. According to Reynolds, ‘thisimplies sophisticated data collection andmanagement systems, and data literate staff’.■ Assessment data is used purposefully to monitor progress,identify barriers to learning, and inform and evaluateinterventions.■ The purpose of each assessment event is explicit andunderstood by all involved, and is used to determine theformat, quantity and timing of assessment data.■ Training and moderation supports understanding, accuracyand application of data.54Vol 6.5School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadershipSkillsAssessmentReferences1. Ofsted (2014). Primary schools continue to forge ahead, says Ofsted. [Press release] 10 December. Available at: www.gov.uk/government/news/primary-schools-continue-to-forge-ahead-says-ofsted.2. Coughlin, S. (2015). Cameron challenged on ‘no cuts’ school funding promise. BBC News [online] 2 February. Available at:www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31087137.3. Mansell, W., James, M. and the Assessment Reform Group (2009). Assessment in schools: Fit for purpose? A commentary bythe Teaching and Learning Research Programme. [online] Available at: www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/assessment.pdf.4. Reynolds, D. (2007). Schools learning from their best. [online] Available at: core.ac.uk/download/pdf/4156941.pdf.5. Ofsted. (2014). Inspecting schools: note on the use of assessment information. [online] Available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/note-for-inspectors-use-of-assessment-information-during-inspections-in-201415.6. Ibid.7. NCSL. (2007) Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. [online]. Available at: dera.ioe.ac.uk/6967/1/download%3Fid%3D17387%26filename%3Dseven-claims-about-successful-school-leadership.pdf.8. NCSL. (2010). 10 strong claims about successful school leadership. [online] Available at: www.almaharris.co.uk/files/10strongclaims.pdf.9. Ofsted (2014) School inspection handbook. [online] Available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook.10. OECD (2013). Key findings from the Teaching and Learning International Survey. Country note: England. Available at: www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/TALIS-2013-country-note-England.pdf.11. Blatchford, R. (2014) The restless school. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational.All web links accessed 13/04/2015.Knowledge trails1. Goodbye levels, hello Climbing Frames – What will you be using to replace the defunct Na-tional Curriculum levels? Sue Hackman, former adviser to the DfE, introduces her own simple yetthorough toolkit for tracking pupil progress under the new"
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Leadership

Securing robust assessment under the new curriculum

11 May 2015

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      string(5625) "data suggests that they could.  Wenoted, for example, that the incidence of children providingjustification for their reasoning increased over the year. Ifchildren gave a justification for an answer that was logicallyconsistent with the evidence or with their existingknowledge, then this event was counted as a substantiatedargument. What follows are representative extracts fromthe data:(The class had been shown an image of Bangladesh on theoverhead projector as an introduction to a mystery task.)Teacher: Any ideas where it might be? England? Anothercountry? Where? Robert?Robert: India …Julie: (Interrupting Robert) No, Indonesia.Teacher: India? Indonesia? What makes you think it’sIndonesia Julie?Julie: We learnt about Indonesia last week and it looks likeit might be ‘cos the people are black and wearing thesame kind of clothes as the Indonesians.Julie gives three reasons for her inference, drawn from herprevious experience. She reasons that the teacher may wellbe continuing with a study of Indonesia this week, thatsince the Indonesian people she studied last week wereblack then these people may too be Indonesian, and thatsince the people’s clothing is also the ‘same’ then they couldbe Indonesian. Julie is learning actively, searching to makelinks with her mental framework to help her make senseof the photographic image.In the next example, the children were learning aboutthe influence of human activity on the environment. In thismystery, the aim was to study the evidence to discover thecause of a particular incidence of river pollution. Each grouphad to persuade the rest of the class that their conclusionwas justified by the evidence.Steven: Who do you think did it?Jennifer: (Spokesperson for her group.) We thought it wasthe farm’s fault ’cos they let the waste get into the riverfrom the tank. (Chooses another question from amember of the class.) Simon?Simon: How do you know it wasn’t the factory’s fault –letting the chemicals and that into the water?Jennifer: The safety lady said she tested the water and itwas safe enough – she said it was up to the standard –class two.46 Teaching Thinking  Spring 2003www.teachthinking.comMetacognitionMetacognitionMetacognitionMetacognitionMetacognitionSimon: Ahh but she works for the factory – she could havebeen lying ‘cos she might’ve wanted to make moremoney for the factory.Jennifer: Yes but the river inspector said that as well – thewater was worse next to the farm.The children provided reasons that were mostly consistentwith the evidence. Where it was not, other children werequick to point out their errors. Research evidence from theinterviews suggested that children were spurred on tostrengthen their arguments by working as a group, in theknowledge that their conclusions would be scrutinised bytheir peers. Over the year, the children tended to providemore justifications and explanations for their answers, andwith less prompting.Some children who, at the start of the year, were unawareof the need to justify their reasoning with evidence,understood and wanted to refer to evidence in evaluatingboth their own and others’ reasoning at the end of the year.The evidence for this finding came mainly from theresearch interviews. I asked questions which were aimedat assessing how critical the children were whenconsidering the validity of knowledge claims from varioussources. The following example is representative of the dataconsidered as an example of this metacognitive skill.Alan: But some teachers, which I enjoy, just like workingin pairs and you can agree or disagree with your partnerbut like you’ve got to come to a conclusion that you bothagree on and that’s what I enjoy about it.Interviewer: Why? What do you feel helps you about doingit that way?Alan: Well say somebody gives – your partner says asuggestion, you can agree or disagree but you’ve got tojustify why you disagree and make your own suggestionsand if you give a good enough reason they’ll side withyou, so that helps me.Interviewer: That helps you learn?Alan: Yeah.I had not used the term ‘justify’ in the interview up to thispoint. In the pre-test interviews, none of the childrendemonstrated any awareness of the need to be critical ofknowledge claims. In post-test interviews, however, somechildren’s responses suggested an awareness of the needto do so.Figure 1: Thinking skills strategiesMysteries (Leat, 1998)The ‘mystery’ activity is a group task in which childreninvestigate the possible explanations for an event oroutcome, given as a key question(s). For example:‘Who was to blame for the fire of London?’ The storywithin the mystery provides a context for developingmore abstract concepts related to the learningobjectives of the task (whether mathematical,geographical or historical). Evidence is usually given aswritten information on slips of paper handed to eachgroup inside an envelope. To solve the mystery thechildren worked as ‘detectives’ to produce areasoned argument supported by evidence. Childrensort, classify and synthesise the information in orderto speculate, reason and test their hypotheses beforeagreeing upon a conclusion. It’s important that ‘redherrings’ and irrelevant information are given toencourage a more critical treatment of the evidenceby the children (Leat, 1998).During groupwork, children group information intobased on their own criteria. They discard anyinformation they think is irrelevant.  Leat (1998)describes a ‘reworking’ stage where childrenreconstruct the patterns and relationships in the datathey have"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Stripping away the mystery

24 Feb 2011

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      string(5608) "theymake affect the global environment.When multiplied across thousandsof  participating schools, it will be apowerful force for carbon reduction,and for encouraging communities,local authorities and politicians to getmore involved in sustainability.”Participating schools will be ableto take part in a national competitionthat provides an opportunity toshowcase their artistic and imaginativetalents. It will be open to all registeredschools shortly.Teachers will be able to benefitfrom specially developed trainingSchools uselittle greycells to gogreen An introduction to‘Philosophy for Children’ throughthe eyes of pupils at schools inSwansea and CardiffA Journey into Children’s mindsTo order call: 0121 224 7599 or Fax orders: 0121 224 7598This DVD is about children, teachers and schools and howthey learn to think together.This DVD is an introduction to Philosophy forChildren through the eyes of children in tenschools in Swansea and Cardiff.  What do thechildren say about philosophy? ‘Philosophy is likegoing to a disco, except your mind dances insteadof your feet.’ ‘It’s like a dive into a whole new world.’‘You can go to places you can’t go in reality.’But most of all, this DVD presents the voices of children who tell us whatphilosophy means to them. We hope you enjoy the film and are inspired to takeup Philosophy for Children in your school.Commissioned by Dr Sue Lyle,Swansea Metropolitan UniversitySupported by the General TeachingCouncil for Wales and Swansea Met.A Journey into Children’s mindspresents the voices of childrenwho tell us what philosophymeans to them.PRICE£29.95plus VATJourney Into Child Mind half pag2   2 3/7/09   11:50:55 amcourses being run across the countryin 2010. These will help them todeliver the ESD elements of  thecurriculum, and will provide moredetails on the Carbon Detectivesprogramme and the nationalcompetition. Further informationabout the training courses will beavailable on the website.Carbon Detectives is supportedby the Intelligent Energy EuropeProgramme, and in the UK bythe Department for Energy andClimate Change, the Department forEducation and CREATE.www.carbondetectives.org.ukhttp://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s ReportsPublished by North WestLearning GridThis new publication by Gary Clawson,chief  executive of  the North WestLearning Grid, reports that the averagesecondary school can save £35,020 ayear, and a primary school £6,300 byimplementing a policy of  open sourcesoftware and content. In addition, localauthorities could cut their ICT costs bybetween 25 and 35 per cent.The report recommends targetingthree areas: learning platforms and digitalresources (£15,500 secondary, £3,100primary); desktop software/hardware(£11,520 secondary, £1,700 primary);administration systems (£8,000 secondary,£1,500 primary). Sums are based onschool funding data from the BritishEducational Suppliers Association.The action plan the report suggestsis a technology audit that specificallytargets commercial learning platforms(to be replaced by Moodle and theNational Digital Resources Bank) andMicrosoft’s Office (“you do not needit on the curriculum desktop, mostof  your students use Open Office athome”) and would replace existingdesktop software with Edubuntu.The report claims that years ofstate support has skewed relationshipsbetween schools and suppliers, andthat cutbacks will require a radicalrethink. Its executive summary states:“With reductions in the HarnessingTechnology Grant, local authoritiesand schools will need to rapidly reducethe cost of  ICT provision. The useof  capital grants for the last 13 yearshas led to a distortion of  how servicesare provided and a distortion in theway UK suppliers provide services toexploit the availability of  these ICTgrants. Through the use of  licence-free applications, local authorities andschools can redress the current financialissues and enable the establishment ofsustainable ICT development in schools.“The implementation of  opensource and open content can provideimmediate cost savings of  around25 per cent with relative ease. Anadditional 30-35 per cent savingswill require re-modelling how ICTis implemented and supported butcan be achieved by utilising currentsupport staff, consequently reducingthe levels of  redundancy at localauthority level. Overall UK schoolswill have the most flexible ICTservices at the lowest possible cost,mirroring the extensive use of  opensource that has been undertaken inmany other countries.”The report identifies the followingbenefits of  open source:It enables cost reductions of  morethan 50 per cent on existing ICTdelivery methods;It delivers the same applications toclusters of  schools aiding transitionand mobility;Software applications and digital learningresources are available to every student athome as licence-free applications;It puts the local support provider atnnnnthe heart of  delivery, enabling themto freely modify, develop and localiseapplications and digital resources;It enables schools to freely moveservices across providers with noissues regarding removal of  productsshould support contracts finish.It enables the development of  anoverall education community whocan share and develop commonapplications and products with nolicence restrictions and no barriersto sharing developed applicationsand digital learning resources.The report says that the savings outlinedare contingent on creating an open-sourceculture across schools and local authorities.The biggest challenge open-sourceadvocates will face is persuading schoolsthat like"
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Digital Learning

E-Learning Update November Issue

24 Nov 2010