Wednesday, 11 September 2013

Portfolio 2

The resource I have chosen this week is an online ‘flash’ resource called ‘Splat Symphony’.

The link can be found here: 

This is a resource I would recommend as a numeracy tool as, though it is more subtly educational, once you spend some time with it the number of different numeracy concepts that are involved add up. These are:

·        Numbers,
o   These appear in the bottom left on the screen and keep track of the total number of ink blots the child has placed on the virtual page
·        Number order,
o   By following along with the child as more ink blots are added, the number order can be learned
·        Sequence/patterns,
o   Children can experiment with different patterns on their own. When they click the ‘play’ button in the bottom right, the notes are played back in the same order they were put down in. This is easier to follow if it’s done earlier (with fewer ink blots), as these loop back to the start automatically.
·        Proportion/ratio.
o   This may be the most interesting tool in this resource. This small pie-chart in the bottom right of the screen keeps a running tally of the ratio of each different colour the child has added.
o   So for example, we could look at the ratio and ask the child whether there were more red ink blots or more blue ink blots. We can then check the page and count them up to confirm this.
  
The site also provides a suggestion for an extension activity about how a real life version can be played outside with chalk and the children’s voices.

Personally, I would probably use the online version, since it’s more visually engaging than chalk. If it were nice weather though, it might be nice to do the outside version as it could also be good exercise.




1 comment:

  1. Love how you have analysed the game presented here against several numerical concepts, and begun to document questions or strategies you could use to extend their thinking with it. How might this support the social dimensions of numeracy learning? How would your use of the game change with different age groups (e.g. babies, toddlers)?

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