Prime Climb IB PYP

FF CCC P RR - PeRRFFeCCCt - Perfect!

Using the PYP Concepts of Trans-disciplinary Curriculum as a lens to view Prime Climb.

Form: What is it like?

Board Game:

  • Two ten sided dice.
  • One game board.
  • 4 sets of 2 pawns.
  • Prime Climb Cards.
  • 2 Posters.
  • Color is used to show prime factors.

2 times 3 is 6, so 6 has orange and green. 2 times 2 times 5 is 20, so 20 has 2 orange and 1 blue piece.

Function: How does it work?

Learners construct learning through play.

Learning Mathematics together in a fun way.

  • The game has rules, which can be changed to suit the people who are playing.
    • People of all mathematical abilities can learn through play.
  • The numbers are designed to use color to represent prime factorization.
  • Players get to choose which move they will make using the numbers on the dice and the numbers on the board.
  • Strategies can help players win the game, it is not simply a game of chance.
  • The combination of chance and strategy makes the game challenging and fun.

Causation: Why is it like this?

Dan Finkel & Katherine Cook:

  • Believe that what books are to reading, games are to maths.
  • Believe there is a better way to learn mathematics.
  • Designed the game to help people enjoy discovering the beauty of mathematics.
  • Perhaps the popularity of games like Scrabble could have influenced their thoughts.

Change: How is it changing?

The way it is played changes:

  • Start with one pawn and one dice and adding.
  • Gradually increase the complexity.
  • Can be played by people of all ages.
  • Prime Climb Play
  • The first time this game is played it is all about learning the rules.
  • Once the rules are learned a player starts to develop strategies.
  • Number facts are learned through play, so the play becomes faster and more complex over time.

Connection: How is it connected to other things?

Connections:

  • PYP Skills, Attitudes, Action.
    • Skills: Thinking, Social and Communication Skills.
    • Attitudes: Confidence, Cooperation, Creativity, Curiosity, Enthusiasm, Respect, Tolerance.
    • Action: Initiative, responsible, thoughtful, appropriate.
      • Teach family members the game.
      • Teach other classes the game.
      • Create a Prime Climb event.
      • Blog about the benefits of playing Prime Climb.
  • I care about learning with my friends.
  • Number skills connect with understanding mathematics, and develop algebraic thinking.
    • Prime Factorization
    • Prime Numbers
    • Factors, Multiples, Times Tables
  • Social skills connect with learning how to care for others.
    • We build resilience through play.
    • We build relationships through helping each other understand.
  • Prime Climb can be used to help us explore many aspects of mathematics and statistics.

Perspective: What are the points of view?

Perspective:

  • Device free time.
  • Old fashioned game, like the games people played before the internet.
  • Laugh at our mistakes?
  • Competitive?
  • Replaces rote learning with a more holistic experience?
  • Students are activated as resources for each other? (Dylan Wiliam).
  • Math Play has links to similar games.
  • Play Research explores the importance of play.

Responsibility: What is our responsibility?

Responsibility:

  • To take care of the game so others can play it:
    • No lost pieces.
    • No damage caused.
  • To learn mathematics:
    • Understanding mathematics helps us contribute to the planet.

Reflection: How do we know?

How do we know we are learning mathematics & social skills through play?

  • Do we feel more confident learning mathematics?
    • NZC testing - have we improved?
  • We can write reflections after each game:
    • to record which number skills we used during the game (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication & Division).
    • to record our strategies.
    • to record which strategies work best.
    • to investigate probability (are the cards mostly good or bad?).
    • to record how much we helped each other learn.
    • to record how we felt when we played.
      • Do we feel happy? empowered? frightened? helpful? included?

How do we know this knowledge is worth learning?

    • Who we are:
      • Children who love to play and learn together.
    • Where are we in place and time:
      • We are a digital, knowledge based society. Mathematics is for everyone.
      • We use robots to do physical tasks for us. All employment requires education.
    • How the world works:
      • The modern world is not possible without mathematics.
    • How we organize ourselves:
      • We know learning mathematics is important, so we take the time to develop new ways of learning it.
    • Sharing the Planet:
      • We need to learn mathematics in order to solve global problems when we are older.
      • We need to learn how to work together in order to collaborate when solving these problems.

IB Primary Years Program

  • Learn for understanding
    • Prime Climb enables students to gain a deep understanding of numbers and operations.
  • Inquiry Based Learning
    • Prime Climb scaffolds students inquiry into how numbers relate to each other.
  • Student Centered
    • Learning with peers through playing Prime Climb.
  • International
    • Prime Climb is an internationally recognized game.
  • Research Based
    • Dan Finkel has a PHD in mathematics and created the game specifically to improve mathematical learning experiences.

PYP Links that interested me:

PYP Exhibition

  • Brainstorm inspired by reading: PYP-Exhibition-Report.
  • The "action" part is sometimes tricky to get off the ground.
  • Would creating a board game to promote learning be an acceptable action?
  • If the profit from the game was donated to a related cause would that be an acceptable action?
  • Would the process of setting up the advertising and selling of the game be classed as part of the action?
  • Would a 'Trivial Pursuit' type of game, with students creating cards relating to their inquiry, be appropriate?
  • Could the game be sold internationally?
  • Could videos of students playing the game help promote the game?
  • Mathematics and Statistics could be used to decide the price and estimate the profit.
  • Blog about a PYP Exhibition

PYP Teaching & Learning

PYP Learner Profile link to our Values & Habits.

The profile aims to develop learners who are:

  • Inquirers (Create - be curious)
  • Knowledgeable (Strive - set goals)
  • Thinkers (Reflect - analyse, evaluate)
  • Communicators (Connect - discuss with others)
  • Principled (Respect)
  • Open-minded (Create - Explore)
  • Caring (Respect - Empathise)
  • Risk-takers (Strive - seek challenge)
  • Balanced (Respect- care for ourselves)
  • Reflective (Reflect)

How is IB PYP Different to PC & NZC?

IB PYP has an international focus. It is a pedagogy for a peaceful world. It explicitly includes the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives. There is a subtle difference in the language. For example "strive" implies hard work and sacrifice, where as "risk-takers" implies an exciting adventure. Likewise, "create" places creativity at the center, where as "innovate" sounds a bit like work. I believe that making space for magic is more teacher dependent than curriculum driven.

“How can a rational inquiry curriculum reconcile itself with the fact that the world is full of magic things?” asks BEN EGERTON, who teaches the PYP to Year 7 at an International Baccalaureate World School in Wellington. ..I consider this to be the PYP’s Achilles’ heel. The IB specifies a list of ten attributes that PYP learners should strive to be – the ‘Learner Profile’: risk-takers, inquirers, thinkers, principled, communicators, balanced, open-minded, reflective, knowledgeable, and caring. Unbelievably, ‘creative’ is not on the list. [Education Central 2013]

I do not regard the policies for bicultural or multicultural development as mutually exclusive. I think they address different things. Biculturalism is about the relationship between the state’s founding cultures, where there is more than one. Multiculturalism is about the acceptance of cultural difference generally.

THE RULE OF LAW, BICULTURALISM AND MULTICULTURALISM Justice Durie

The above resources can be used as mathematical provocations. Even language can be analysed using mathematics.

PYP: Links & thoughts I wish to recall.

A video on how PYP works talks about the enviroment being the third teacher. This is familiar to me, as it is part of the early childhood pedagogical approach. Reggio Emilia seems to be the source of this phrase. However, it also links with the Montessori method, and the care taken to construct a learning environment.

Montessori believed that children who are at liberty to choose and act freely within an environment prepared according to her model would act spontaneously for optimal development. Wikipedia.

This video confirms the Key Concepts can be used as a critical thinking lens when teaching mathematics. Click on the images to find their source. Blog Spot & Grassroots.

Full STEAM ahead.

My hands-on research: Learning through play.

  • Mbot (1st)
  • Apitor (2nd)
    • Lots of small parts. Can make multiple designs. Has a similar APP to Mbot.
  • PC Controlled Robot
    • Only $30 (You get what you pay for).

Lego Mindstorms:

  • Too expensive for me, but I am really tempted.
  • This made me think of BYOR.

Awesome:

  • Easy to put together.
  • Lots of language and learning in the process.
  • Instantly follows a line, or avoids obstacles.
  • Download the APP & start coding.
  • Coding has easy step by step tutorials.
  • Can add to it. A servo will help you make a dancing cat.
  • Arduino seems to be widely used and you can move on to buying separate parts.

BYOR - Bring Your Own Robot.

A new kind of STEAM.

  • Science
  • Technology
  • Enginerring
  • Art
  • Mathematics

A Mini-Town interactive Exhibition could bring it all together. Robotics could be used to make it come alive.