Teaching Volume “The Crown of Syracuse”

In grade 5 the students in NS are introduced to the concepts of volume and capacity in math. Volume can be a tricky thing to teach as student will often confuse it with mass. Even as a teacher I needed to look at several resources to remind myself of the concept and principles.

In addition to book work and work sheets I decided I wanted to tell the students about Archimedes. For those who do not know, Archimedes was the philosopher credited with the concept of volume. I searched for a unique video or book to share this story when I stumbled upon a student made video. The video was done with lego which peeked the interest of my students instantly!





My students watched this video and loved it. They grasped the concept quickly, and we followed it up with this worksheet I created:

1. Why does the king think there is nothing wrong with his crown?___________________________________________________________

2.What does Archimedes suggest? _____________________________________________________________

3. Where is Archimedes when he comes up with his idea to solve the problem?____________________________________________________________

4. What does Archimedes explain about silver and gold?_________________________________________________________

5. How does he decide to determine the volume of the crown?____________________________________________________________

6. How does he test his theory?_______________________________________________________

7. What happens?_____________________________________________________________


Please feel free to print and use this worksheet with this video.

The students got nearly all of the questions right on the first try. We then followed up with a class discussion about volume and how we could apply it to other situations in modern day.

In a follow up math class the students were given the opprotunity to measure the volume of like weighted and like shaped objects using Archimedes method. They graphed their predictions and results and were quite surprised through the process.

This is an example of a hands on and engaging way to teach a math lesson. I could have stuck with a boring old book approach where I wouldn't be sure right away who grasped which concept, but instead we watched a video clip and did an experiment. The students haven't stopped making real world connections since!

Youtube can be such a great tool in the classroom. Just always keep in mind that you should be approved for using it (schools will vary), you've watched the entire clip, you have it loaded beforehand, there's nothing offensive in the side bars or comments, and that you are indeed legally allowed to show the clip.
8. What else could we test this way? How?_____________________________________________________________

Teaching Ancient Societies

One of my first assignments during a recent student teaching placement was to cover the outcomes on ancient societies. This is a topic frequently covered in the later elementary grades. In my province the social studies curriculum recently changed. This means units and lessons designed around the old unit are no longer up to date!

The cooperating teacher I currently have is from Australia and is about as familiar with our curriculum as I am. She's been great support and letting me really branch out and try interesting constructivist approaches to teaching. Below is a summary of the unit I did with the students and how it went. I hope it'll give you all some neat ideas for your own classrooms!

Social Studies Unit two: Place and Environment

5.2.1- Explain how place and geographical features influenced the development of an ancient society.
-locate the society using geographical skills and techniques
-identify the significant geographic feature that influenced the development of the society.
-describe the attributes of the geographic feature
- explain how the geographic feature contributed to the development of the society

5.2.2- Describe how place and environment affected, and were affected by, the lifestyles of an ancient society.
-describe the lifestyles within the society
-describe how place and environment affected lifestyles
-explain how lifestyle affected the environment

• Introduction
• researching
• role playing
• Art Wall
• film
• debate
  
• test creation and taking

How students met these outcomes:

Introduction:

Students started the unit with a KWL chart. As a class we brainstormed what we knew for sure about 3 ancient societies, what we thought we knew, and the questions we had. As there was a student in the class from Egypt and one from Greece, the class decided to focus in on these ancient societies. It was revealed that students did know a fair bit about both societies from prior learning- though not very many things specific to geographical features and lifestyles. This was done over 2 lessons for each Egypt and Greece.

Next, students made observations about several photos and drawings of Egypt and Greece. They recorded what they saw specifically, how they thought what they saw would influence the people, and any questions they had about the images. Students also explored as a group two interactive websites about Egypt and Greece that allowed for full view of museum relics. They also viewed several maps of each area and noted some of the geographical features and relic sites. Discussion was then initiated as a class to brainstorm the reasons for various objects and their significance as well as geographical features.

Research:

Over several classes students had the opportunity to conduct research using per-approved websites and books. For both Egypt and Greece students recorded basic interesting information they found, geographical features, resources, archaeological discoveries, and a day in the life of a person from that society. Students worked both independently and together to exchange ideas, discuss their facts, and gather information.

Role Playing:

Students participated in a group role play using the computer software Ancient Empires. The software created a fictional ancient society in which the teacher was the Queen and all the students were broken into adviser groups.

The adviser groups all had their own books with suggestions of actions and information about their priorities, societal standing, religious beliefs, and concerns. The groups were: Elders, Traders, Warriors, and Poets.

The Queen's ancient society was under attack from another society. The computer software created a series of events in which the advisers had to discuss among themselves the best course of action. The events touched on geographical features both natural and man-made, resources, transportation, lifestyle, religion, and politics. For each event the adviser groups had to petition the queen of the correct course of action. This was a panel style government so while the Queen would hear all sides she had the ultimate decision.

During the course of the role play game students got to see the result of their choices. Everything was recorded on worksheets and compared to real historical events. The students began contrasting the choices the queen was making with the choices they saw happening in ancient Greece and Rome as well as some others. They also appreciated the strong need for democracy.

At the beginning of the role play students petitioned the Queen to make certain concerns a priority. By the end of the game they needed to evaluate how well they met those goals. In the end they realized they did not meet their goals. This led to fruitful discussion on the role of government, geographical features, religion, and lifestyles in ancient societies. Through reflection discussion students paralleled this learning with what they knew of Egypt and Greece. For the rest of the unit students frequently recalled their role playing experience and contrasted it with what they were learning.

Art

Students each selected a unique fact about Egypt with special focus on the Nile and environment. They did large illustrations and a fact card. Then, a bulletin board was decorated to look like Egypt with the Nile river. The unique facts and images were displayed to represent some of the student's knowledge and understanding.

Films

While the online presence of Egypt information and the presence of Egypt books in the school were both high- students found difficulty finding a variety of information on Ancient Greece. Two short films were shown from the resource teacher tube and a question sheet followed. The questions were chosen with specific consideration to geographical features and lifestyles. Students learned the term “Acropolis” which became a keystone point of understanding both geographical importance and lifestyle.

Students answered the questions individually, then the answers were gone over as a group. These facts were contrasted and compared with what we knew of Egypt and students had excellent discussion points. One student compared the acropolis to Citadel Hill in Halifax. This helped the students cement their understanding of why cities and special places in Greece were put on high geographical points.

Debate

During the entire unit students were told they would be having a debate. The debate would be based on which ancient society made the biggest impact in it's time and left lasting impact on today. Students did not know until the day of the debate whether they would be on team Egypt or team Greece. They were encouraged to be sure they each had sufficient information on both so they could give at least two unique facts.

On the day of the debate students came in to the classroom to see the current flags for Greece and Egypt on opposite walls. Students were each given their own flag to wear. The students understood these flags did not represent the ancient civilizations in their time but used to encourage sportsmanship and competitiveness in the classroom.

The names of the students were each doubled then put into their own jar for Egypt and Greece. The teacher drew a random name from each jar and then that student representative had their chance to submit a fact. The team earned 1 point for submitting a unique fact about the ancient society. The team could earn 2 points if they could use their fact as evidence of the success or impact of the ancient society. The other team was able to debate these pieces of evidence.

The debate went on for nearly 90 minutes. The students really enjoyed it and supplied excellent facts. Every student present participated to the best of their ability. The debates were very interesting as students gave very reasonable pieces of evidence and counter evidence. The students demonstrated strong knowledge and understanding of both lifestyle and geographical features.

Test preparation and test taking

To finish the unit students helped design and then took a test. Students were given a sheet of 14 questions- 7 about Egypt, 7 about Greece- focusing on the outcomes and also important relevant facts brought up by students during the course of the unit. They were first encouraged to answer the questions in their groups. Next, the questions were posted on the white board and students contributed to the answers.

This continued until all students agreed on the answers for each question, and had what was on the board copied on their sheet. They were then told this would be the basis of their test. Only the information present on the sheet would be tested and the questions on the test would be re-framed versions of what was on their sheet. They were given a little over 2 weeks to study for the test with daily reminders.

The test was created using the worksheet as the basis. No new questions or information was added. The test included 3 fill in the blanks, 3 multiple choice, 3 true or false, 7 short answer, and 1 long answer. There was an opportunity for a bonus point.

1 Esl student and 1 IPP student were given the test orally. Everyone else had 45-60 minutes to complete the test. The majority of the class scored between 70-90% while a few students scored 100% and a few students scored below 70%. Students had the opportunity to review and discuss the test results. Assessment was based on test results as well as completing all sheets and participating in the debate and role play.

About: Teacher Tails

Hi, welcome to my blog. Thank you for stopping by. I'm Miss Brown, or as some know me; Raina Mermaid!

Teacher Tails is a blog I've started to share my experiences in the education field. What do I mean exactly by that? Well.. sometimes I teach like this...



And sometimes... I teach like this...



I'm a young twenty something lady with a passion for education. I'm also very passionate about ecological issues. I've created my own persona in Raina the Mermaid to help teach children about the environment and ecological issues in a developmentally appropriate way. I want to educate kids and help them feel empowered. I also want to inspire them.

I also have a degree in Child and Youth Development and a Bachelor of Elementary Education. That means- I teach! I also work in the ECE field from time to time. You can specifically see my teaching portfolio by going to this link.

As Raina I work a variety of educational and entertainment events, recreational events, and birthday parties. All events I do have a dash of environmentalism. Our children are the future and if we raise them to know they can change it- they will. You can specifically see what I do as Raina on my official website here.

I'll be using this blog to share with you how my two worlds overlap: as Miss Brown the teacher and Raina the Mermaid. Teaching is so rewarding and like many others I am eager to learn from others, share my experiences, and grow. I'll be sharing lesson and unit plans I do here, talking about teachable moments, and sharing experiences from both the classroom and the pool!