In the second class session, Dr Yeap mentioned about a point that I agreed strongly. That is teachers could give information to children but they could not give knowledge to them. Knowledge have to be constructed by learners themselves. Our role as teachers is to help children to relate/make connections to new ideas to what they have already understand (prior knowledge).
Problem: How many paper clips?
From this problem that we solved in class, I have learned that when we want children to do a comparison, for instance how many paper clips were in each bottle, we have to provide them with a benchmark (3 paper clips). Then they would come up with strategies on how to find out the number of paper clips in each bottle - by listening to the sound when each bottle is shaked.
Dr Yeap reminded us that shapes cannot be compared using big/small, we can only compare "which is bigger or smaller", for e.g. triangle A is smaller than triangle B. It made me realised that most of the time, we often use the wrong 'term' when we explain or ask questions to children. For instance, "which triangle is big and which triangle is small". So, from today onwards, I will have to remind myself to use the correct term and the right language when I am teaching the children.
How many spoons are there altogether?
There are 5 spoons altogether. - How do I know?
1. By counting to one-to-one correspondence
2. By subitizing (looking) - One new word that I learned from Dr Yeap :)
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