Interactions
Feedback is an important part of learning; whether it's for students to develop their skills and knowledge, or for teachers to understand what impact their teaching methods are making. Smart Learning content is designed to facilitate interactions that deliver useful feedback.
Smart Learning content strategically integrates feedback tools that allow students to:
- Learn from mistakes.
- Realtime feedback is used to make students aware of mistakes as soon as they happen, allowing them to be aware of where the mistake is being made and what is required for correction.
- Reinforce knowledge through experimentation.
- Learning through feedback responding to experiment interactions allows students to gain a better understanding of what does and doesn't work, along with the reasons behind them.
Kata
The starting point for Smart Learning is kata; a concept used in many traditional Japanese arts from theatre such as kabuki, to martial arts including karate and ninjutsu. The literal translation of kata is "way of doing"; the practice of practising and performing detailed choreographed movement patterns.
The goal of kata is to develop a natural understanding and ability to adapt and apply proven techniques under different circumstances without thought or hesitation. Kata for maths uses this emphasis to develop a strong understanding of describing real world actions using maths.
Kata for maths teaches choreographed movements for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division before progressing to more advanced concepts. Its purpose is to develop:
- Discipline to accurately perform maths actions as required.
- Understanding of how all circumstances are described using basic maths components.
- Ability to naturally apply basic maths to solve problem circumstances.
Watch basic kata for maths in action:
Concepts
Real world problems are made from a combination of simpler concepts, which themselves are described with maths kata. Smart Learning prepares students with an understanding of these concepts through interactive exercises that build upon maths kata.
Each concept taught is part of a category of related concepts:
- Descriptions
- Measurement
- Comparison
- Distortion
Through learning the relationships between these concepts, students gain the knowledge they need to progress towards learning maths strategy.
Strategy
With a full understanding of maths concepts, students are able to progress to learn maths strategy. This stage of Smart Learning prepares students to apply their knowledge of maths to real world problems - including GCSE maths.
With a solid understanding of maths concepts, students are equiped to form an understanding of complex maths strategy and strategic thinking skills. Strategic maths skills are developed through experiences that allow students to grow and refine their knowledge through interaction:
- Scenario discussion.
- Role play gaming.
- Information modelling.
The focus for this phase of Smart Learning is to develop an understanding of how previously learnt concepts are linked together to form strategy. Students learn how to read circumstances to identify concepts that are relevant to solving the problem, along with how they are combined to form the required strategy.
Formulas
Unlike mainstream methods of teaching maths, Smart Learning has no focus on memorisation of formulas. Its alternative focus on teaching maths strategy allows students to understand how individual concepts are linked together to solve problems.
Combined with the emphasis on learning through highly visual experiences, students learn how to use visual recall of strategy for constructing maths formulas.