I used Tupper Secondary’s planning guide as reference and made the math
pathway chart. When I looked at the chart, one thing I was hesitated to put on was
the pre-requisite letter grades. What does it really suggests is that if you
are not good enough in grade 10, then you cannot be good enough in grade 11 or
12. I don’t quite agree with the implicit
indication from these pre-requisites. I hope there is a way to mediate so that students
can have other options when choosing classes.
 |
| Mathematics Pathway Structure- BC |
The first term that draws my attention is “constructivism”. I just read
an article talking about constructing cognitive and social constructivism teaching
pedagogies in classroom last Friday in another class. I really enjoyed the
reading and I learned that it would be helpful to incorporate constructivist
teaching methods and practices to create an effective learning environment. Constructivism
has two types. Piaget’s cognitive constructivism emphasizes on personal importance
of acquiring knowledge. He believed that
humans cannot be simply given information, rather, humans construct their own knowledge
through assimilation, accommodation. Whereas
Vygotsky’s social constructivism believed that social interactions is an integral
part of learning. He claimed that scaffolding
and cooperative learning would have a huge effect on students’ learning
outcomes. I think the two theories combined together will be the best approach in
helping students to be successful in their learning process.
The second term is Individual Education Plan (IEP). I did a little bit
research on IEP. The plan is designed for
students who cannot follow what is being taught in a regular class. It was created
by a school team to address the learning needs of a specific student. A student who receives IEP usually under a circumstance
where all regular school avenues have been exhausted. Some IEP students will also receive Ministry designation,
which means extra funding. For example, students
who fall under categories A or B will receive double funding from Minster of Education.
With these extra funding, the school is able to allot more resources to meet
the IEP student’s individual needs.
Very interesting discussion, Ivy! I'm glad that you're getting introduced to constructivism/ social constructivism in the program, and there is lots that has developed since Piaget and Vygotsky were writing too!
ReplyDeleteAbout IEPs: you should know that they are also developed for gifted students and others who have any kind of non-typical circumstances -- not just those who have difficulties learning.
It's great that you went to the Tupper site to see how the math curriculum pathways play out in practice! Very important thoughts here about the marks and what they might mean for a student.