Students complete a comparison exercise designed to help hone their analytical and comparative skills and practice their public presentation skills. Masako Wakabayashi, Tama East Atago Elementary School, Tokyo.
Outline of the Class
The teacher showed the class two photographs, one of an “old classroom” and one of a “new classroom”, and asked them to compare the two photographs and present their findings.
Students worked on the task individually, noting down their findings on multiple cards on the work page in their digital textbooks. They made separate color-coded cards for each angle they thought of, such as “school dinners”, “children” and “appearance”. They then circled their favorite in red pen, exported it to LoiLoNote School and sent it as a Card to the teacher’s iPad.
The teacher displayed the students’ Cards on a large TV screen and they took turns presenting their point of view to the class. Finally, she used the compare answers mode to organise the answers by theme to show how different perspectives and points of view are equally valid and valuable.
LoiLoNote's Application
LoiLoNote School was used to collect students’ submissions and display them on the large TV screen for student presentations. The compare answers mode was used by the teacher to compare, contrast and thematically organise student submissions.
Ms. Wakabayashi has been regularly using LoiLoNote School in this way, that is, to set students quick active-thinking tasks, collect and display their answers on the large TV screen, and use the compare answers mode to compare, contrast and thematically organise the answers, in a wide range of subjects and classes.
A Voice from the Classroom
Ms. Wakabayashi reflected, “I did the same comparison exercise in a previous lesson in the same subject using two graphs, so students were able to tackle it straight away with little hesitation or supervision. I’ve also used a similar approach in other subjects, so they were already very familiar with the process.
For example, in science, I sent a photo of a magnet and asked them to circle which end they thought would attract iron filings. In this way, I was able to get them to hypothesize the results of science experiments. In math, I’ve used it to distribute tests, drills and revision exercises of previous material at the start of the next lesson, and in social studies, I created flashcards and quizzes to help them memorize map symbols and place names.
Through the process of editing, contrasting and comparing, and submitting cards to me, students have started becoming more aware that their opinions are often different from their friends, as well as discussing their opinions and making new student-led discoveries. I can still see a lot of potential for using LoiLoNote School in my classes - already I feel I can’t live without it!”