ORBIT
ORBIT shares existing expertise on teacher education and classroom teaching that supports active learning in mathematics and science. ORBIT is for HE teaching (PGCE), training schools and teacher mentors, as well as continuing professional development. (More about ORBIT). The ORBIT resources are lesson ideas (with supporting materials) in mathematics and science, for primary and secondary, as well as resources aimed at teacher education. All resources are further organised by the particular teaching approach used, as well as the ICT tools used in the lesson idea.
1 Browse the resources
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2 Featured resources
Language | Exploring shape and its mathematical language through sorting activities | |
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Using mathematical language to discuss shapes of objects either printed or hidden in 'feely bags'. Can you feel the forks? The Investigation(ta) of shapes and geometry can be very rewarding. A practical approach using objects from the pupils’ environment can increase their motivation and interest. In this unit, you will be using everyday objects to help pupils develop geometrical skills, such as recognising, visualisation(ta), describing, sorting, naming, classifying and comparing.
Through games(tool) on the properties of shapes, the activity engages pupils in group talk(ta), mathematical thinking(ta) and vocabulary(ta). This open ended(ta) task encourages higher order(ta) thinking, and could form the basis of whole class(ta) discussion(ta)/questioning(ta) and inquiry(ta) projects. It can be used as a lesson extension, or as a preliminary task. | |
Probability | Playing with Probability - Efron's Dice | |
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I have some dice that are coloured green, yellow, red and purple... Efron's dice provide a discussion(ta) topic for joint reasoning(ta) - whole class(ta) or in group work(ta). Pupils can explore aspects of mathematical thinking(ta) particularly with relation to probability.
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Progression | Developing Progression in Primary Science | |
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Progression and the wonders of 'one-ness' and 'two-ness' A first part on ‘developing progression in science investigations’ could be used to prompt discussion on how far we expect pupils to develop, and the sorts of inquiry(ta) which encourage this.
The second part, 'indicators of Level 1 and 2ness', provides a useful set of criteria for assessing national curriculum levels. These criteria prompt thinking about assessment(ta) levels in curriculum development(topic). A concrete outcome of the activity may be to keep such criteria in a mark book for day-to-day use. |