Constructivist Intervention
For a long time, Constructivism seemed to me to be a theory of learning that didn't have any direct implications for the way that I taught. Then I read "Evidence Based Learning" by Geoff Petty and the penny dropped. Constructivism is now the lens through which I view everything that happens in the maths classrooms in my department (on good days!). Our rooms are full of young people constructing their own versions of maths. They do this with the support of the environments, inputs and activities which we offer them. They do it together with those around them, and they do it, in large part, by attempting to connect new learning to their pre-existing model of maths. I get a kick from seeing this happening. My S4 class today was looking at extending sine and cosine beyond 90ยบ. It involved playing with a Geogebra applet that showed how the sine and cosine of an angle can be represented by the y and x coordinates of a point moving round a unit circle. I used show-me