GUEST BLOG: Transferring Language of Exams into Language use in the classroom by Emma Higgins, Maddie McClure and Tara Hall

Transferring Language of Exams into Language use in the classroom



Over the past 6 months we have been working in a Triad to overcome the problem that some pupils transfer of language in Maths exams is a concept they find difficult.


In our experience, when the Mathematics examination specification change in 2015 particularly, we have found that pupils are required to understand not only the method but the more technical language used. We chose this topic as our research for this academic year as we wanted to see how much of an impact the language barrier had compared to ‘teacher’ language. We tried to find research to help us with our study. However, we only found articles that related to pupils being able to understand problem solving questions. At this point we realised we needed to look deeper into this
topic and do our own research.


We began by pre testing different groups on ‘teacher language’ and ‘exam language’. The questions were exactly the same but instead of writing ‘expand’ (the bracket), we wrote ‘using Noddy’s hat….’ as this is the language we would use in Maths lessons to help them remember how to answer the question.

The words we find the pupils struggle with the most were, expand, solve, descending, estimate, equidistant, factorise, hence, identify, index form and evaluate. We found that in our lessons, as we taught the pupils these topics, we used simplified language to help their understanding. However, this has meant that pupils don’t always recognise the more formal mathematical language that is found in exam questions. This has a big impact on their assessment marks because they understand the method but don’t understand which method to use for each question.



When we did the pre-test, we found that pupils did significantly better at the ‘teacher’ language questions compared with the ‘exam’ language. The words factorise and equidistant had the largest score difference with a 51% and 46% increase!



We quickly realised that by simplifying the language we used in lessons, we were holding back our pupils understanding of mathematical language. The biggest adjustment we made in our classrooms was to focus more on ensuring that pupils knew which method to use with which word. For example, the teacher only using the word expand and the pupils having to work out the method they needed to use. We ensured that we broke down the mathematical language into smaller chunks that they would understand, rather than using simplified words. We also focused on exam questions more, encouraging pupils to highlight the mathematical words they were unable to understand.

Developing Problem Solving (4 Practical Strategies to Develop Resilience)

Developing Problem Solving (4 Practical Strategies to Develop Resilience)

I wanted to help my students develop their problem solving skills as I was frustrated (as I assume they were too) with questions being left empty on their assessments.
You know the type of question I am talking about? Where they shoehorn area of circles, volumes of cones and cylinders, density and converting units all in one question often worth a hefty 5 or 6 marks? Where students feel overwhelmed before they start and just turn over the page?

So here are some of the things I tried and a brief evaluation of each:


1. Baby Steps (soon to be renamed Stepping Stones)

My class and I have started referring to these as ‘baby steps’ as it breaks the question down into each of the single Maths skills required, gives them the opportunity to practice these skills separately before then applying them to a question. These are not an original idea, there have been different variations of this around including structuring exam questions. I first found them on Mathsbox and have since developed my own to help students access some of the questions they couldn’t access before.
For example, this exam question:

Taken from JustMaths Area & Perimeter (H & F) - Version 1 2016 (originally from Edexcel)

Would be supported with these baby steps:

NOTE: The baby steps are NOT directly related to the question (the numbers are different). The reason being they can practice the skills separately before then applying them to the question. They can then complete the entire question independently.


Pros:

• The students really liked them – it gave them a way into the problem when they didn’t know how to start.
• It meant everyone could do something.
• They didn’t have to use them unless they needed to, and the more we did the less they relied on them.

Cons:

• Need rebranding – some of the students felt put off by the name baby steps (implying they are babies maybe?) and I think I will rebrand them as “stepping stones” instead.
• Are they really learning how to independently answer the questions if I am chunking the problem down?
• These will only work if the students are confident with the basic skills needed to access the problems.
• Do they help students develop metacognitive problem solving skills and resilience if we tell them the Maths they need?

       2. Forcing silence

This is a strategy I use not just for problem solving, but I do really like doing in a problem solving session. When I first give the students a problem, I tell them they must work in silence for 2 minutes. Then I let them speak for 30 seconds before then finishing the question in silence for 2 minutes. I offer sentence stems so if students aren’t sure what to do then they can write down good questions they want to ask myself or each other when they get their discussion time. I walk around and check students are either trying to find a way into the problem, attempting the question or writing down any questions they have. I refuse to answer any questions or let students discuss the problem with each other in those first two minutes (note: these timings are a guide, I will vary them depending on the question). During their discussion time, I sometimes offer the “baby steps” to those who are unsure where to start.

Pros:

• It gives students the opportunity to practice in a safe environment, but in replicated exam conditions giving them the chance to see what they are truly capable of – often surprising themselves how much they can achieve independently
• It creates a quiet and focused environment in which to practice which removes temptations to ask others
• Gives students time to think of better questions to ask rather than just giving up and saying “I don’t get it!”

Cons:

• Students can find it frustrating but if you highlight the relevance in terms of a safe place to try in exam conditions and let them pleasantly surprise themselves with how far they can get independently, they soon appreciate why you are doing it.

       3. Open Goal Problems

You’ve likely seen these before! Miss Banks has a healthy supply on her Goal Free Problems site: https://www.missbanks.co.uk/goal-free-problems which I love to use. There are other sites too, so there are loads of already made goal free problems out there. I also like to use exam questions and take the last line out, then give them four boxes to write their own questions and find their own solutions. Then I can give them the exam question further down the line and see how they cope (normally better as they’ve explored the question before). I’ve used these as group discussion tasks, given one student the job of listening and making notes to then feedback their most interesting question to the entire class.

Adapted from Edexcel Higher Paper 1, June 2017 series

Pros:

• Encourages students to find any additional information which could in an exam get them marks, students often struggle to find a way in but using goal free problems encourages them to see what else they can find.
• Using as a discussion task helped me incorporate oracy in my lessons.

Cons:

• Students lacking imagination and picking easy questions – I found this happened to start off with but then as I praised those who had an interesting and complex question and answer the whole class seemed to up their game!
  

       4. Bookmarks

We have discussed as a group what strategies we use and collected a list in the back of our books (draw a diagram, underline/highlight key information, write down any formula, identify the Maths needed, try working out more information not given in question, etc.). We refer to this regularly. I then saw a colleague use a bookmark for exam questions with helpful hints on them, I thought it was a great idea to highlight the strategies and make them easily referred to. It means the students don’t have to flick between the front and back of their books and if they get a new book they just transfer their bookmark across. I imagine they will use them as a crutch initially and slowly ‘wean’ themselves off when they have the strategies committed to memory or the practice of checking the strategies off like a checklist will hopefully become automatic. I had four different categories for the students, how to help: at home (on homework), in lessons, if they don’t know how to start and if they get stuck (two on each side).

Pros:

• Students get to choose their own strategies so each is unique and personalised to them.
• They are mobile and can be used in different scenarios.
• Encourage students to be independent (with the crutch of the bookmark initially, hoping to need it less and less as confidence grows).

Cons:

• Some lack the metacognition to recognise what strategies work well for them, or even to establish what they are doing are strategies that could help them in other questions. A lot of discussion is needed to ensure those students with weaker metacognition get the same benefit as those who are very good at self-regulating their thought processes.