Journal of Learning Experience

I am Billy. I am 12 years old, and an average student of West High School. I like riding my bike around
at home and going fishing on the weekends with dad. I have always dreamt of being a builder one
day. Maths and science are my two favourite subjects. English has never been my strong point.

This is an overview of selected activities completed in Mr Searles Mathematics Class. d

Lesson 1 Monday 16th August 2005

Today we finished up our last unit of probability and started our new unit of algebra. Mr Searle
started our new unit by giving us an overview of algebra and what we will learn throughout this unit.
The activities we did today were to test what we knew about algebra and how good we were. I
already have a bit of knowledge on algebra, so I felt comfortable throughout todays lesson. There
was no ICT today, however Mr Searle said that we would start on that in a few lessons time, so Im
excited for that. Overall today was a starting lesson for algebra and we are starting on some
problems tomorrow.

Lesson 2 Tuesday 17th August 2005

Today we continued with our algebra unit, starting to go over the processes of figuring out answers
to algebra problems. Mr Searle started the lesson with a demonstration in front of the class using
sweets. This demonstration was him explaining how if we eat 4 sweets from one jar, and 5 from
another jar, we have eaten 9 sweets from 2 jars. He then linked this back to algebra by writing on
the board: a-4 plus a-5 = 2a-9. I understood this, and I think everybody else in the class did too. It
was a good example, and helped the visual learners of the group. After this demonstration, Mr
Searle split us off into groups with the sweets to experience this for ourselves. Our challenge was to
eat so many from one jar, and so many from the other jar, and then can tell him what the equation
would be. This was a simple task that we all understood and were eager to experiment with. He
supervised us complete this task and helped when he could see we needed it. At one stage during
the experiment, Jimmy and I had an argument over what the answer was to one of our problems.
We ate 4 from one jar, but none from the other jar. Therefore, I said that our equation should be a-4
+ a-0 = 2a -4. But Jimmy thought that the answer should have been a-4 + a-0 = 2a + 4. To resolve this
issue, we looked back at previous examples and Jimmy could see where he went wrong, and quickly
learnt from his error. There still was no ICT today, but we are using it on Thursday.

Lesson 3 (Final) Thursday 19th August 2005

Today is our final lesson on this mini unit of algebra, so Mr Searle is showing us how we can use the
internet and digital tools to solve these problems using ICT. To do this, he took us down to the
computer labs where we all got a computer to ourselves. At this stage, we had all used computers
before so we all knew how to log on and get onto google. From here, MR Searle instructed us to type
in online algebra games, and made us click on a website. From here, he showed us on the board how
the game works, and made us all watch him. Now it was our turn to have a go at the game for
ourselves. Most of us picked it up easily, but there was one or two who struggled a little, but the
teacher helped them out quickly. We played with this game for a while, until he stopped us and
made us watch him again. He explained to us that this was like what we were doing in our lesson on
Tuesday with the sweets. Most of us here understood the connection. Now he directed us to a
different website, which was called blogger. Here, he made us join a blog that he had previously
created. He asked us to write out a few sentences of how we are feeling about algebra, and if we
had liked the game or not, and whether it had improved our learning. When we had done this, he
asked us to comment on another student post and provide positive feedback on the work they had
written. This helped us to see how other people were going and we could use it as a social tool.
From this unit, I have learned a lot, and I can see how in the future I will use algebra in my day to day
life, when I become my dream job of a builder.