Jumpstart! Study Skills

Games and Activities for Active Learning, Ages 7–12

John Foster

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781315280196
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Jumpstart! Study Skills presents a collection of engaging and simple-to-use games and activities that will jumpstart students' understanding of working independently and as part of a group and how to develop the study skills necessary to succeed at school.

Providing teachers with a range of practical ideas and strategies to promote active learning in Key Stage 2, the activities in this book will help students to:

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• create plans for investigations and assignments;

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• improve their organisational skills: time management and teamwork;

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• collect data using methods such as observations, surveys and interviews;

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• develop their reading and notetaking skills;

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• engage in meaningful discussions and develop their talk skills;

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• advance their computer skills to sift and record data;

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• create strategies for revising and preparing for tests;

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• analyse data and draw conclusions;

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• improve their ability to write reports;

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• evaluate their own achievements and identify future targets.

Jumpstart! Study Skills is an essential classroom resource that will encourage children's development and help teachers to deliver effective lessons that promote active learning in Key Stage 2.

Chapter 1
Planning investigations and projects

This chapter focuses on the skills children need to develop when planning to do a piece of schoolwork. It contains activities and advice on how to plan the investigation of topics across the curriculum, including, e.g. a historical investigation, a design and technology project, a maths problem and a science experiment. There are also suggestions of how to plan the study of books, plays and poems. Children are encouraged to brainstorm ideas, to draw mind maps and flow-charts and to write detailed plans.

Planning a Project

Explain that when you are planning an investigation, you will have to decide what information you want to find out, what questions you want answered and how you are going to collect the data you need.

The activities in this chapter are designed to develop children’s enquiry skills and their ability to work collaboratively, thinking of relevant questions and carrying out research to collect information.

Planning a Historical Investigation

Iron Age and Roman Britain

Ask the children to suggest how they would plan to find out about how people lived in a) the Iron Age, b) Roman Britain. What questions would they seek to answer? What evidence could they use to find the answers to their questions? Draw two columns on the board and list the types of evidence they suggest they could find.

Encourage them to think about objects that have been found at archaeological sites and sites that have been excavated that they could visit to find evidence of how the Celts and Romans lived. Mention sites like the forts the Romans built on Hadrian’s Wall and Roman villas. Talk about written evidence and make the distinction between primary sources – the books Romans wrote themselves – and secondary sources – books that people have written about how the Romans lived.

Encourage them to think how they could use the internet to find out about both the Celts and the Romans from a website such as www.resourcesforhistory.com and explain that there are apps available to take them on interactive tours of some sites such as the Romans app produced by the Corinium museum at Cirencester https://coriniummuseum.org/romans-app

Britain in the 1950s

Then ask the children in groups to list the evidence they could use to find out about how people lived in Britain in the 1950s.

Encourage them to think of all the things that they could use as evidence about life in Britain in the 1950s that are not available when investigating earlier times, e.g. photographs, films, TV and radio programmes, tape recordings, first-hand accounts from people still living as well as written sources, such as newspapers, diaries, telegrams and postcards, as well as numerous artefacts and buildings. End with a discussion of which sources of evidence would be available if they were investigating Victorian Britain.

Planning a Design and Technology Project

Invite the children in pairs or groups to plan a design and technology project. You can choose a project linked to the topic you are studying. For example, if the topic is the Romans, the children could design and make a model of a Roman amphitheatre or a Roman villa or a model of a Roman soldier. Alternatively, if the topic is Vikings they could design and make a Viking helmet or a Viking hut.

A Model of a Roman Soldier

Explain the aim of the activity – to plan how to design and make a model of a Roman soldier. Encourage them in groups to make a plan by drawing up a list of questions they will need to answer, such as what did a Roman soldier look like? How can we find out? What materials and tools will we need? How will our model stand up? Invite groups to prepare a detailed plan and to present it to the rest of the class. Discuss how a good plan will include:

• details/pictures of what a Roman soldier should look like;
• design of how your Roman soldier will look and how he will stand up;
• materials you will need;
• tools you will need;
• the method you will use to make him step-by-step;
• any problems you think you may encounter and how you might resolve them.

Making a Badge

Unlike the activity designing a Roman soldier, in which the children have to be historically accurate, this activity is more open-ended. Explain that the activity is to plan how to design and make a badge. The group will have to decide what sort of badge they are going to make by researching different badges. They will have to discuss the purpose of different badges and why people wear them, e.g. to prove identification and for security purposes, to advertise a product, to show that you belong to a team or group, to show your religion or to support a cause or a charity. Having determined the purpose of the badge, encourage the children to look at different designs of badges, their shape and size, how they are fixed on and the different materials they are made of. Encourage them to make two or three alternative designs, then to choose between them, taking into account their suitability for their purpose and whether one of them would prove easier to make. They should then make a detailed plan and present it to the rest of the class.

A Geography Project – Our Environment

Explain that the purpose of the project is to study the main features of the environment of the village or town where the school is situated and that you are going to go on a walk around the neighbourhood to observe and record the main features.

Put the children in groups and ask them to discuss what they think are the main features they should be observing and how they should record them.

Encourage the groups to think of features such as the landscape, the buildings, the transport facilities, local amenities, workplaces and houses and to draw up a list of things they would look out for.

Ask groups to focus on one particular feature, such as buildings, and to think of things they can look out for during the walk, such as: What different buildings are there? What are they used for? When were they built? What materials are they constructed of?

Encourage the children to think about how they will record their observations and what equipment they will require, such as a camera, clipboards and pencils. Encourage them to design survey sheets.

After the walk, invite them to share their observations and what they found out about the feature they were observing.

A History Project – The History of the Environment

As a follow-up project you can invite the children to research local history, e.g. by finding out what the environment was like either 50 or 100 years ago. Ask the children in groups to suggest what evidence they could collect to answer questions, such as: What was the school like? What were the houses like?

In addition to using the internet, encourage them to suggest how they might interview older relatives, friends and neighbours, visit a local museum, contact the local historical society, invite older people to bring in artefacts and photographs and study old maps of the area. List what they suggest on the board. Then ask the groups to plan their research, carry it out and report their findings.

A Science Investigation

Explain to the children that if they are going to carry out a scientific investigation, they need to draw up a plan.

First, they will need to decide what questions they want answered. For example, do they want to find out what happens if they make a change to an object or a substance? Do they want to find out how it occurs and when it occurs? Do they want to understand why it occurs?

The flow chart (Figure 1.1) shows a step-by-step plan.

Figure 1.1 Flowchart

Plant life and growth

Encourage the children to focus on plants and in groups to think of what questions they would need to find answers to in order to work out what plants need for life and growth. Ask them to suggest what plants need and to think of tests they could carry out to find out if their ideas are correct. They can then share their ideas in a class discussion.

Making a Mind Map

Explain that a mind map or spidergram is a type of diagram which can be used to show different facts and ideas connected to a particular subject or topic. Draw a circle in the centre of the board and write ‘How can I find the information I need?’. Ask the children to suggest the various sources of data that can be used to find information on a topic and build up a spidergram of their suggestions. Figure 1.2 is an example of such a spidergram.

Figure 1.2 A spidergram

Encourage groups to choose one of the investigations listed below, to discuss sources of information that they could use to collect the information they need and to draw a spidergram.

Topics for investigation:

• What life was like for rich children and poor children in Victorian times?
• How the local area has changed during the last 100 years?
• Where deserts are found and what animals and plants are found in them?
• The first motor cars.

You can encourage the children to share their ideas by using apps such as Simple Minds and Popplet which are designed to enable them to develop their mind maps on iPads.

Tackling a Maths Problem

Discuss with the children how they plan to tackle the problem.

Ask them what information do they have and what they need to find out or do. What questions do they need to ask?

What operation(s) they are going to use. Will they try to do it mentally, on paper or with a calculator?

What method do they plan to use? Why?

Encourage them to think about any equipment they will need.

How do they plan to keep a record of what they do?

Can they predict or estimate what the answer or result might be? Why do they think that might be the solution?

Figure 1.3 The data handling cycle

Problem Solving

Explain how they can develop your problem-solving skills by following the ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Planning investigations and projects
• 2 Collecting data – observations, surveys and interviews
• 3 Developing reading skills
• 4 Developing note-making skills
• 5 Developing your speaking and listening skills
• 6 Developing computer skills
• 7 Developing writing skills
• 8 Organisational skills – time management and teamwork
• 9 Revising and preparing for tests
• 10 Helping children with special needs
• 11 Summary, assessment and other resources