Implementation of “Geometry Hidden Behind the Old Walls” (SOI-MT-297)
Author: Doriana Delia Parnis, Assistant Head and Robotics coordinator (Year 3 and Year 4)
School/Organization: De La Salle College, Junior School, Vittoriosa, Malta
Heritage is close to my heart and as an educator, I try to integrate subjects and provide my students with bountiful of general knowledge and local heritage information. While searching the various interesting Learning Scenarios, I came across ‘Geometry Hidden Behind the Old Walls (EN-CUR-159), created by Stefica Dumancic Poljski. It aims to teach students how to navigate in a virtual museum and uses creative storytelling, ICT tools, and a lot of collaborative group work, which, I could easily relate to.
The project is STEAM-driven, integrating Robotics, Arts, Science, and Mathematics while focusing on local heritage.
The implementation context
Who and Why?
The students experienced an imaginary Time Travel event during the Robotics lessons which integrated science, arts, and mathematics. During the past years of Covid-19 school outings were limited. Students in their third year in junior school who are between 7 and 8 years old had few outing experiences.
As a school, we embarked on STEAM projects while investing in a small number of educational robots for our students to use and experience a different approach to learning. With each Year 3 class of 24 students, at our Church School, we started off with using ‘Qobo’; a cute snail-like robot that comes along with a map and a set of coding cards.
The Qobo Map, on which, Qobo travels around the world, has a few places of interest around the world. The red square shows Stonehenge.
We learned about The Great Wall of China and the Eiffel Tower. The students were amazed with Stonehenge which is found in England. Stonehenge is a famous prehistoric site in Britain. It consists of more than 130 boulders forming concentric circles. Archaeologists believe it was built between 3000 and 2000 BC. It most likely took thousands of years to build, and stones were transported from faraway places. This was compared to Temples found locally in Malta. In particular, the students mentioned Mnajdra Temples. The students watched a short clip about Mnajdra temples:
Since during the Maths lesson the students were investigating 3D shapes, they were given various nets of different 3D shapes, which they were asked to set up to recreate the temples.
We used the Europeana portal to search for pictures of the real Stonehenge and compare to our Local Heritage.
The Sarsen monument at Stonehenge from the ENE
©In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted
The narrative
The structure
The Sarsen monument at Stonehenge is all about geometry; a scenario that inspired me for a cross-curricular approach together with the use of material from Europeana within an educational module involving history and art as well as science and mathematics.
Collaboration and Curriculum
Collaboration between the class teacher and me as their Robotics coordinator was the focal point for this project to actualise and give the students an integrated learning experience.
Planning of Robotics lessons is based on consultation with the class teacher and with guidance from the core subjects’ scheme of work. Being aware that the students were investigating and learning 3D shapes and their properties, enabled me to link History, Mathematics, and Robotics together.
The Reconstruction
Students used the coding cards to take Qobo on a journey in time and back to the Stonehenge age. Once the robot reached its destination, the students were asked to start reconstructing the structure, with Qobo going around it. Together they investigated the properties of 3D shapes and discussed which would be ideal to use for such reconstruction. The setting up of the 3D shapes played part in the reconstruction of the Mnajdra and Stonehenge temples.
Students ordering the coding card to match the colours of the rainbow.
Students discussing how best to build their own reconstruction of the temples while stacking shapes and balancing their temple structures in a given coordinate position.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and Skill
• The students could learn a new card: the Left-Turn Card.
• The students could understand how Stonehenge and the Mnajdra Temples were constructed and analyse their shape.
• The students could learn and consolidate the properties of 3D shapes.
• The students could discover and learn more about astronomy, reflection and movement of the
sun.
• Throughout this project implementation the students could enhance their spatial and logical-
Mathematical skills together with improving their mathematical reasoning and investigation
abilities.
Process and Methods
• By observing the Stonehenge and Mnajdra Temples pictures, students’ curiosity and interest were stimulated.
• By comparing Stonehenge and Mnajdra Temples and their reconstruction, students’ ability to
recognise large or small was enhanced.
• Furthermore, the students have learned to design and plan an architectural structure and to
reconstruct an image in a 3D structure.
Social Emotional Learning
• By exploring prehistoric civilisations the student could cultivate imagination about the Earth and
civilisation.
•They have also developed artistic-historical skills, interactively exploring teamwork methodologies
and experiential learning.
The original learning scenario chosen for implementation was aimed for students between 13 and 14 years and using GeoGebra a Web2Tool. In our case, this learning scenario was implemented with a group of students aged 7-8, who have no access to a tablet or computer at school. The planned activities mentioned in the Learning Scenario gave me ideas to adapt while using the Robot, it aimed at using a cross-curricular learning process where the support provided by Europeana was used as a tool to learn the geometry solids hidden in temples as part of local and international heritage.
This was a hands-on learning experience for the students. Through simple programming using the coding cards, the students took Qobo for a dream trip around the world and back in time. Qobo wanted to go back to stone age and visit the temples. He went to visit Stonehenge in England and then Mnajdra Temples in Malta. The students investigated the picture of Stonehenge found on Europeana and pictures of the Mnajdra Temples through a careful and detailed geometric/spatial analysis of the shapes of the rocks used to set up such temples and then in groups they worked together to reconstruct the temples.
After having analysed the buildings and their structure, they identified the most suitable 3D shapes for the reconstruction of the temples. The students were given nets of cubes and cuboids and were given cones, spheres and cylinders. Once the shapes were set up, they discussed properties and investigated which shapes can stack, slide or roll. The students identified the cube and cuboid as the most suitable shapes due to their properties. They put together the nets of the shapes and planned how to build and reconstruct a temple. Students discussed the coding cards used and evaluated the movement of Qobo and 3D shapes properties.
The students also discussed the purpose of the temples. They discovered and learned more about astronomy, reflection and movement of the sun. Using the coding cards, the students put the colours of the rainbow in order and learned how a rainbow is formed in the sky.
Generating different ideas and investigations, while also monitoring and observing Qobo’s movement.
Outcomes for the educator
Europeana has allowed the promotion and the maturation of soft skills (transversal competencies) with particular reference to analysis skills, problem-solving, design skills, teamwork, and, as a consequence, interest in STEAM subjects has increased as well. The learning scenarios helped me to generate more integrated ideas, so as to include as many competences as possible during the robotics sessions. The resources made available on Europeana widened my thinking when using arts and science digital heritage and in turn made the general knowledge taught more relatable to the students. The project was fun and enabled on-going hands-on teaching and learning.
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario? Geometry Hidden Behind the Old Walls (EN-CUR-159) created by Stefica Dumancic Poljski
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? You might also like:
- From local heritage to World Heritage (LS-ES-724) implemented by joseramongonzalezquelle
- Historical Heritage of My Town (EN-CUR-367) implemented by katalinlorincz
- TTA – Time Travel Agency (LS-HU-02) by Katalin Lőrincz.
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
Public Domain Mark 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the The British Library.