Chapter 13: Learning about Windmills using Paper Pinwheels

 Chapter 13: Learning about Windmills using Paper Pinwheels

Date/Time: 24th May 2024 Friday - 4:05 am & 24th May 2024 Friday - 9:22 pm

This is an interesting blog post about two sessions I recently had with the amazing learners at the Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation - a school for street children in Peshawar doing some amazing work providing quality education to deserving children in the society. The learners about windmills by making paper pinwheels. It was a creative lesson and learners enjoyed making the paper pinwheels. Since the learners are having exams at school, I thought of doing some arts and craft work to keep them relaxed and fresh for the exams.

The lesson started with sharing details of the activities for the day. I had made a paper pinwheel after watching a YouTube video. I searched for videos where the steps of making the pin wheel were clearly explained. And came across a video where the instructor explained the process step wise and modelled how to create a paper pinwheel. I could pause and view as many times I want too, and that really helped. I literally tried making a paper pinwheel 3 or 4 times before getting it right. And I colored it and it looked amazing. And I knew that the learners would also need to practice making the pinwheel. Either they could see the video and follow steps along or I would need to demonstrate the steps to them.

I had to cut out the shapes for them and once every learner had the pieces, I asked them to follow the steps. It seemed difficult initially and I had to assist but some students got it right and were able to make their pinwheels. They colored it and pasted it on the board. We had a brief discussion on windmills and its uses. The students then created a tower with Jenga blocks. They created different structures with the Jenga blocks before I explained to them the purpose of playing Jenga. It teaches learners a lot of patience and focus. They need to keep removing a piece of block from the stack and place it above ensuring the tower doesnot fall. Some students tried creating objects with magnetic sticks. It was very creative, the only issue was that the only one or two students could make objects since the pieces were few. Also the learners needed some guidelines to create objects with puzzle pieces.

The next day the session started with a revision of the previous day on paper pinwheels. Learners completed a worksheet about windmills , their uses , advantages and disadvantages. It did seem difficult but almost all students were able to fill all the blanks in the worksheet. This was followed by coloring a pinwheel. I had searched for an online coloring page with a drawing of a pinwheel. I pasted it on the google doc and got it photocopied. The learners colored it joyously and happily. They pasted it on the windows. I wanted the learners to practice coloring the pinwheel online. So I found an online coloring page with a drawing of a pinwheel but it seemed it was difficult and learners could not use the pencil tools online to color, they needed practice with the cursor movements on screen. Either I look for another drawing app where they create the pinwheel themselves or find a site which has more coloring features like the fill bucket, paint brush etc 

The session ended with a few students doing a coloring activity online. I observed that the learners enjoyed the coloring activity online, since they had worked on the site before as well, this time they could click on the menu button or home button and select a image for coloring themselves which was good. They could fill in different colors and erase the ones that did not look good and refill again. They could use the cursor on screen to click and choose the colors. They tried using the arrow keys to move the page up and down. This was some improvement that I observed while the learners worked on my laptop. On the second session on windmills I did not take the blocks or puzzle pieces, I wanted the learners to focus on the worksheet task and it helped. Also they need proper guidelines and time to create objects with the puzzle pieces.

My personal learning from these two sessions about integrating technology was that not every task needs ICT integration nor for teaching and nor for learning. For these two sessions ICT was helpful in finding the resources for my own learning, for example how to create guides for creating a paper pinwheel, or ideas for worksheet tasks or searching for an online coloring image of a pinwheel. I think instead of copying the image online,  I could have tried using the drawing option in the insert menu in Google docs. I could have created a different pinwheel altogether. The issue with the copied image was adjusting the size and cropping it which did not seem right to me. Also need to be careful about copyright issues with images online. Also I could have created a mind map about windmills using the same drawing option in the insert menu. And if learners had access to laptops, instead of photocopying the tasks could have been done in google docs and saved online. I can create a Google classroom, add students in the class and share resources like worksheets or videos. This will need some work. 

The second thing that I would need to revise would be the apps for drawing online, simply replacing the device will not enhance the learning, it is more of a substitution task, where the task remains the same only the tool is changed. This is the initial step of the SAMR model of technology integration. It is like doing a worksheet task online instead of doing it traditionally using paper pencil method. If the learners could erase the drawings, save and download work, share and collaborate online, crop & edit and make changes, use as many colors they want, use different types of drawing tools like spray paint, paint roller, brushes of different sizes, fill bucket, stickers, stamps, clear and undo commands etc that would lead to Augmentation stage of SAMR model. Learners are able to do tasks with technology that have some functional change, like shared above. The drawing app ABCYA might be helpful here, instead of the drawing app I suggested. 

Overall it is a great learning experience for me and for the learners as well. I like the reflection part which is an honest insight about how the session went. It is unbiased and not judgemental. Enjoy Reading till my next post soon InnshaaAllah.

Regards and prayers

Sheeba Ajmal