"Mater Dei Matters"

Mathematics

Learning Logs

As a parent or carer, I am sure that you have heard the term ‘Learning Log’ being passed around your household, especially nearing assessment time. What you may not be so familiar with is what they are or their purpose. At the College, we have made Learning Logs an integral part of every student's learning experience for a number of years. As with all learning initiatives, it is important that they undergo regular review processes to ensure that they are being used as intended for the learning experience. Before I continue on, I will clarify the two questions below:

 

What is a Learning Log?

A Learning Log is a student summary of each mathematical topic studied. They have 

traditionally been a double sided A4 page per topic and include the aspects below:

What is the purpose of Learning Logs?

The purpose of the Learning Logs is for students to take the information that they have learnt and to turn them into a personalised summary. 

What we have found from collecting student data is that students are not using the Learning Logs for their intended purposes. Our challenge as teachers was to discover how we could adapt them to make them more user friendly for students and allow them to be better used as a study resource.

 

What have been the barriers to Effective use of the Learning Logs?

What we have found is that some students are:

  1. Copying content without understanding it
  2. Not using the Learning Log as a revision tool
  3. Not knowing when or why to use the content on the Learning Log
  • Instead of students writing to fill space, we want them to write to understand.
  • Instead of students putting down information that they do not understand, we want them to understand every aspect of the content before they put it onto their Learning Log.
  • Instead of not seeing or drawing connections, we want them to have a comprehensive understanding of when to use particular elements of mathematics as well as having an understanding of why it is to be used.

Format of the New Learning Logs

Student Exemplars of Learning Logs in the New Format

Here is a sample of some quality student samples of Learning Logs which have been adapted in the new format:

 

Student Sample 1

 

 

Student Sample 2 

 

Mr Kurt McPherson | Mathematics KLA Leader