Using Sneaky Maths to embed Digital Citizenship

During this week's PGCE we needed to assess, to what extent, digital citizenship was embedded in our teaching.

Across the subjects I teach

It occurred to me that this subject is central to my teaching in a number of ways.

Each week, I teach these different lessons:-

1. Digital - including many aspects outlined in the UK Government's Education for a Connected World

2. The vocation course for Level 1 IT with business - a subset of whom will go on to higher levels and careers in the digital technology industry

3. GCSE Maths, where the central artificial intelligence tool, Century, is a compulsory part of the course.

4. Science, which has technology running throughout it, and in which I use technology as part of my teaching practise, especially in terms of connecting, assessment and collaboration.

So, from these four different perspectives, digital technologies run through my lessons.

The ability for my learners to become digital citizens is embedded, in different ways, in each.

In Digital and in IT with Business, digital citizenship knowledge and skills form the core of

what I teach. For example, aspects of digital citizenship are contained within the Laser Level 1 units. As an example, these are all separate units the learners need to complete; cyber bullying, online security, social media

This is by no means an exhaustive list - I teach 19 units in total. I teach these units with a strong bent towards constructivism, primarily using project-based learning throughout. I make use of videos, quizzes, online forms, team work etc to pull out the narrative for digital citizenship and how it applies to my learners. My PGCE scheme of learning is based on this IT with Business subject.

In my digital lessons I use the project vehicle "short film" and teach them digital technologies they need for each step of film development and production - from idea to final film.

For example, they use a Wakelet to capture their initial "one liner tagline" for their chosen film idea. Then, for the single page outline, they learn and use MS Word. For the storyboard, they learn and use MS Powerpoint, and for the film editing they learn and use Adobe Premier Pro. Throughout, they are working in a small team and collaborating by sharing documents on sharepoint, emailing each other and me, and printing out materials. They are learning management skills by casting actors, directing and editing.

In Maths and Science, learners are exposed to digital tools as enablers, however they still learn aspects of citizenship when interacting with these tools.

One of my Science Wakelets from the lesson "Is a Turkey Like a T-Rex?"

For example, if I am using a collaboration tool like Wakelet (I do this quite often), then my learners are developing their online personas as they comment on each other's ideas or on information they have collected from other sources.

The Essence of Sneaky Maths

In maths, my style of teaching is to use an overarching topic that I think may be of interest to the learners. For statistics I use Social Media as this topic.

Learning Objectives for my Statistics Lesson with Social Media logos front and centre

This gives me the chance to engage in the topic of digital presence and cyber bullying whilst teaching maths.

One of my slides from my Statistics lesson using Social Media as the "sneaky" vehicle.

Sneaky Maths for Digital Citizenship

It helps me a lot, because many of my (Lifeskills) learners are more interested in social media than in maths. But I sneak in some statistics and they "accidentally" listen, so learn it ("sneaky maths" (c) Sue Priest 2022).

Sneaky Maths for Other Enhancement and Enrichment

Sneaky maths has the capacity to introduce endless enhancement and enrichment as part of its nature. For example I lead the class in a discussion on the reality of gambling in my lesson on Probability, which I teach with the "sneaky" vehicle of Las Vegas.

I use this to talk about how gambling online is becoming more pervasive and is targeting younger people, yet it is a business which must make a profit - so in the end the House always wins.

I also introduce "Dodgy Doug" and his dice dive, where all the dice are loaded in favour of the house.

These are life lessons that, I hope, could make some learners see through the temptation to spend their money on potentially addictive and expensive online casino games.