LEADING A SIMULATION GAME FOR TEACHING GEOMETRY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL. AN OBSERVATION GRID FOR TEACHERS

Self-evaluation and reflectivity play a fundamental role in teacher training, innovation and the development of professional identity. Reflective practise may be further delineated as the teacher’s approach to regularly analyse and reflect on practices and actions in order to deal better with problematic situations and various types of behaviour and thus increase self knowledge. Professional development must thus dedicate time to the analysis of actions and to self analysis and provide necessary support and allow for the identification of specific educational aspects.

This paper presents an observation grid for self-evaluation entailing the leading of simulation games for teaching geometry in primary school; it is useful for monitoring the leading of the simulation game process and highlighting specific areas to focus on and consolidate for personal professional development. It can be used in microteaching, during which trainee teachers are filmed whilst teaching small groups and the videos are later used as a tool for revision and evaluation with colleagues and tutors.

This observation grid was constructed within a research project focussing on the design, development and experimentation of simulation games for learning geometry: some of them have been tested and others are underway of experimentation within the research project, aiming to assess their methodological-didactic effectiveness for geometry learning processes in primary school and their usability in didactics, with a view to integrating them into the educational curriculum.

This observation grid was based on procedural gaming architecture and specifically on theoretical-methodological choices and the principal functions of leading, integrating task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership in the sphere of educational interaction. It can be used as a support for critical reflective practices and opens the doors for self-evaluation. It assists in the creation and functioning of improved training and thus contributes to personal development both in terms of the integration of theory and practice and also in the field of communication skills and conscious personal interaction in order to re-orientate and re-order thoughts, emotions and behaviours.

In order to validate the observation grid, two independent researchers examined 8 films of simulation games and used observational indexes. The indexes proposed in order to evaluate intercoder agreement showed satisfactory results. Using these results, the grid was then slightly modified and a codebook was created to assist future users.