Our staff recently engaged with a professional learning session on mathematics. One of the strategies promoted as being effective was that of ‘think-alouds’. This is a strategy which encourages students to share their thinking behind the process in working problems out mathematically. This allows the teacher to discuss with the students that there are many different ways for working things out and one way is no less valid than another. Of course, it also enables the teacher to check for understanding and to give feedback as to the path forward for that student.
Using the iPad to create think-alouds is a tremendously powerful use of technology. In using apps and workflows that enable the capturing of what is done on screen but also the audio that articulates the thinking, the teacher is able to see visible evidence of the thinking behind the work.
These screen recordings can be shared to the camera roll, curated for sharing and published via various means including within a digital book. Two ways of creating digital think-alouds are demonstrated in the below clip – the use of animating in Keynote and through the use of the in-built functionality of screen-recording.