Introduction chapter one. The features of linking activities

Part 2: Evaluation of Links and Guiding Control in Sports Equipment The purpose of Part 2 is to give students an opportunity to apply the terminology of link characteristics and guiding controls found in sports equipment. Students should have an idea of the characters of links, and the types of guiding controls from Part 1. The day before this activity is to be embarked upon, students should be asked to bring in pictures of sports equipment. OR, students could access pictures in the school library OR they can use their personal devices to find pictures. They should have a minimum of five links to evaluate. Possible examples include: hockey skates, helmets and sticks, football cleats and helmets, gymnastics apparatus, bicycles and bike helmets, track and field equipment, or possibly ballet slippers and the bar in a ballet studio, etc. Each group of students should look at the pictures of their equipment. ^6They should then create a table to organize their data, or they could use the same table as provided in Part 1. Students should then complete the worksheet in Appendix A.Notes: While students are working on their projects, teachers can circulate around the classroom to probe them about their observations, explanations/reasoning. The ultimate goal is to talk to students so they become fluent with the vocabulary. For example, if a student is observing a rivet connecting the face guard to a hockey helmet, the teacher could ask about the type of guiding control. Ask similar questions for each group.

Step 2: Collecting and Making Sense of Data
Once students are finished with analyzing their everyday links, Activity Option #2 – Let’s categorize the links and guiding controls! teachers can follow up with a class discussion on WHY each groups used the classifications they chose. The goal of this step is to start the discussion with students’ reporting their data.
The class discussion needs to be channelled to the point that students understand differences between direct or indirect; removable or non-removable; rigid or elastic; complete or partial, as well as the differences between the three types of guiding controls: translational, rotational and helical. At this point, a Think-pair-share strategy can be used to help students reflect on their ideas and share without feeling alienated and pressured. Then, have each group justify their classifications. It would be interesting to have students who chose helmets or shoes to compare the links as each type of helmet has links that are uniquely different.
Students can fill in a table such as the one in Appendix B. Based on the group discussions, have each student fill in the below table individually. Also, display the same data table on the board. Discussing as a class will be held after individual students have their forms filled.
The teacher then invites students to share their response within their groups. One option to create a safe space for all students to share their ideas during the whole class discussion, is the teacher can create three colour cards and hand them out to individual students. The colour cards include: Red: Stop! I need help!; Green: Keep going, I understand!: and Yellow: Wait! I am a bit confused! (please see the sample cards in Figure 1). Before the class discussion, the teacher asks the students to use the colour cards given to indicate their comfort level with the topic (either as a group or an individual).

Figure 1. Sample of Colour cards
Next, the teacher invites students to share their responses with the class. Teachers can facilitate discussion using the following practices:
Ø Pressing for evidence: For example, if the student said that a shoe lace is indirect, removable, complete and rigid, then the teacher can ask: “how is the shoe lace functioning that led you to think that the shoe lace is indirect, removable, complete and flexible?
Ø Orienting students to each other’s thinking: For example, teachers can ask: “who thinks they understand what (student A) just said and can explain it in their own words? Does anyone want to add to what (Student A) just said? Who agrees with what Student A just said? Why?”
Ø Connecting students’ ideas: For example, teachers can ask: “So, we just said that that the shoe lace is indirect, removable, complete and flexible because the lace connects the two parts of the shoe, it can be removed with damaging the lace, is does not allow the shoe halves to move, and it is not flexible.⁷ How does that connect with Student A’s idea? How does that connect with what we know about other footgear, for example shoes with Velcro?”
Once students share their data and the class has reached a consensus, the teacher may begin to fill in the data table on the board (See Appendix B). During the class discussion, the teacher can ask the students to think about discrepancies, such as “why does group A say _X__ and group B says _Y__?.”
Once collecting students’ data on the board, teachers can move on to a discussion of links and guiding control based on students’ data table in Appendix B. Teachers can say: Most of you have seen patterns. The parts in some sports equipment are linked in similar ways, and some are different.
After explaining the concepts of links and guiding controls, teachers can ask all students to hold up their colour cards.
Note: This is to verify students’ understanding of these concepts in a manner that “creates a safe space for learning”. Based on the colour cards, teachers can re-teach and reinforce these concepts or move on to the next activities described below.
Upon completion of Part 2, organize a gallery walk where students go around the class and discuss the pictures with the link characteristics and guiding control developed by other groups in the classroom. Each group presents their work. As the gallery walk progresses, the teacher asks questions about each group’s sculptures. The purpose of the questions is to elicit students’ thinking and to provide an opportunity for students to express their ideas to the rest of the class. Probing questions could include:
How are the links on the pictures the same or different?​
How are the guiding controls the same or different??​
What were some of the difficulties you experienced when characterising the links and the guiding controls? ​
Were some links easier to characterize than others? Explain some of the problems you encountered.​
What is the key difference between links and guiding control systems?
Note: Worksheets are available for use (Eureka textbook B), or Appendix A.
Step 4: Evaluation
Post-assessment could involve a journal type reflection of similarities and differences between the ten links, and the guiding controls students used in the two activities using a table, or students could complete the worksheet provided in Appendix B. The teacher can also administer the multiple choice assessment question that was included at the beginning of the lesson (Activity Option #1)