Solo in an ICT lesson to create a financial model

Solo with a Year 9 class using spreadsheets to create a financial model.
I started the lesson by introducing Solo using a presentation from Otonga school in New Zealand.  We used the stick men to gain an understanding of solo by using "What do you know about tennis" as an exmaple.  I asked the students "What do you understand about Solo from your first lesson?" and the majority seem to have got to grips with it quite quickly.  I didn't spend a lot of time talking about SOlO as I wanted to move straight on to the actual lesson.

The lesson was to create a financial model and use goal seek to make predictions.  Most of the class started as prestructural and did not understand what inputs, outputs, rules and variables were in a financial model spreadsheet.  After a short discussion the majority of the class  moved to Unistructural and could define what an Input, Output, Rule or Variable was. (This had been covered in earlier years and the class just needed a reminder to get to grasps with this).  To show their understanding all students completed a worksheet to identify the costs, revenue and formulae to create the model with information gained from an email they received.  The solo outcome was:

Unistructural - I can identify and label inputs/outputs, variables or rules. - Task - To read email and complete the worksheet.

The email and the work sheet is shown below.

 









 



To move to the multistructural level the outcome is shown below:

Multistructural - I can COMBINE inputs/outputs, variables and rules needed to create a financial model and understand the relationship between them all. Task - Add information from a second email and explain why you need the extra information.

The extra information was the total amount of tickets sold for each month.  I decided this was multistructural based on the fact that they would have to make a relationship between the inputs and outputs inorder to understand why we needed the extra information.  (This was the level I was most unsure about)

After this was complete the students were ready to move to the Relational level which was:

Relational - I can APPLY the knowledge I have and ORGANISE the data to create a financial model with inputs/outputs, variables and rules.  Task - Create a financial model using your information in a spreadsheet.

At the end I asked the students to update where they were on the Solo posters.

Most of the class were ready to move to the Relational level and were confident in creating a financial model from information you they had gained from the email and the rest of the class were Relational and had nearlly complete creating the financial model.

 

 I continued the lesson the next day where they all had a chance to access the final level, extended abstract.  I did debate about whether to create a whole new set of SOLO outcomes for the second lesson but decided this was unnecessary and would in reality be a waste of time.

 

Extended Abstract - I can INTEROGATE a model and PREDICT outcomes using Goal seek.  Task - watch video resource skills demo 5a and predict what the standard adult ticket price will need to be in order for the park to break even. Then make 2 furhter predictions of your own using goal seek.

All students finished the lesson at the Extended abstract level and were confident in using goal seek to interrogate a model and make recommndations based on these predictions.

The solo outcomes I displayed in the lesson are shown below:

At the end of the lesson I asked the class to comment on a blog to share their thoughts on using Solo.  Some of the responces were:

"I think solo is a great tool to use in all lessons. It's good because everyone can work at their own pace and start where they think they are comfortable. It also makes learning easier, I went from Pre-Structural to Relational in less than a lesson and I understood everything." MP.

"From my understanding of solo so far i think it is a very good way of helping students advance through the stages of different topics. It worked for me because it explained to me how i can improve my work and extend my knowledge of the subject furthermore using the guidance this has given me ." LB

"In my opinion i think solo is a really good classroom tool to work with.
It helps you understand where you are and it tells the teacher where you are working at or if you need any help or support. Also solo is very simple to use and it does not confuse you at all." KB

"Solo is a great way to show what stage of learning we are at this helps the teacher to see if students are struggling and need any extra help." JG

"SOLO is a great way of tracking a students progress and can help teacher and student work out the best way to move a pupil ahead. I really enjoy SOLO and think it can help a lot of students by letting teachers know who needs the help most." DS

This my take so far on using SOLO in an ICT lesson but would really like to hear other peoples thought on this, or any recommendations of where this can ibe improved.