These clips are from a lesson using the Graphical problems from Changing bases. The clips may help you prepare to use the resource or reflect on classroom practice.

These students kindly agreed to let us film them sharing their initial thoughts as they worked on this task. Our aim in selecting these classroom video clips is to offer an opportunity to see the different ways mathematical thinking is revealed, as it plays out, rather than as a final and polished piece of work.

After viewing each clip

  • Spend a minute replaying the clip in your mind. Try to reconstruct significant parts of the episode. If watching with a colleague, compare your accounts of what you saw — watch the clip again if necessary to reach agreement.

  • Consider the prompts relating to student thinking and the teacher’s role.

  • Try to relate these episodes to your own classroom experience.

What does each clip reveal about these students’ understanding of logarithms?

As a teacher, what choices might you make in a similar situation in your own classroom?

We are very grateful to these students and their teacher for allowing us to film them working on Changing bases.


We are grateful to Julian Marshall for directing the filming, selecting and editing some video clips and for his guidance on the use of classroom video.