If you live in Sydney and catch the train, then there’s a good chance you’ve played the Train Carriage Numbers game. The rules are easy but sometimes finding a solution is hard! A good game has few rules, and limitless possibilities, and this fits the bill. The game was brought back to my attention when…
Last week NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) released the interim report on the curriculum review Nurturing wonder and igniting passion: Designs for a future school curriculum. This 131 page document presents a summary if initial feedback and early recommendations regarding the future of education in NSW. “The Interim Report is informed by a first phase…
This blog is the second of two reflections on the annual MANSW (Mathematical Association of NSW) conference “Mathematics: The greatest Show”, you can access the first blog here. Following on from the first blog, this reflection focuses on the keynote and a couple of workshops from Day 2 of the conference. Choosing and using problems…
This blog is the first of two reflections on the annual MANSW (Mathematical Association of NSW) conference. This year’s theme was “Mathematics: The Greatest Show” and it didn’t disappoint! What an amazing conference, ever year it gets bigger and better and the calibre of presentations and keynotes was out of this world! (I should save…
Last year I wrote one of my first blogs about the various ways to utilise the Coles little shop toys in mathematical investigations. You may now find yourself as a teacher or parent with an abundance of these little toys after the second release of the new items. Although they may have a bad image,…
In August I presented at the Making 2020 count numeracy conference organised by Tracy Durheim (from Evans River K-12 School) and her team who run the Northern Rivers Mathematics Community. The conference connects teachers, leaders and educators to explore current research and teaching strategies to drive effective mathematics teaching and learning. The conference opened with…
It’s Book Week! To celebrate book week, schools across Australia encourage students to read, hold book fairs or promote the joy of reading through dressing up as favourite characters, just to name a few of the common events. This year’s theme is Reading is my secret power, this focus reminds students of the amazing ability…
On Saturday 10 August I attended the Sydney University STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy’s inaugural alumni conference, STEMMING the tide: Promoting STEM through Innovative Programs in Schools. What an amazing day of past and present academy schools presenting their STEM programs, pedagogical practices and student successes. With a mixture of keynotes, workshops and panel presentations there…
It’s Education week for 2019! All NSW Public Schools are celebrating Education week this week (first week of August) with the theme of ‘Every student, every voice’.
How do we get students talking about their mathematical thinking? This is a common question that classroom teachers ponder when reflecting on mathematics lessons. Reasoning in mathematics is also a current theme within mathematics education research; proportional reasoning, mathematical reasoning, spatial reasoning, algebraic reasoning and numerical reasoning, just to name a few. Two previous conferences…