2020 WA Annual Maths Conference - Virtual Day 1
Date
Timeslot 1
Opening Ceremony
8:45 am on Wednesday, November 25 2020
John West
Astral 2 & 3
Dr John West has worked as a teacher and mathematics education in WA for more than 20 years. He is currently serving as MAWA President and Editor of Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom. He has been employed by AAMT to revise the content, look and feel of all 194 Maths 300 lessons.
Timeslot 2
ACARA Update
9:00 am on Wednesday, November 25 2020
Anna Cohen, Rachael Whitney-Smith, Stephen Phillip
Astral 2 & 3
This presentation will provide an update on three ACARA work streams: The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics Review, the Learning Progressions and Online Formative Assessment Initiative (LPOFAI) and National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), 2021 and beyond.
ï On 12 June 2020, education ministers agreed that it was appropriate to review the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, which has been in place since 2015. The aim of the review is to improve the Australian Curriculum from Foundation to Year 10 by refining, realigning and reducing the existing content of the curriculum, with the focus on content refinement within the existing structure and dimensions of the Australian Curriculum. Rachael Whitney-Smith, ACARA Curriculum Specialist: Mathematics will provide information about the review and refinement process, timelines and provide some findings from the ACARA Program of Research.
ï In the context of disruptions caused by COVID-19, education ministers made the decision to cancel NAPLAN for 2020 at all year levels. Further, there are also changes to the NAPLAN scale and proficiency standards being considered within the Assessment and Reporting area. Anna Cohen, Senior Manager of the National Assessment Program will provide information on what that this means for NAPLAN, 2021 and beyond.
ï The Learning Progressions and Online Formative Assessment Initiative (LPOFAI) is a cross-agency project involving the three national education agencies ACARA, AITSL and ESA under the governance of Education Council. It is a phased project which began with a discovery phase in May 2019, and findings were reported to education ministers in December 2019. The ministers agreed to proceed with an alpha phase in 2020. Stephen Phillip, ACARA Senior Measurement and Assessment Advisor, will provide an update on the ALPHA phase of this project.
Timeslot 3
NAPLAN Numeracy Tests
11:50 am on Wednesday, November 25 2020
Donna Miller, Karina Welch
Astral 3
With the global pandemic, challenges and opportunities abound. NAPLAN 2020 was cancelled, and the timeline for the move for the full implementation of the online tests has been delayed. This session gives a broad overview of the current status of NAPLAN test, the way they are developed, their specifications and structure. The ëlook and feelí of the tests will be shown using the 'NAPLAN' section of the ACARA website which has a selection of past NAPLAN test papers and answers and features of the NAPLAN Online tests, item types and related functionality will be demonstrated using the public demonstration tests.
Timeslot 4
How do we encourage investigative thinking in our students?
12:55 pm on Wednesday, November 25 2020
Paula McMahon
Astral 3
Paula has worked in high schools for more than twenty years. Since 2019 she has worked as the MAWA Executive Officer. Paula has a passion to ensure students demonstrate understanding rather than learning 'maths tricks or rules'.
Too many students are getting to upper school and not having the skills necessary to complete the investigative assessments! Is investigative thinking only needed when doing assessments? During this session work with colleagues to share concerns, ideas and resources. Whilst sharing current practices from your school. I will provide a couple of lower school investigations and investigative ideas that can be used to promote discussion. It would be advantageous if you could bring an example to share. If you wish to email your sample to eo@mawainc.org.au by Monday November 16 MAWA will ensure that hard copies to use during the workshop.
Timeslot 5
SCSA Principal Consultant Update
1:55 pm on Wednesday, November 25 2020
Leith Pavlinovich, Suzie Harman
Astral 2 & 3
Suzie and Leith are the Principal Consultants for Mathematics K - 12 at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority
Presenters will give an overview of the moderation and assessment activities for both 2020 and 2021.
Timeslot 6
What do we have, what do we need and where can we get help?
3:00 pm on Wednesday, November 25 2020
Paula McMahon
Astral 2 & 3
Paula has worked in high schools for more than twenty years. Since 2019 she has worked as the MAWA Executive Officer. Paula has a passion to ensure students demonstrate understanding rather than learning 'maths tricks or rules'.
Recent feedback from many attendees to the HoLA Day include comments such as more time to talk and share ideas, concerns and use the collective knowledge in the room to help each other. So in 2020 we are going to try something a little different! To conclude the 2020 HoLA Day attendees will work in groups to share their experiences as a HoLA (e.g. working with out of field teachers, parent expectations), the issues (e.g. grading, OLNA etc) that are most impacting their team, strategies that help staff and students. Information will be collated after the conference and made available to attendees.
2020 WA Annual Maths Conference - Virtual Day 2
Date
Timeslot 1
Secondary Opening Ceremony
8:45 am on Thursday, November 26 2020
Paula McMahon
Crown Ballroom 1 & 2
Timeslot 2
KEYNOTE: Humanising mathematics
9:00 am on Thursday, November 26 2020
Amie Albrecht
Crown Ballroom 1 & 2
Amie Albrecht is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Australia. Her research largely focuses on solving practical industry-inspired challenges, leading to more efficient and sustainable transport.
Amie taught mathematics at university for a number of yearsóat first, teaching just like sheíd been taught. But around eight years ago Amie realised the disconnect between traditional procedural-based teaching found in many classrooms, and the creative and collaborative ways in which professional mathematicians work.
Her award-winning teaching now focuses on developing mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills by giving students opportunities to explore their own mathematical ideas, leading them to share delightful and unexpected ways of approaching problems. Her inclusive approach encourages all students to develop a richer understanding of mathematics, inspiring the pre-service teachers she works with to incorporate these authentic mathematical practices in their own classrooms.
Amie is a popular presenter to teachers and students across Australia. Amie thinks of mathematics as a collection of connected puzzlesóchallenging, fun, sometimes frustrating, but always satisfying to understand.
Secondary
We often focus on the benefits that mathematics confers on people, but rarely do we consider the other side of the coin: mathematics—and the maths classroom—benefits from a diversity of people with different experiences and ideas. In this session, we’ll explore how to elicit, honour and celebrate students’ ideas in ways that humanise their experiences with mathematics and enriches the learning of all.
Timeslot 3
The Mathematical Thinking Process
11:00 am on Thursday, November 26 2020
Megan West
Crown Ballroom 1
I am currently the Head of Department at Christ Church Grammar School. I have been teaching for just over 23 years and have been fortunate to be able to teach in WA, England, Scotland and America. I love to travel and look forward to be able to do so again.
7-12
In this session we will look at the mathematical thinking process and how you can incorporate this into your classroom activities as well as assessments tasks. I will give some tips about introducing the process and explicitly teaching it to students as well as provide you some sample activities. If time, we will discuss how to write a task for your classroom.
Timeslot 4
Mathematics is the Meditjin.
11:00 am on Thursday, November 26 2020
Ian Francis Hailes
Botanical 4
Ian Francis Hailes is an experienced secondary mathematics teacher. He has written modules for the STEM consortium; conducted Syllabus Audits; is on the selection panel for the NMSS; has delivered PL for MAWA; assisted with research into NAPLAN outcomes; is a regular presenter at MAWA and AAMT. His students represented Australia in the IM2C.
7-10
Maths Takes You Places, so let’s share the journey and destination with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. We will explore the difference between two-way v Two-ways learning. T & L requires us to connect, collaborate, create and communicate. I will model a Five Stage-Four Step plan to nurture problem-solving. To help further debunk the myth that Indigenous people had no concept of number, I’ll use coding to convert decimals to the traditional N. E. Arnhem Land number system.
Timeslot 5
Discovering Problem Solving
11:00 am on Thursday, November 26 2020
Rachel Theunissen
Astral 3
Rachel Theunissen has been a teacher of Mathematics and Philosophy and Ethics in Western Australia since the early 1990's. Her work has seen her teaching students all over Western Australia, as well as students studying the WA curriculum but living in Europe and the US. Teaching problem solving is her focus and bringing the maths of life into her classroom.
7-10
In this year of innovation there has been much progress in the delivery of lessons. This workshop will focus on some of the resources that are now freely available for teachers and students and how they can be used in the classroom. The workshop will include Problem Solving materials from the Australian Mathematics Trust that have been tried and tested by teachers in the classroom. There will be new materials and resources that have just been made available in 2020 for teachers to use.
Timeslot 6
Developing probabilistic and statistical reasoning with your students
12:05 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Lorraine Day
Crown Ballroom 1
Lorraine is a former Editor of APMC, a Life Member and former President of MAWA. In 2018 she was a recipient of the Beth Southwell Practical Implications Award and won an Australian Award for University Teaching Citation. Her passions are engaging students in mathematics and supporting the important work of teachers through practice and research.
5-8
Engaging students in probabilistic and statistical reasoning is more than just teaching students how to draw graphs and calculate probabilities. It involves targeting the big ideas of statistical and probabilistic reasoning and inviting students to engage in higher order thinking using rich tasks. This session will introduce participants to a range of tasks that assist students to reason mathematically within a statistics and probability context.
Timeslot 7
Making the Most of 11 Methods
12:05 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Dion Alfonsi
Botanical 4
Dion Alfonsi is a Secondary Mathematics Teacher at Shenton College. In his three years of teaching, Dion has taught primarily in Years 9 – 12 and has been active in Gifted and Talented Education, also as an Academic Programs Coordinator. In the past, Dion has delivered professional learning on the reSolve project, as well as mathematical investigations.
11-12
Methods Units 1 & 2 have a lot of rich mathematical ideas, however, arguably the most significant challenge of the course is in its structuring and timing of content. This session is specifically targeted at aspiring or new Methods teachers, as well as course coordinators. We will interrogate the syllabus deeply, highlighting the nuances in the dot points and some logical (but hidden) connections between topics. We will also examine the opportunities to extend and investigate within the course.
Timeslot 8
The Hidden Science of Cryptography
12:05 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Donna Buckley
Astral 3
Donna Buckley is a level three mathematics teacher with DOE and a member of the MAWA Board - Student Activities. On top of her 20 years' experience as a mathematics specialist she also teaches cybersecurity, cryptography and the integration of Python programming in the mathematics classroom.
5-10
When Alice and Bob want to share a secret they use encryption methods. The battle between codemakers and codebreakers is ancient and in this workshop you will discover the history of cryptography and the important role it had to play in the development of modern technology. Participate in activities that you can use in the classroom to develop students’ algebraic thinking, critical problem solving, introduce modular arithmetic and develop their appreciation of number theory in cybersecurity.
Timeslot 9
Making mathematical discussions matter
2:00 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Amie Albrecht
Crown Ballroom 1
Amie Albrecht is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Australia. Her research largely focuses on solving practical industry-inspired challenges, leading to more efficient and sustainable transport. Amie taught mathematics at university for a number of yearsóat first, teaching just like sheíd been taught. But around eight years ago Amie realised the disconnect between traditional procedural-based teaching found in many classrooms, and the creative and collaborative ways in which professional mathematicians work. Her award-winning teaching now focuses on developing mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills by giving students opportunities to explore their own mathematical ideas, leading them to share delightful and unexpected ways of approaching problems. Her inclusive approach encourages all students to develop a richer understanding of mathematics, inspiring the pre-service teachers she works with to incorporate these authentic mathematical practices in their own classrooms. Amie is a popular presenter to teachers and students across Australia. Amie thinks of mathematics as a collection of connected puzzlesóchallenging, fun, sometimes frustrating, but always satisfying to understand.
5-12
Mathematical discussions are crucial to learning mathematics. Not only are students’ abilities to articulate and justify their own thinking improved, but deeper connections between concepts are formed as they listen to and make sense of each other's ideas. Students also begin to appreciate that there is more than one 'right way' to think about maths, which increases confidence, encourages participation, and expands perceptions of maths.
In this session we'll experience simple structures and routines to help get students talking and debating mathematics. We'll also look at quick ways to transform existing maths questions into ones that stimulate rich mathematical conversation.
Timeslot 10
Global Competence in Mathematics
2:00 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Sharon Schubert
Botanical 4
Numeracy Enhancement Specialist at Iona Presentation College, Member of Curriculum Advisory Council Teaching Mathematics Year 7 - 10. School Based Curriculum Leader CEWA, reSolve Champion WA, International and national work experience as a Mathematics Teacher, Masters in STEM from Curin University and Bachelor of Education Curtin.
7-10
This workshop will explore how we can build global competence in our classrooms to reflect the intricacy and interrelatedness of world situations and events. We will discuss how we can use mathematical tools and strategies to investigate current world problems, draw conclusions and consider actions that could have real impact.
Timeslot 11
Reasoning: more than explaining
2:00 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Tierney Kennedy
Astral 3
Tierney is the vice president of QAMT and works as an independent mathematics consultant, helping to improve student results on a large scale. Tierney is the author of over 50 books for teachers, including the acclaimed Back-to-Front Maths and Interventions in Mathematics series. Her 2019 WA projects showed gains of 4.5 years on PAT M by year 7-8 students.
5-8
Reasoning involves searching for patterns, making conjectures, testing them out and generalising principles. If you keep hearing, “But I just knew it”, then this workshop is one you don’t want to miss.
Timeslot 12
Escape Room Mathematics
3:05 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Aaron Wilkinson
Crown Ballroom 1
I am currently a Year 7, 8, 9 and 11 Essential Mathematics teacher at Bunbury Senior High School. Having taught a variety of learning areas, Mathematics is my passion. My main focus is engagement and using new technologies to promote student learning. I am a visual teacher who applies practical activities wherever I see fit.
11-12
An escape room, also known as an escape game, is a game in which a team of players cooperatively discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in the classroom.
I have created Maths based Escape rooms which target OLNA revision for Year 10 and 11, 12 Essential Students. I create my rooms with a specific theme, for example time, 3D shapes or mapping. All my escape rooms last from 30-50 minutes dependent on difficulty.
Timeslot 13
Starting out with Casio ClassPad
3:05 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Charlie Watson
Botanical 4
Charlie spent 25 years teaching mathematics, physics and statistics in UK and Australian high-schools. More recently he has developed several math-related businesses in the areas of tutoring, professional development, and examination services. He has been a regular presenter at MAV and MAWA annual conferences over the past decades.
11-12
This workshop is for teachers who want to learn how to operate the Casio ClassPad CAS graphing calculator. The aim is to develop general skills that will enable users to explore the many different ClassPad apps with confidence. Examples used will give participants an idea of the skill level to develop with students studying Year 11 and 12 ATAR courses. Bring your own ClassPad if possible, although a few loan models may be available.
Timeslot 14
Algebra using Post-it Notes
3:05 pm on Thursday, November 26 2020
Michael Rutkay
Astral 3
Michael is an Teacher, with secondary and tertiary experience. He initially trained as an engineer then as a mathematics teacher which he found more rewarding.
He has taken long term maths relief roles, and currently teaches Technical and Essential Mathematics at Curtin College (covering content from year 11 and 12 Methods and Applications).
7-12+
This workshop demonstrates the use of Post-it notes in algebra as a way of keeping signs and coefficients with variables.
The Post-it notes are used to build up a visualisation framework for correct algebraic techniques when rearranging or solving equations. This activity fits in between concrete activities (balance scales) and abstract activities (solving equations on lined paper). It is useful as a diagnostic activity as the students work in groups and discuss the process with each other.
2020 WA Annual Maths Conference - Virtual Day 3
Date
Timeslot 1
Secondary Opening Ceremony
8:45 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Wendy Pero
Crown Ballroom 1
Timeslot 2
Primary Opening Ceremony
8:45 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Lesley Stoffels
Astral 3
Timeslot 3
Secondary Opening Ceremony
8:45 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Paula McMahon
Botanical 1
Timeslot 4
Secondary Opening Ceremony
8:45 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Lorraine Day
Botanical 3
Timeslot 5
SECONDARY KEYNOTE: Humanising Mathematics (Repeat of Thursday's keynote)
9:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Amie Albrecht
Crown Ballroom 1
Amie Albrecht is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Australia. Her research largely focuses on solving practical industry-inspired challenges, leading to more efficient and sustainable transport.
Amie taught mathematics at university for a number of yearsóat first, teaching just like sheíd been taught. But around eight years ago Amie realised the disconnect between traditional procedural-based teaching found in many classrooms, and the creative and collaborative ways in which professional mathematicians work.
Her award-winning teaching now focuses on developing mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills by giving students opportunities to explore their own mathematical ideas, leading them to share delightful and unexpected ways of approaching problems. Her inclusive approach encourages all students to develop a richer understanding of mathematics, inspiring the pre-service teachers she works with to incorporate these authentic mathematical practices in their own classrooms.
Amie is a popular presenter to teachers and students across Australia. Amie thinks of mathematics as a collection of connected puzzlesóchallenging, fun, sometimes frustrating, but always satisfying to understand.
Secondary
We often focus on the benefits that mathematics confers on people, but rarely do we consider the other side of the coin: mathematics—and the maths classroom—benefits from a diversity of people with different experiences and ideas. In this session, we’ll explore how to elicit, honour and celebrate students’ ideas in ways that humanise their experiences with mathematics and enriches the learning of all.
Timeslot 6
PRIMARY KEYNOTE: Educationally-rich mathematical games: Principles, practice and research
9:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
James Russo
Astral 3
James Russo is a researcher and pre-service teacher educator based out of Monash University, Victoria. His research interests include:
teacher and student emotional responses in the primary mathematics classroom;
the role of challenging tasks, games, and childrenís literature as pedagogical approaches to support positive student learning experiences in primary mathematics;
better understanding the relationship between classroom practice and academic research
the learning and teaching of mental computation and estimation;
James writes regularly for a range of teacher practitioner journals and continues to spend some of his week team-teaching in a primary classroom. He uses this as a space to develop and test teaching ideas, and to stimulate thinking about his research. James is currently working on an Australian Research Council project looking at developing sequences of learning experiences built around challenging tasks.
Primary
Games are widely used in Australian primary classrooms; however, not all games are equally valuable. How might teachers decide which games to introduce? What makes a ‘good’ mathematical game? Combining research findings and practitioner wisdom, James presents six principles of educationally-rich games to support teachers consider these issues. During the session, Teachers will be given opportunities to evaluate games, and explore how they might be modified to enhance their educational value.
Timeslot 7
MAJOR PRESENTATION: Let's Explore the free reSolve - Maths by Inquiry resources
9:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Paula McMahon
Botanical 1
Paula has worked in high schools for more than twenty years. Since 2019 she has worked as the MAWA Executive Officer. Paula has a passion to ensure students demonstrate understanding rather than learning 'maths tricks or rules'.
Secondary
So often teachers say òWhen am I going to get time to look into new resources and websites." During this extended workshop we will explore some of the free reSolve - Maths by Inquiry activities. I will present a couple of my favourites and you will have time to explore the resources. Ideas for incorporating the activities into your programs will be offered. It is suggested that you bring a laptop so that you can enhance your interaction with the resources.
Timeslot 8
MAJOR PRESENTATION: Growing Mathematically
9:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Lorraine Day, Dianne Siemon
Botanical 3
Lorraine is a former Editor of APMC, a Life Member and a former President of MAWA. In 2018 Lorraine was a recipient of the 2018 Beth Southwell Practical Implications Award and an Australian Award for University Teaching Citation. Lorraine’s passions are engaging students in mathematics and supporting the important work of teachers.
Secondary
This workshop will introduce the Growing Mathematically assessment options for multiplicative thinking and consider how the related teaching advice can be used to scaffold students' multiplicative thinking. In doing this we will also consider the key ideas and strategies needed to support the critical shift from additive to multiplicative thinking, which is needed to support school mathematics in the middle and subsequent years of schooling.
Timeslot 9
Maths in Motion
11:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Jody Crothers, Keavy Diggins
Crown Ballroom 1
A HOLA for over 16 years, last year Jody became the Foundation Mathematics HOLA at Ridge View Secondary College. With a passion for teaching Mathematics and a love of technology he seeks to find new ways of engaging students and Making Maths fun.
7-10
In this session we will look at a variety of activities that will get your students up and moving in and out of the classroom. From travel graphs to locked boxed activities. You will experience Maths in Motion
Timeslot 10
What's new in the New Maths 300?
11:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
John West
Botanical 1
Dr John West has worked as a teacher and mathematics education in WA for more than 20 years. He is currently serving as MAWA President and Editor of Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom. He has been employed by AAMT to revise the content, look and feel of all 194 Maths 300 lessons.
K-12
Teacher, maths educator and author Dr John West was employed to revise the content, look and feel of all 194 Maths 300 lessons for the new website as well as to manage the development of new lesson content. In this workshop he will give you the inside scoop on how to get the most from your Maths 300 subscription, with first-hand insights into all 194 lessons!
Timeslot 11
Starting out with ClassPad eActivities
11:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Charlie Watson
Botanical 3
Charlie spent 25 years teaching mathematics, physics and statistics in UK and Australian high-schools. More recently he has developed several math-related businesses in the areas of tutoring, professional development, and examination services. He has been a regular presenter at MAV and MAWA annual conferences over the past decades.
11-12
The eActivity application built into ClassPad offers a myriad of ways to expand and customise your use of this CAS graphing calculator. From storing formulas to creating reusable problem solving procedures, an eActivity can lead to considerable time savings when dealing with many types of problems. This workshop will demonstrate some existing types of eActivities and then develop participants skills in creating their own. A reasonable knowledge of ClassPad assumed for hands-on participants.
Timeslot 12
Meeting Basic Fact Milestones: Addition and Subtraction
11:00 am on Friday, November 27 2020
Paul Swan, David Dunstan
Astral 3
David Dunstan and Paul Swan regularly work together to provide support for teachers. David is a numeracy consultant for AISWA and Paul is an independent Maths consultant. David worked for many years in secondary schools and Paul has worked at primary secondary and tertiary levels. They have written many books and resources together.
K-6
Teachers often complain that students are not fluent with their basic number facts. In this session David and Paul will outline a set of milestones for teaching and learning basic number facts along with some simple support material. This session will focus specifically on Years 1 to 4 where basic number facts are primarily taught in our curriculum. Teachers of older students struggling with basic number facts will also gain from attending this session.
Timeslot 13
The gifted one or the talented many?
12:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Dion Alfonsi
Crown Ballroom 1
Dion Alfonsi is a Secondary Mathematics Teacher at Shenton College. In his three years of teaching, Dion has taught primarily in Years 9 – 12 and has been active in Gifted and Talented Education, also as an Academic Programs Coordinator. In the past, Dion has delivered professional learning on the reSolve project, as well as mathematical investigations.
5-10
There is a vast range of literature on the theory of Gifted and Talented Education (GATE), but in many cases, the theory does not compare to the reality of the classroom. Whether you have that one mathematically gifted student in your class, or teach a class of 32 gifted mathematicians, this session is welcoming of all Mathematics teachers. We will examine the successes and failures of first-hand pedagogical strategies, aiming to cater for the mathematical needs of these gifted students.
Timeslot 14
Differentiating Maths Through Rotations and Hands on Learning
12:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Penny Crossland
Botanical 1
An established primary educator, Penny is currently Deputy Principal at Fremantle Christian College. She has also worked as a Sessional Academic for Curtin University and is an established speaker. She was the Primary Keynote speaker at MAWA in 2019, and a state winner of the National Excellence in Teaching Awards in 2017.
K-6
Student readiness and understanding of mathematical concepts varies greatly within any classroom. This workshop will focus on creating engaging Maths rotations that address the needs of each learner. It will provide strategies to assist teachers in planning and teaching rotations. Come to this workshop to discuss how to differentiate the content, process and products of rotations. Suitable if you want to learn how to start teaching Maths through rotations, or extend current rotations.
Timeslot 15
Why do they keep counting their fingers?
12:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Tierney Kennedy
Botanical 3
Tierney is the vice president of QAMT and works as an independent mathematics consultant, helping to improve student results on a large scale. Tierney is the author of over 50 books for teachers, including the acclaimed Back-to-Front Maths and Interventions in Mathematics series. Her 2019 WA projects showed gains of 4.5 years on PAT M by year 7-8 students.
K-2
Have you ever had students count their own fingers? This session demonstrates simple tasks that all teachers can use to check that their students understand “how many” and gives practical examples of what to do about it.
Timeslot 16
Developing proportional reasoning
12:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Lorraine Day
Astral 3
Lorraine is a former Editor of APMC, a Life Member and a former President of MAWA. In 2018 Lorraine was a recipient of the 2018 Beth Southwell Practical Implications Award and an Australian Award for University Teaching Citation. Lorraine’s passions are engaging students in mathematics and supporting the important work of teachers.
5-8
Many students find proportional reasoning particularly difficult as it is a complex topic that relies on the connections being made between between several big concepts. In this workshop a range of tasks that assist to develop some of the conceptual underpinnings of proportional reasoning will be introduced.
Timeslot 17
Rich problems to open up student thinking
2:00 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Amie Albrecht
Crown Ballroom 1
Amie Albrecht is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Australia. Her research largely focuses on solving practical industry-inspired challenges, leading to more efficient and sustainable transport. Amie taught mathematics at university for a number of yearsóat first, teaching just like sheíd been taught. But around eight years ago Amie realised the disconnect between traditional procedural-based teaching found in many classrooms, and the creative and collaborative ways in which professional mathematicians work. Her award-winning teaching now focuses on developing mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills by giving students opportunities to explore their own mathematical ideas, leading them to share delightful and unexpected ways of approaching problems. Her inclusive approach encourages all students to develop a richer understanding of mathematics, inspiring the pre-service teachers she works with to incorporate these authentic mathematical practices in their own classrooms. Amie is a popular presenter to teachers and students across Australia. Amie thinks of mathematics as a collection of connected puzzlesóchallenging, fun, sometimes frustrating, but always satisfying to understand.
5-12
In this session we'll look at several types of problem formats that can be used with any topic in the AC: Mathematics to help students strengthen both procedural fluency and conceptual understanding. The characteristics of the formats mean that the problems are accessible (low threshold), provide challenge (high ceiling), and give students choices in how they tackle the problem (open middle). And, they're fun! I'll also point to problem banks that you can have at your fingertips to help enrich your classes.
Timeslot 18
Place value - a really big idea
2:00 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Dianne Siemon
Botanical 1
Di Siemon is an Emeritus Professor at RMIT University. She is known for her research on learning progressions and her professional development work on the ‘big ideas’ in Number and the use of rich assessment tasks to inform teaching. Di is a life member of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and the Mathematical Association of Victoria.
K-6
While many children can identify place value parts, they still think of numbers as counts of ones and are unable to rename numbers in multiple ways. We will consider why the initial place-value pattern (ten of these is one of those) is difficult to teach and even more difficult to learn and explore strategies for introducing and consolidating place-value knowledge including the special role of renaming (i.e. regrouping, rearranging) numbers in supporting efficient computation.
Timeslot 19
Refining the Australian Curriculum Mathematics: Concepts and Connections
2:00 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Rachael Whitney-Smith
Botanical 3
Rachael is the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics specialist at ACARA and is currently is currently leading the work on refining the AC: M as well as undertaking her PhD at Notre Dame University in Mathematics Education. Rachael has worked on National and International projects focussed on improving the mathematical outcomes of Australian students.
5-8
This presentation will provide some insight into the refinement of the Australian Mathematics Curriculum. Shifting to a concept building framework aimed at making deep connections both within and across the strands, whilst building students capacity to reason, , inquire, investigate, model and experiment with mathematics and build the skills, knowledge and understandings necessary to apply mathematics in Numeracy contexts beyond the classroom.
Timeslot 20
Transforming mathematical games into investigations
2:00 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
James Russo
Astral 3
James Russo is a researcher and pre-service teacher educator based out of Monash University, Victoria. His research interests include:
teacher and student emotional responses in the primary mathematics classroom;
the role of challenging tasks, games, and childrenís literature as pedagogical approaches to support positive student learning experiences in primary mathematics;
better understanding the relationship between classroom practice and academic research
the learning and teaching of mental computation and estimation;
James writes regularly for a range of teacher practitioner journals and continues to spend some of his week team-teaching in a primary classroom. He uses this as a space to develop and test teaching ideas, and to stimulate thinking about his research. James is currently working on an Australian Research Council project looking at developing sequences of learning experiences built around challenging tasks.
K-6
Games are effective for engaging students, promoting fluency, and encouraging the exploration of new concepts. However, the most powerful games are those that can be transformed into rich investigations, where students can explore underlying concepts and use deep reasoning. In this presentation, James introduces strategies for extending games into investigations, workshops several examples, and gives participants’ an opportunity to extend their favourite mathematical game into an investigation.
Timeslot 21
Nurturing Number Sense with Number Plates
3:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Paul Swan, David Dunstan
Crown Ballroom 1
Dr Paul Swan is an Honorary Life Member of MAWA and a Past President of MAWA. He has written many books, produced many games and spoken at many conferences. His aim is to make it easier to teach mathematics by providing support to teachers. David Dunstan and Paul Swan regularly work together to provide support for teachers. David is a numeracy consultant for AISWA and Paul is an independent Maths consultant. David worked for many years in secondary schools and Paul has worked at primary secondary and tertiary levels. They have written many books and resources together.
5-8
Remember the various Number Plate games that you might have played in the car. David Dunstan and Paul Swan will show you how to use number plates to play various games such as cricket and football. The number plates will be used to generate data that is recorded and then used to create interesting statistics.
Timeslot 22
The NAPLAN - findings of independent research
3:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Dr Paul Brown
Botanical 1
Dr Paul Brown works with primary and secondary preservice teachers at Curtin University. He has served as a high school mathematics teacher for thirty years. His doctorate focused on assessment of mathematical ability. He is known for a book on mathematical proof and for other student resources.
3-10
This session is a presentation of research on recent NAPLAN tests in Year 5 and Year 9. The tests were coded according to curriculum content, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities, depth, and proficiency strands. Results reveal the year levels targeted by the tests and the topic coverage within the Australian Curriculum. Issues surrounding NAPLAN testing will be discussed, including the migration to online testing.
Timeslot 23
Mathematics, Mentoring and the Moon
3:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Tyril Houghton
Botanical 3
Tyril Houghton has been to the Moon and back, representing Australia at the NASA Inspired International Space Camp. As Head of Mathematics at Bunbury SHS, she has established the Mathematics Gifted and Talented program, increased female enrolment in Mathematics Specialist and Methods as well as elevating Year 9 NAPLAN results. Now an ECU Supervisor.
7-12
Experienced in both difficult to staff schools and Gifted and Talented programs, the need for effective mentoring in mathematics will be highlighted. As Head of Mathematics she successfully mentored her students, beginning teachers for rapid advancement, and colleagues. How to increase female enrolment in Mathematics Specialist and Methods as well as elevating Year 9 NAPLAN results is explained. Personal growth, research opportunities and a NEiTA award can take you to the MOON. Interested?
Timeslot 24
Transforming location and transformation
3:05 pm on Friday, November 27 2020
Jennifer Bowden, Ellen Corovic
Astral 3
Jen and Ellen are education consultants at the Mathematical Association of Victoria, their main role is to build teacher confidence and capacity. They enjoy working with teachers and schools in a variety of modes including coaching, planning and guiding whole school improvement. Seeing students and teachers connect with mathematics is their passion.
K-6
This hands on session will guide teachers through practical and engaging tasks to develop students understanding of location and transformation from Foundation - Yr 6. Both developmental learning sequences and the curriculum will be explored and the implication these have on our teaching, and student learning. Come and explore a world beyond grid maps and legends.