Free Commonwealth Bank Australian Maths Challenge - Get Mathletics Free for a few weeks!

The Commonwealth Bank has teamed up with Mathletics for a competition, where studente complete maths problems on Mathletics. There are 2 big days. August 30 (Curriculum Challenge) and August 31 (Live Mathletics Challenge).

If you're not already signed up to Mathletics, you can effectively register for the competition and gain access at no charge! Just head over to http://www.mathletics.com.au/challenge

 

 

How can parents support their children (and teachers/schools) in learning Mathematics

The Department of Education have a wonderful resource for parents: schoolatoz. Often parents would like to brush up their maths skills to be able to assist their children with maths.

Despite this wonderful resource, I would rather parents help support learning by checking students exercise books and making sure that they allocate time for the homework that I set.

Wolfram Alpha Gadget on your desktop. What's good about Wolfram Alpha anyway?

After reading this post from freetech4teachers, I was interested to find that you can install a Wolfram Alpha desktop gadget for Windows 7. In the post is also the video I've included below.

Over 1000 Maths Concepts Explained & Online Quizzes via MathTrak

MathTrak is an online learning tool that matches that Australian Curriculum. They have over 1000 key concepts covered with a short explanation (good for IWB) and the quiz questions.

It is currently free to use, although you can subscribe for a fee, which will let you keep records of what has been completed by students.

I more see this as a tool for those that do not have mathletics or want something additional to do - so that students can be self-motivated. It is a little difficult to find the link to the lessons and quizzes, but they can be accessed here.

Proof of Mathematical Theorems - sometimes hard to find!

Proof Wiki is a collection of over 3000 mathematical proofs. One good example is the limit of sin(x) over (x) found here.

It is very important for our students to not only understand the processes we commonly teach in Mathematics, but can also answer the question "Why is it so?" and investigate the proof behind the theorem.

They may not completely understand it, but it is important that students understand that the theorem has been proved and is 100% true.

It is not by observation that it is always true, it is by proof!

CSIRO Maths & Stats By Email

CSIRO have been sending out "Maths by Email" for some time. They have recently joined forces with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to form "Maths and Stats by email".

You can subscribe to the fortnightly newsletter here. It includes a news story, brainteasers and a hands-on activity in each newsletter.

Maths Textbooks for free! (for high school age students)

CK-12 are collecting together free open source, crowd sourced online textbooks, so that you can do away with the textbook publishers. The real value of this resource is found when you do a search. You can find textbook 'chapters' which you can combine together into a unique textbook for your class.

I am currently working on Factorising Quadratic Trinomials with my Year 9 class. A quick search for "Factoring Trinomials" revealed this chapter that although I wouldn't use it as my textbook chapter, it did have some excellent questions and answers.

More free textbooks can be found here at http://e-booksdirectory.com/

Board of Studies Approved Calculators for the HSC 2011 AND Can you spot the difference between these calculators?

The Board of studies has released this list of approved calculators for this year.

Be careful! Have a look at the two calculators below. Can you spot the difference?

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look at the key directly under the ON button and also the display on the screen of both.

 

Howto add, subtract multiply and divide fractions - videos of many conceptual understandings

How do we teach our students to perform calculations with fractions. There are a variety of techniques, which have been beautifully collected together on a youtube channel: shaunteaches.

• Using Money


• Using Clocks


• Using a double number line


• An array


• Ratio Tables


• and more...

NSW Board of Studies releases workbooks of HSC Questions and Answers

In an interesting move, the board of studies has released workbooks that include last years HSC Paper, marking guidelines, markers notes and top students answers. They can be purchased for $15.40 from eBOS Shop Online.

Forming a partnership between mathematicians in the workforce and your students: "Mathematicians in Schools"

Simply register on the site to begin a partnership that will greatly benefit your students, by seeing how maths is used in the workforce everyday.

It is easy for students to see where Economics, Law and Medicine studies will lead you, but often mathematics study can be more difficult to see. Check out mathematiciansinschools.edu.au

Free Professional Development by the NSW Board of Studies in Sydney

See the board update.

Curriculum and Year Advisers
This workshop is for teachers of School Certificate, Preliminary and HSC courses.

• 24 August; Board of Studies, L4, 117 Clarence St, Sydney


• 13 September; Catholic Schools Office, B2, 423 Pennant Hills Rd, Pennant Hills


• 22 September; Board of Studies, L4, 117 Clarence St, Sydney


• 11 October; Dee Why ERC, 72 Fisher Road, Dee Why

Schools Online
Administration staff as well as teachers are invited to the Schools Online workshop.

• 25 August; Board of Studies, L4, 117 Clarence St, Sydney

New teachers
This workshop introduces new teachers to the Boards’ role and services.

• 8 September; Board of Studies, L4, 117 Clarence St, Sydney

Aspiring head teachers
Considering taking a leadership role in Year 7-12 curriculum development? This workshop is for you.

• 15 September; Board of Studies, L4, 117 Clarence St, Sydney

Google Doodle recognises Pierre de Fermat - Check it out TODAY!

Check out the Google Homepage TODAY to see this exquisite image recognising Pierre de Fermat's Birthday. When you mouseover the image, it reads:

I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this theorem, which this doodle is too small to contain.

Maths Careers - Where can Maths Take you? Youtube Videos and PDF Posters

AMSI have created a fantastic site maths: make your career count that include a wide variety of jobs. There is a careers booklet which could be printed off as posters. Even better are the youtube videos that go with these - a great way to inspire your pastoral care class to love mathematics and see its relevance.

How can you incorporate these videos into your teacher?

Board of Studies claims wide support for discontinuing School Certificate

The Board of Studies has announced that they will be working over the coming months on a new credential, by consulting with key stakeholders. Watch this space for more info.

Update on School Certificate (Link to BOS Update)

Australian Education Review - Teaching Mathematics - the latest research - Maths teachers are boring?

ACER Has just published the Australian Education Review on Teaching Mathematics: Using research-informed strategies and can be downloaded here. This 80 page journal by Peter Sullivan deals with the following issues:

• The Goals of School Mathematics


• Assessments of student mathematics learning


• Numeracy, practical mathematics and mathematical literacy


• Six principles for effective teaching of mathematics


• and more...

The ABC has spoken with Peter Sullivan in regards to this paper and have written a very brief article that "maths teaching is too boring". What a terrible stereotype!

Music and Maths - songs to inspire your students

 

http://singaboutscience.org/ has lots of songs related to various aspects of the maths syllabus. I have always enjoyed and played for my classes the Quadratic Formula song. Youtube also has lots of songs. Try to search it.

Teaching Modules for the Australian Curriculum, PDF Downloads

With the introduction of the Australian Curriculum (although it has been delayed) AMSI have put together 68 teaching modules on Mathematics, to assist teachers (particularly those off course). There are not resources for every topic, but there are lots! It was developed from 2009 - 2011 using government funding.

 

NSW Minister for Education delays implementation of Australian Curriculum in NSW

The NSW Minister for Education, Hon. Adrian Piccoli has today announced that the teaching phase of the the Australian Curriculum will not begin until 2014. This has gone against all previous notifications from ACARA of "substantial implementation" by 2013.

This means that in High School if two year groups are implemented concurrently (Year 7 and 9 - although it could be Year 7 and 8, being stage 4) then the earliest that implementation of 7-10 could be acheived would be in 2015 or 2016. This would mean that the earliest HSC to be affected would be 2017 or 2018.

From ACARA, they plan to complete the Year 11 and 12 Curriculum by January 2012. With an anticipated board of studies one year writing and one year in schools, this could be ready by 2014. With at least a three year delay from this point, there seems ample time to make modifications and for NSW to come up with a first class syllabus.

For the media release, see:

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/australian-curriculum/pdf_doc/media-release-110809-australian-curriculum.pdf

Teaching resources to use with your Maths Class related to the Census, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

With the Australian Census scheduled for 9 August 2011 (today), I'll be looking at the census with my Year 8 class. Here are some great resources that I've found to use. You can access data from the last census, whilst the data for this Census will be released in 2 stages: June 2012 and October 2012.

• Great set of TV Ads (via Youtube)


• 2011 Household Census Form


• Census Data (raw data from previous years)


• ABS PDF: "How Australia Takes a Census"


• How the census is conducted (ABS)


• What is Census Data used for? (ABS)


• Topics investigated in the census


• An 'Alternative Census' by news.com.au


• Flash presentation (movie like) that focuses on the statistics of one person (you input a few characteristics)


• Infographic showing time-series data on ages, as you move your cursor, the graph changes.

Board of Studies says farewell to the School Certificate in Mathematics

For Mathematics, the School Certificate was a poor measure of ability. Being aimed at a 5.1 level, it missed the majority of students that studied to a higher degree. Surely an exam like this should have provided exit points for students to clearly show where they are on the continuum from Stage 4 to Stage 5.3. Ultimately the SC became a big waste of money and time.

It remains to be seen how schools will change Term 4 of Year 10, where traditionally schools have held activities such as Work Experience, Community Service, Camps and Expeditions and Australian Business Week. It would be disappointing if students lost these valuable activities, although it would definitely free up the teaching time right through Year 9 and 10.

With the school leaving age being raised to 17, the School Certificate had little value. In my opinion, the new school certificate should be awarded to all students as a statement of the subjects they have studied, the % of their attendance and possibly A-E grades issued by the school for each of their subjects.

Also with the introduction of NAPLAN in Year 9, there seems no need for another benchmark in Year 10.

Ultimately, I believe that since every student must be at school until 17, that every student should be able to get their Higher School Certificate (whether they get an ATAR or not). Schools need to become more flexible and inclusive of all students. Links with industry, more TAFE courses that interest students and also the possibility of becoming a 'school-based' apprentice in a trade should be investigated.

It is disappointing that people go through life, believing that they are a 'failure' because they do not have their HSC, when the system was unable to cope with them.

We eagerly await what the Board of Studies has in store for the future.

Using Skype in the Maths Classroom to teach a student who has had an operation

One of my students in Year 11 Extension 1 Mathematics was scheduled to have an operation on his knee and came up with a brilliant plan to not fall behind. The course goes very quickly and missing any lesson can be difficult - we were going to cover Superannuation using a GP.

He organised with a friend to skype in from home to watch the lesson as we progressed.

For part of the lesson, he was sitting on a table in front of the projector screen (well... the laptop he was skyped into).

For the rest of the lesson, he sat in his usual seat.

I wonder if UStream would have been an easier alternative - although it would not have allowed him to put up his hand and ask any questions.