Things are certainly showing no signs of slowing down at Central Coast Sports College. Our students are engaged in projects both on the field and off the field. Their enthusiasm and motivation is to be commended! Students in the High School are currently working on a project that incorporates Geography, Science and Maths. The introduction of the iPads and iBook learning modules has engaged students and are seeing them using their time more productively. Sally and Rodney have been using a great app Socrates which is making a difference in monitoring students understanding of both the content and tasks that need to be completed. It is amazing how a piece of technology can make such a huge difference. I made reference in my last blog to address questions/topics of discussion that came from our first parent/teacher information evening. One of those questions was “When are children going to be learning Maths?”
In order to answer how we are teaching Maths, we first need to understand what is Maths? Put simply, it’s doing stuff with numbers, take that a step further, and its decision making with numbers.
Think back to your college days, how did you learn Maths? I know for me, I learnt by rote. I had to, as I struggled with many mathematical concepts. We worked out of a textbook and rarely did I actually experience the Maths I was learning, other than counting my money and working out how much I needed to save and by when in order to purchase stuff! I would learn the formulas for tests and promptly forget them when they were no longer needed. Tests were marked with crosses (many) and ticks followed by a percentage mark, and then much frenzied activity to work out who ranked where in the class. There were other students in the class to whom Maths spoke their language. These students were in their element in the Maths classroom – but why did this way of teaching and learning work for some and not for others? The learning of Maths is an interesting debate and it seems the one we as parents are most passionate about – why?
Maths is one of those tricky subject that there is much debate over. There is current research coming out of Australia, USA and UK regarding the teaching and learning of Maths and it is really interesting. Research conducted by Alan Schoenfeld out of the University of California looked at student’s mathematical proficiency. It found that student’s proficiency in mathematics increased when students were asked direct questions such as; What are you doing? Why are you doing it? How is it helping you in solving the problem? This kind of research into the teaching Mathematics is exciting, because it gives us a clearer indication of the benefits of incorporating Mathematics into Project Based Learning.
Go to the local High School and the experience of Maths is attending a class 4 times a week for up to an hour and you can bet your bottom dollar that there is always Maths homework. I question how much of the lesson is spent on learning a new concept, practicing that concept and also going over homework. I remember when I taught Maths, half the lesson was spent going over homework, the other half was spent trying to manage the variety of skill levels within the class. Not exactly an efficient way of using classroom time or a place where effective learning took place.
At Central Coast Sports College, our teaching and learning approach doesn’t lend itself to formal Maths lessons everyday. Teaching subjects discretely is not our style. However, the NSW Board of Studies Maths Syllabus, which we by law, have to teach is rigorous and demands attention. Our students are meeting the required study hours – just how they do this is different to what is generally experienced. The reality is, there are concrete examples within the Maths Syllabus which lend itself to Project Based Learning, and there are other concepts which are abstract. The challenge for our teachers, is finding the connectedness between the concepts and where relevant, imbed these into our projects.
As of next term, all our students will have access to mathsonline.com.au By having access to this website, learning Maths will be better supported across the board. Students will be able to access this both at college and home. We have had much discussion about implementing this program for students in 7-10. We believe that it will provide us with the opportunity to make more real connections and go deeper into mathematical reasoning and estimation. It will also allow us to provide a more personalized Maths program that better suits each individual student. There are many great benefits to this program including:-
- Full lessons are provided for each concept. Each concept has a voice over and numerous examples of varying difficulty. Every lesson has a pause and rewind facility to help students grasp concepts at their own pace.
- Every lesson has an accompanying printable summary and worksheet to consolidate the concept, with full worked solutions provided.
- Student’s ongoing use and progress in the program is stored for the student and their teacher to see at any time.
- The entire Year 7 to 12 program is available to every student, not just their particular year group or course. This is excellent for students who have perhaps missed a concept the previous year or those who are ready for extension work.
Given that the mathsonline program covers most of the concepts of the NSW Maths Syllabus, it is an excellent resource, however we will not be replacing Mathematics completely with it. Where applicable, Mathematics will be incorporated into our projects so that our students have real world applications of Mathematical concepts. Not sure if it will be as easy as pi, but we are sure our students will enjoy this personalized, interactive approach to learning Mathematics at Central Coast Sports College.
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