Reference:

(“NESA syllabus mathematics”, 2019)

Questions:

1. How can we measure the height of the building from the base to the top?
2. Explain how we can count the number of windows used in the front face of the building
3. Prove how we can find the area of the building versus the area of the smaller building next to it

Defined by NESA, Measurement involves the application of number, geometry and the understanding of quantifying and solving problems in real life situations. Measurement involves length, area, volume and capacity, mass, time, 3-D and 2-D space, angles and positioning (“NESA syllabus mathematics”, 2019)The photo seen above is a stimulus that can be used in the classroom to develop measurement skills as well as looking at the topic of space. This photo is a great way to ask students about the ideas of area, length and 3d/2d space. The questions I thought about for the children, includes a mixture of skill based questions that allow them to work on more then one answer either individually or as a class. Due to this, it allows them to use strategies previously learnt about measurement in order to answer the questions.

(“Patterning & Sequencing – Mathematics”, 2019)

As a pre- service teacher, I would like to provide children with as many different activities as possible, in order to provide them with many different experiences to build their own skills and learning strategies.

Counting links-set of 500 pieces in jar – This activity will allow for children to create different coloured patterns, it also allows for group work or whole class activities incorporating counting and colour identification

Math’s beads- set of 264 – This activity is for identification of numbers as well as creating number sentences for example (6+6=12). This is can be done as a class activity using these to write number sentences on the board; or completed individually during mental warm ups

Button sorting set-120 buttons in 6 colours- This activity works on identification of shapes including the number of faces, edges, corners and vertex’s that a shape might have. This activity allows for the children’s communication skills to be developed as well as their counting skills.

Magnetic designer pattern cards- This is a great activity for children to work on their hand-eye coordination skills and allows them to build patterns and shapes.  

Perfect patterns: making and describing pattern – This activity is a book of patterns that can be used in the classroom as inspiration for the teacher and students. This book was made for younger years in early stage 1 to stage 1- it sparks the child’s imagination and helps grow their love for patterning and mathematics.

Shape sorting and sequencing set, including workcards – This activity is used for sorting, counting and sequencing. It can be used in groups, individually or as a class in order to help children identify shapes, colours and numbers. This activity is also a great way to build the child’s fine and gross motor skills.

Attribute shapes sorting set-144 pieces – This set can also be used either individually or as a group. This shape set can be used in conjunction with the other shape sorting set; in order to help children identify colour, shape as well as the amount of faces, sides, vertex’s, corners and edges that the shape can have.

(“The Effective Mathematics Classroom”, 2019)

In my math’s classroom, I would like to focus on ten points in order to maximize the students full potential. These ten points all relate to effectively learning mathematics in the classroom and provide a guide for how teachers can effectively teach mathematics to their students. These include

1. Establishing mathematics goals for the classroom
2. Using and connecting mathematical representation to real life events
3. Implementing tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving
4. Supporting productive and constructive struggle in learning mathematics
5. Encouraging students to work cooperatively with others
6. Structuring activities in ways allowing students to explore, explain, extend and evaluate their progress
7. Influencing learning by posing challenging and interesting questions related to the tasks
8. Projecting a positive learning attitude about mathematics in and out of the classroom, in order to give the student confidence when doing the mathematics
9. Focusing on lessons that are specific concepts/skills influenced by the curriculum
10. Use Cooperative-learning strategies in order to help with communication skills and to help make real-life connections.

These ideas or focus points relate to the constructivist theory due to the fact that they allow students to independently construct their own understanding and knowledge of the mathematics used in the world around them; it also allows them to self-direct their own learning in order to come up with different strategies that will allow them to problem solve independently. These points also relate back to Vygotskys Zone of proximal development theory and scaffolding strategy. This is because of the way the teacher demonstrates and guides the students prior knowledge and helps them develop new skills in order to work on them and complete activities independently. (“Asking Effective questions”, 2019)

Mental computation is the ability to problem solve in your head. Mental computation strategies are used for topics such as addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. For a mental warm up activity in the classroom, an idea is doubling, used for addition. The activity for stage two students, involves the class working in pairs with a mini whiteboard or their own devices. The teacher can call out a question such as double 8, and the students have ten seconds to work out the answer mentally using their mental computation strategies. The teacher can then check these answers and if the students get it correct they keep playing, but if they get it wrong, they then come out to the front of the class to help with checking if the students get the answers correct by still figuring out the answer. An extension to this activity could be to incorporate other random questions such as 8+9 or questions using higher numbers, in order to make the students question and think a bit harder, which may encourage them to use different strategies if possible. To simplify the activity for any student that is struggling or who may need extra help for learning difficulties; we can make the activity to be a group task, where they work as a group to encourage further conversation and strategy. We can also take away the aspect of competition, where no one ‘sits down’ and they all continue to answer the questions in order to help the students feel more comfortable using the skill. (“Mental Computation”, 2019)

(“Belonging, being and becoming”, 2019)

During my first practicum observation day I was able to observe the mathematics that is used within the centre and the mathematic ability of the children in the classroom. The first activity I saw set up was dice. The children were able to roll the dice and count the dots on the dice to see what number they rolled. The next activity that the children engaged in was a clock made out of blocks. This activity was based off time, however the clock allowed them to identify numbers, shapes and positioning as well as identify colour. The classroom was set up in a way that allows them to independently as well as subconsciously learn mathematics, from drawing or learning patterns at the art table, to counting through the block containers as well as using the calendar to find out the days of the week in the month. Children are very experimental and inquisitive, so it’s very important to provide students with lots of different activities that will provide them with ways to learn different mathematics strategies on their own. An early childhood classroom can be the ideal environment to positively work on mathematics skills; rather then doing number sentences and equations like in primary school, early childhood classrooms allow the children to playfully explore which encourages them to solves problems in real life situations (“Making Math Meaningful for Young Children | NAEYC”, 2019)

A blog post on Matific

I personally believe that Matific is an easy to use, fun and educational online mathematics tool that indirectly teaches kids to enjoy maths whilst completing their activities. When I was at primary school, I remember having quite a lot of maths anxiety and I also have many memories of just completing worksheets instead of doing hands on activities. I believe that Matific activities not only allow kids to enjoy learning maths but they also teach kids new skills and allow them to develop their old ones. Everyday new technologies are being introduced to the world and kids are the first ones to use them, as it is part of our culture for children to be on technology 24/7. “Children engage in a range of everyday activities that promote the use of and understanding of topics such as measurement, shapes, money and time” (“Shibboleth Authentication Request”, 2019) The Matific activities allow students to engage in these skills but also bring them into real life situations for example counting up to ten, where they count items in groups. Matific did research and evaluations into how their programs were being used in classrooms and wether or not the programs were allowing for an increase in their students growth or whether it kept their learning growth the same. One positive that they found from this research was that the educators using this program, were “able to individualise learning by assigning different tasks to different students depending on their mathematic ability.” (“Matific mathematics learning resources”, 2019) This is a great way to show the positive achievement that the program Matific can have on a child’s education. 

References:

Matific mathematics learning resources. (2019). Retrieved from https://leo.acu.edu.au/pluginfile.php/3447759/mod_resource/content/0/Matific%20Research.pdf

Shibboleth Authentication Request. (2019). Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs13394-011-0002-7.pdf

The poster represents the five-maths proficiencies; which includes communicating, reasoning, fluency, understanding and problem solving. These five proficiencies are not meant to be in a certain order as not one proficiency is more important. The five proficiencies relate to Newman’s Error analysis, which is where we are able to ask five simple questions in order to quietly assess a child’s understanding of mathematic skills.  These questions can include but are not limited to, “can the students read the words of the problems?” “Can students understand the meaning?” “Can students determine a way to solve the problem?” “Can students do the mathematics?” and “can they write the answer?”  The visual that I created allowed myself to show my understanding of the five-maths proficiencies as well as allowing me to make an easier tool for current and future educators to use in the classroom. I believe that I have personally used the five proficiencies in my day-to-day life without even realising. They are five parts to a maths problem that allow you to understand where a child may be struggling, and allows myself as a future educator to come up with some simple strategies to help the child progress to the next stage of the problem.

Picture:

https://backgroundcheckall.com/mathematics-background-powerpoint-6/

Mathematics is unit that is taught at school that is about reasoning and creative activity. It is used to identify and describe patterns and relationships. “For years mathematics has been a part of the human search for understanding,” and has been used in many discoveries of new theories that many educators use in the classroom to this day. (“What is Mathematics? | Fordham”, n.d.)From kindergarten to year 10, all courses are focused on the points of the syllabus, which helps keep educators on track of what they are teaching in the classroom. The mathematics syllabus is broken up into different strands, sub strands, as well as particular content areas in order to help the students successfully move to the next stage of learning. (“Rationale | NSW Education Standards”, 2019) “Mathematics introduces children to concepts, skills and thinking strategies that are essential in everyday life” (“What is mathematics?”, 2019)Children can use maths to identify how much money something costs at the shops, how to add and subtract items together, and how to tell time. An implication for teachers is the students who have maths anxiety, or who think that maths is boring or “too hard”, this can be very hard for teachers to control in a classroom; however, to help with this problem, a teacher can use new technological programs making maths fun, incorporating activities that students are interested in, such as mince craft in order to invite the students to engage in their learning and provides a more encouraging and fun environment to learn in.

References:

Rationale | NSW Education Standards. (2019). Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-

areas/mathematics/mathematics-k-10/rationale

What is mathematics?. (2019). Retrieved from https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/62657_Haylock.pdf

What is Mathematics? | Fordham. Retrieved from https://www.fordham.edu/info/20603/what_is_mathematics