Abacus pedagogy
Natalia Sidor describes how children of all ages can benefit from learning how to use an abacus – and not just for mathematical calculations.
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Mathematics
Sing, rhyme (and think!) like an engineer in the Early Years
A range of resources to choose from to suit the needs of the children you teach, which explores the importance of singing, rhyme and rhythm organised around the theme of construction – compiled by Jan Homden.
TANZANIAN DIARY, PART 3
During September 2016, Matias Hynynen, an IT teacher from Helsinki working as a volunteer in Arusha kept a blog during a two week training visit to his school by 2016 Global Teacher of the Year Finalist, Maarit Rossi. Here Matias looks back at the visit and considers how things had changed.
TANZANIAN DIARY, PART 2
During September 2016, Matias Hynynen, an IT teacher from Helsinki working as a volunteer in Arusha kept a blog during a visit to his school by 2016 Global Teacher of the Year Finalist, Maarit Rossi. This is the second of three extracts.
Differentiation and assessment for learning, a personal view
Last year Paul Jackson was approached by a neighbour whose Grade 7 (UK year 8) daughter, was struggling in Maths and wanted him to tutor her. This is not something he usually does, but as a neighbour, he reluctantly agreed. Some serious thinking followed.
Looking at a city
A planned Math field trip for an MYP 4 class in Amsterdam morphs into something a little different but no less fun, as Donovan Carroll reports, and suggests we could all become scavengers!
Tanzanian Diary, Part 1
In September 2016, Matias Hynynen from Helsinki was working with teachers in Arusha, Tanzania, as a volunteer. An IT specialist, his life was about to get a bit more complicated and his mission take a new direction with the unexpected arrival of another visitor from Finland, Maarit Rossi. This is the first of three extracts from the blog he kept at the time.
Can girls just learn to have fun?
The authors of a new study* published in November 2016 look at gender and the enjoyment of Mathematics. Having noted the current persistence of gender differences with regard to the enjoyment of Mathematics, their ‘new research suggests a way forward.
3 articles from 2016
Three articles that examine the effective teaching of Mathematics, published in ITM over the last year. Jennifer Wathall, Andy Homden, Krista and Allen McInnis look at learning through conceptual understanding, using a new resource in the PYP and the importance of language in Maths for ELL students.
Mathsweek 2016
ITM talked to Franz Schlindwein about Mathsweek 2016 – one of the biggest MathFests in the world – which takes place every October throughout Ireland.
Humans are competitive, writes Neil Jarrett. Learners are competitive. Appropriate challenges and healthy competition are motivational and gamification in the classroom is testament to this. Setting up an inter-school competition is the perfect way to introduce a fruitful level of competition and engage and inspire pupils.
K-12 maths starters on line
What is the smallest number to contain the letter ‘a’? Is a square a rectangle? What is the hardest multiplication fact to recall? John Tranter reveals the answers in a new maths resource available free on line for use in your lessons!
Finding resources that fit
Being innovative is a form of risk taking – you can’t be sure just how something might work until you try it in practice. The Swiss International Scientific School, Dubai (SISD), is a PYP candidate school which has recently been experimenting with Izak9, a new mathematics resource from the UK, to see if it was appropriate for use in an inquiry-based approach.
Teachers constantly seek to achieve greater understanding for students while designing effective means to check that understanding. This is particularly true of those teaching students studying in a second language. Krista and Allen McInnis offer focus areas to help teachers of math develop their lessons for English Language Learners. While this is not an exhaustive list, it does provide specific structures and checkpoints to use in math classes.
Engaging with number
Teachers at two schools in West Lothian, Scotland have started to use Izak9, a new Maths resource for 9 – 13 years olds, while also applying Carol Dweck’s ideas about “Mindset” in their teaching. The initiative is part of an imaginative campaign to help children engage with number, and to change the way they approach a new challenge.
Sam Howey-Nunn, has been inspired by two remarkable women, the 19th Century computer pioneer, Ada Lovelace and the actor, Zoe Philpott. Sam and Zoe are now collaborating in the production of a a new touring show: “Ada, Ada, Ada”. ITM caught up with Sam to find out more about Ada Lovelace, and how her life is being portrayed in this new performance.
The recent GESS/GEF Dubai exhibition was a great opportunity for educators from all over the word to meet. ITM caught up with several members of the large delegation from Finland, among them Maarit Rossi, who has recently been nominated as a top ten finalist in the 2016 Global Teaching Prize Awards. Andy Homden reports.
Talking Maths with Izak9
How do you get people – adults and children alike – talking about Maths? Even those who “don’t like it” or “can’t do it”? Franz Schlindwein has one or two ideas about getting people to do just that.
It’s not that they’re stupid; it’s just that they don’t know anything!
This is just one of the memorable lines from the 1988 movie Stand & Deliver during an Oscar – nominated performance by Edward James Olmos, playing the role of LA Math teacher Jaime Escalante. In a remarkable career, Escalante took issue with one of the most popular misconceptions about learning, and in doing so developed an approach to teaching that Andy Homden has come to describe as “The Learning Wedge”
Teaching for deep understanding in secondary schools
Jennifer Wathall, Head of Mathematics at Island School, Hong Kong suggests in a new book that the key to winning students to the subject lies in the explicit development of their conceptual mathematical understanding.