Dr Poh Wah Hillock likes to ask her students a lot of questions in class, even if they might find it a little irritating. “After so many years of teaching I still have to think about my lessons and refine ...
More »Addressing maths gaps highlighted by Covid-19: podcast
The covid-19 pandemic has underlined a mathematical skills gap as many Australians were unable to correctly assess the health data presented in the media and were drawn to fake news. Many of the data and graphs used to explain the ...
More »One ‘rich’ maths lesson per month is enough to engage kids: podcast
Students' interest and enrolment in maths subjects has dropped sharply in recent years following a longstanding national decline. Yet, reviving students' interest in the topic might be achieved simply by doing one ‘rich maths lesson’ a month which will help ...
More »Analysing the new maths curriculum and thoughts on increasing student engagement – podcast
In the past few weeks, mathematics has made the headlines of the education sector news. Amongst the issues are a new curriculum, the lowest enrolment rate ever in Australia in for Year 12 students, and peak bodies advocating for better ...
More »Woo’s new series helps students understand how maths made Sydney Opera House a reality
Australia’s most well-known high school teacher Eddie Woo has collaborated with the Sydney Opera House to develop a four-part series on how mathematical concepts can be used to understand the design of the iconic landmark. The award-winning maths teacher, who ...
More »Teachers urged to avoid rushing students through maths curriculum they’ve “lost”
Maths experts have warned that, as students return to school after COVID-19 closures, rushing through content to catch up will only exacerbate learning losses. The paper, entitled ‘Threats and Opportunities in Remote Learning of Mathematics: Implication for the Return to ...
More »Australians generally have a rosy view of schools: national survey
All in all, Australians are pretty happy with the state of classroom education. Despite a hefty amount of negative media attention, a new nation-wide survey of 2052 adults has revealed that Australians are largely positive about the level of education ...
More »Out-of-field maths teaching by the numbers
Just how many students are learning maths from those teaching out of field? More than three quarters in years 7 to 10, if data released by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) is to go by. Co-author and AMSI director Professor Geoff ...
More »NSW unveils strategy to get every student into HSC maths
It’s the question just about every maths teacher will hear multiple times a year – ‘Will we even use this in real life?’ – but a new course might help nip it in the bud. The NSW Government has announced ...
More »Why relatable gamification is the obvious next teaching frontier: opinion
How often have we heard kids (our own, others' and even our past selves), whining that the maths they’re learning isn’t ‘useful’ and they’ll ‘never use it’? Too many to count. According to the IET, 203,000 people with engineering skills ...
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