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MAV 2023 Conference
MAV 2023 Conference - Aiming High
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Room Ten: Misc. Levels

Keynote - Featured

Session Description

Session Program

Arts and crafts can be highly mathematical. While the world was shut down, numerous ideas for mathematical art projects were shared on social media. Teachers and parents embraced them as an accessible, participatory, non-screen and non-stressful way to engage students in mathematics learning. In this workshop, we will draw or stitch, and thus explore the mathematics of, a Japanese embroidery style, sashiko. (This workshop is presented by one of the organisers of Maths Craft Australia, and is a companion to a previous workshop on Knitting and Folding Mathematics.)

To stitch the designs you will need:
  • A coaster-sized piece (say 12x12 cm) of hessian or even-weave linen or Aida cloth – any fabric suitable for counted-thread embroidery. (Even cloth with a regular pattern of dots will work.)
  • Thread in a contrasting colour, of suitable thickness for your fabric
  • A needle, preferably a tapestry needle (round point) and scissors
 
To draw the designs you will need:
  • Graph paper (or dotted grid paper) – the lighter the lines, the better. ½ inch or 1 cm grid.
  • A pen or a B pencil
  • A ruler
This session is a practical workshop to assist teachers to modify and scaffold learning to assist English as an Additional Language (EAL) students to access the Victorian Curriculum in Mathematics. Participants will learn how to engage EAL learners, amplify the speed of essential vocabulary comprehension, and build confidence with worded questions; working smarter not harder with the English language in Mathematics. Ruth Hibburt and Lynda Newell will provide a rich insight into memory techniques for learning, understanding and applying academic vocabulary. Teachers will learn how to assist their students by exploring how synonyms, morphemes, and recycling language provides for comprehensible input. These tools and strategies are targeted at EAL students but also work just as effectively with low literacy students. Participants will leave with engaging strategies that they can implement immediately in the classroom.
This year my age is the sum of the digits of your age, but in five years it will be the product. What’s the age gap between us?
 
Great question! But what strategies should I recommend and what hints should I give if my students are stuck? How does it relate to the curriculum and what do I do next when a student works out the answer? Does it even have anything to do with the real world?
 
In Term 4 this year, the Australian Maths Trust launched a new platform: Problemo (https://problemo.edu.au/). Problemo has been developed to assist teachers in the task of teaching – and promoting a love of – mathematical problem solving. With materials for Years 3-10 sourced from the Trust’s wealth of world-class problems, complete with additional scaffolding, extensions, key strategies and links to the Australian Curriculum, there is something for everyone. Come along to find out more about the platform and how to unlock the potential of your students.

1:00 pm

This seminar looks at how to engage students in their numeracy development through the use of modelling real life situations via construction. It is hands-on, open-ended, encourages creativity and team work.
The Victorian Curriculum draws attention to the key idea of equivalence for enabling primary and secondary students to solve number sentences and algebraic expressions involving the four operations. This presentation focuses on tasks from a paper and pencil assessment instrument used in a larger study which investigated the links between fractional competence and algebraic reasoning. The tasks were developed to encourage students to move beyond using the equals sign as meaning ‘give an answer’ to a relational understanding of the equals sign which focused on the equivalence of the expressions on both sides of the equals sign. While many researchers have highlighted the importance of algebraic reasoning for middle-years students some have suggested that students should develop computational procedures using the algebraic idea of equivalence to integrate their learning of whole numbers and fractions.

3:30 pm

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