SchoolNews.co.nz Article

Click on this link www.schoolnews.co.nz/2018/06/theres-no-maths-problem-quite-like-student-engagement/ to view the article, or shown below:

Caxton Educational curriculum facilitator Joel Bradley spoke to School News about what she believes student engagement in mathematics should look like

Maths should be relevant, engaging, and fun. In a recent symposium, I sat in on a wonderful session with a teacher who spends the whole first day of class playing maths ‘games’ in a supportive environment, precisely to erase the stigma of students who don’t like maths and/or believe they are not good at maths.

As I visit schools around New Zealand, I see educators who are ready to tackle maths instruction from a cohesive, connected angle. The approach to teach maths strands in isolation is waning, as is the ‘drill and kill’ of numeracy, to the exclusion of the other curricular strands. Research has shown that teaching maths with rich tasks where strands are intertwined works to help students really learn maths and, to that end, I support this trend wholeheartedly.

It’s important to decide whether a maths programme is working for a particular student or student group. Are the students excited about maths? Do they talk about maths at home? Do they gladly and freely share what they are learning? I think these are all good questions to ask when educators sit around the table to evaluate their maths programmes.