2019 Session 1

WS 1A: Financial Literacy Courses. Catering for a diverse student body WF 313

Sarah Shaw, Trident High School

At Trident we have set up Level 2 and 3 Financial Literacy courses that cater for students who don't meet the prerequisites for our other traditional maths courses. This presentation will cover how and why we set them up, what standards we use and how to access free resources to support the teaching and assessment of these standards.

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WS 1B: Overcoming Maths Anxiety. What can we do? WF 711

Dr Gillian Frankcom, The University of Auckland

Maths Anxiety affects many people – and it is definitely found in our maths and stats classrooms. In this workshop you will be both the subject and the student while we discuss what we can do to improve the situation for our maths anxious students. We will take time to solve the type of problems that have been found to reduce maths anxiety, and look at some of the research into how to re-engage the disengaged student.

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WS 1C: Number to Algebra WF 314

Julia Crawford, Cognition Education

Number and Algebra are often taught as separate topics yet are the same strand in the curriculum. How can we springboard into algebraic thinking using number activities? We will explore a few number tasks and calculation ‘tricks’ that can be used in a mixed level class to promote generalising number to algebra. This workshop is suitable for teachers of Year 7 to 10 students and will focus on Curriculum levels 3 to 5.

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WS 1D: Olympiad Mathematics – Helping our top students grow WF 703

May Meng, King's College

Many of us will encounter gifted students in our careers and I trust a question familiar to most of us is what we can do to encourage our top mathematicians to develop their interests further or grow. In this session, I will explain how this could be achievable through Olympiad Mathematics, and we'll examine a few maths problems of the Olympiad standard - which differs from our standard syllabus but can be understood by even junior students. I will also introduce some other resources and websites that are useful in helping enthusiastic students develop their critical thinking skills and become more confident in tackling challenging problems.

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WS 1E: Mathematical Inquiry Communities WF 713

Dr Rachel Restani, Massey University

The Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC) programme is designed to support teachers in establishing culturally sustaining mathematics classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand. The purpose of DMIC is to eliminate deficit views of Māori and Pāsifika students by addressing: expectations of achievement; assignment to ‘ability’ groups; differential feedback; opportunities to engage with challenging tasks; participation in mathematical discourse; development of students’ mathematical disposition and cultural identity. DMIC encourages teachers to interrogate their own values and learn how to incorporate Pāsifika values and norms into the mathematics classroom to elevate students' success.

WS 1F: Introducing Trigonometry from a Geometric Perspectiv Lecture Theatre WG 403

John Mitry, The University of Auckland

Trigonometry has a reputation for being somewhat obscure and difficult. I believe that this stems from the way in which some parts of trigonometry are usually presented. My suspicion is that there is an overly algebraic approach to trigonometry whereas the topic would benefit from a more geometric approach. In this session I will offer an example of a geometric approach to trigonometry (itself a work in progress) and try to show how much more intuitive the topic can be as a result.

WS 1G: Reintroduce Creative Thinking into the Maths Classroom WF 303

Sunny Dama, Pakuranga College

Let’s spend some time exploring different types of open-ended rich tasks you can use in your classrooms to spark the creativity of your students. I would like to share with you some of the tasks I have done with my students ranging from Year 9 through to Year 13. I want to change the perception students (and others) have of Maths and share the fun that we can have with it! Let’s enrich the experience!

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WS 1H: Changing the role of the teacher in the Mathematics classroom WF 714

Sally van Praag, Albany Senior High School

Recently some of us have been exploring the notion of a shift in learner ownership from being teacher-centric to being controlled by the learner themselves - but where would this leave us as the teacher? What are the new roles and responsibilities of maths teachers as we move to a different, more learner centered and learner driven approach to education?

In this workshop we will consider some of the ways we can put students more in control of their learning from assess-when-ready standards, flipped learning techniques, culturally responsive practices and the use of technology to increase student agency throughout. Having spent 2 years exploring the idea and effect of increased learner agency in my classroom I have learnt a lot and am happy to share what I have learnt with you all.

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