1.30pm

Thinking Around the Square

Ian Stewart
Resource

University of Warwick

Room:  Assembly Hall

Squares arise all over mathematics, and they occur in three distinct, though related, guises: numerical, geometric, and combinatorial. That is: numbers, shapes, and arrangements. The lecture will ramble through the landscape of squares, looking for locations that give rise to interesting, and occasionally spectacular, views. There are puzzles about squares, games with squares, accessible problems about squares, deep theorems about squares, and open questions that can easily be understood, but have never been answered. Most of these aspects of squares can be developed into material suitable for use in the classroom, though some aspects demand more sophistication on the part of the student than others. Mostly I will think within the square, but sometimes I will think outside it, either metaphorically or literally. Topics will be drawn from, but may not include all of, the following: squares in number theory (squares, primes and factors; the two-, three- and four-squares therems), the 'squared square' problem in combinatorial geometry, puzzles with squares such as the Big Uglyville Subway and the Bleeping Squaresbournes, dissections of squares, Pythagoras, magic squares, sudoku, the game of Quod, square symmetry, square roots and regular polygons, squaring the circle, and higher-dimensional squares (that is, cubes and hypercubes).

Ian is a plenary speaker, for more details refer to programme book.

2.45pm

From Computation to Algebra: An aspect of the Secondary Numeracy project

Kevin Hannah

Christchurch College of Education

Room:  Technology Block - Art History Room  Powerpoint

The Secondary Numeracy Project is operating in 43 secondary schools in 2005. This workshop will give teachers an opportunity to explore some of the thinking behind one aspect of the project: the linkage between computational strength, algebraic thinking and formal algebra.

Kevin Hannah is the National Coordinator of the Secondary Numeracy Project. He also works as a secondary mathematics adviser.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

Tackling word problems

Anne Lawrence

Massey University College of Education

Room:  Technology Block - GRA1 Powerpoint

Word problems, story problems, problems in context….Recently there has been an increasing emphasis on students solving problems other than ‘plain maths’.  Yet many of our students struggle with such problems – what is it that makes them difficult? What can teachers do to make their students more successful?This workshop is based on a small study that investigated how senior secondary students respond to word problems. We will discuss the implications raised by the results and examine factors that make word problems difficult. We will also explore classroom practices that improve students’ ability to tackle word problems.

This is Anne’s second year as Adviser in Numeracy and Mathematics for the Centre of Educational Development at Massey University College of Education. She is on leave from her position as Head of Mathematics at Awatapu College where she has taught for twelve years.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

Geometry in the middle years

Anthony Harradine

Baker Centre, Prince Alfred College

Room: Technology Block - GRA2

Come and see some teaching and learning sequences that value investigation, logical reasoning and which result in students learning geometric facts (and a whole lot more) through need and desire rather than because you say they must.

Anthony is an invited speaker, for more details refer to programme book.

Target audience:  GENERAL INTEREST, SECONDARY (YRS 9-13), TEACHER EDUCATION

2.45pm

Birthdays - and other variations on a theme

Helen Chick

University of Melbourne

Room:  ICT Rooms - ICT1

Can you tell if someone has faked a series of coin tosses? If you roll a dice 10 times how likely is it that one of the numbers won’t turn up? One of the bizarre yet central things about probability is that it talks about constant behaviour (i.e., long term probability) together with short term randomness (i.e., variation). Understanding both at once can be challenging for students. These ideas are also connected to our probabilistic intuitions, experimental probability and theoretical probability. In this workshop we’ll look at some fascinating but simple activities that help students grasp these issues.

Helen is an invited speaker, for more details refer to programme book.

Target audience:  INTERMEDIATE (YRS 7-8),  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

Using the beauty of Maths to write ActionScript code in Flash

Ian Willson

Koonung Secondary College

Room:  ICT Rooms – ICT3

Flash is software used by Web developers and animators the world over to produce what are often referred to as rich Internet applications. It is enormously popular, and increasingly used in schools, where it works extremely effectively to engage and enthuse students. Its use is enhanced with ActionScript, its own scripting language, which quite happily accommodates mathematical concepts. See how the power and beauty of trigonometry can be used to animate simple drawings to propel rocket ships and make snowflakes gently fall. Ideas and exercises to take away for your students.

I am a secondary teacher of Mathematics and ICT in Melbourne. Much closer to the end of my teaching career than the beginning, and more enthusiastic than ever about teaching Mathematics, and the ever-expanding and increasingly accessible range of ICT tools we have available to enthuse and engage our students.

Target audience:  INTERMEDIATE (YRS 7-8),  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13),  TEACHER EDUCATION

2.45pm

Official Statistics and their relevance to teaching NCEA.

Pauline Stuart

Statistics New Zealand

Room:  Mathematics Block - M3

Statistics New Zealand has resources and datasets that are useful in teaching and assessing the Statistics achievement standards in NCEA. This workshop is designed to give a ‘tour’ of some of these resources and of the ways they can be used. This will include some data which is suited for particular aspects of analysis (e.g. seasonal adjustment in time series data), data which is suited to the requirements for excellence, CensusAtSchools data, student worksheets and examples of analysis, and illustrations from Statistics New Zealand internal teaching resources (e.g. sampling, seasonal adjustment etc.).

Pauline Stuart is HOD Mathematics at Rangitikei College in Marton. She has been an NCEA facilitator and has a keen interest in statistics education. She is currently on leave, having gained a Royal Society Teacher Fellowship and is working at Statistics New Zealand.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

Thinking Skills and ICT in the mathematics classroom

Louise Addison

St Mary's College

Room:  Mathematics Block - M4
NZAMT Handout (zip 3.93MB)
Thinking Skillsin Maths Sample (zip 454 KB)

Thinking Skills have increasingly become an important part of teaching in NZ schools, however most of the resources available do not focus on the types of thinking that occur in the mathematics classroom.  This workshop offers a range of ideas and resources for developing students’ thinking in a mathematical context; including ways of integrating Habits of Mind, Gardner’s Intelligences, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Six Hats and more into your mathematics programme.  Creative ways of using Excel to aid this integration will also be covered.

Louise Addison is the Head of Mathematics at St Mary's College in Auckland.  She has previously taught both mathematics and Thinking Skills at schools in New Zealand, Japan and the UK.  This workshop builds on her “Creative Uses of Excel” presentation from the Auckland TUANZ Conference earlier this year.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

From stumbling blocks to stepping stones

Daphne Robson

CPIT

Room:  Open Air Block - OA2
www.cpit.ac.nz/maths

Maths2go demos are available on the link "offered online".
Equations2go is available on the link "online".

Equation solving forms the basis of many applications of algebra but students often find this difficult. Prototype software with a visual interface has been developed to help students learn strategies for solving simple linear equations. This software will be demonstrated as well as Maths2go, a thorough online resource designed for older students working to improve their numeracy skills in decimals, fractions, percentages and ratios.

Daphne Robson teaches mathematics at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) where mathematics is taught from Level 1 to Level 6. As part of a masters’ project she has developed online mathematics software to investigate how mathematics learning theories can be applied in new ways.

Target audience:  GENERAL INTEREST, SECONDARY (YRS 9-13), TEACHER EDUCATION

2.45pm

Introducing Min and Max, the O.R. Heroes

Nicola Petty

University of Canterbury

Room:  Open Air Block - OA3
http://minandmax.org.nz
Resource

Shane Dye, University of Canterbury

Min and Max, the O.R. Heroes, lead the campaign to raise awareness of the discipline of Operations Research among students and the general population. This workshop will introduce the nature of Operations Research, and give some specific ideas for use in the classroom, some of which use Excel spreadsheets.

Nicola Petty has been a lecturer in Operations Research at the University of Canterbury for nearly fifteen years. Prior to that she taught mathematics and computing at Onehunga and Bayfield High Schools. She is one of the originators of Min and Max, the O.R. Heroes.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

A Miscellany of Teaching Ideas for use with a Data Projector

Vicky Walker

Riccarton High School

Room:  Open Air Block -  OA4
Powerpoint
Other Resources

The use of a data projector can enrich the teaching of Mathematics by providing variety and interest, by enabling accurate recording and processing of experimental results, and by clarifying explanations with the use of colour and animation. During this workshop a variety of resources will be demonstrated. These will include the use of programmes such as Geometer’s Sketchpad, FX Draw and Excel, and some of the many resources which are freely available on websites.

Vicky Walker has taught Mathematics at Riccarton High School for about 10 years, where she remains a classroom teacher by choice. The school received private funding for information technology some years ago, so the staff had a head start. Vicky was awarded a Jim Campbell award at the 2003 NZAMT conference.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

The new, improved PAT:Mathematics

Alex Neill

NZ Council For Educational Research (NZCER)

Room:  Open Air Block – OA5

NZCER has just developed a new series of  Progressive Achievement Tests in Mathematics (PATs). Each of the new tests is designed to measure achievement in mathematics on the same scale allowing progress to be tracked from year to year.  NZCER is also developing a range of reporting technologies that will allow schools to produce in depth reporting on performance on the test at individual, class and school level. This session will introduce the tests and explain the new innovations.

Alex currently heads the mathematics team at NZCER. He produces resources for teachers based upon the literature and classroom-based research. He is the current convenor of the NZ Statistical Association Education Committee.

2.45pm

Numeracy and Algebra through a real maths thematic approach.

Anne Griffiths

Hagley Community College

Room:  Open Air Block - OA6

Our year 10 maths programme is based on 12 real life themes such as 'Food and Health' and 'Sport'.   Developing material that encourages students to make progress with their understanding of number and algebra is a concern.  This workshop will share some of our strategies and resources.  The theme 'Buildings and Shelter' will be outlined as an example.

I have been HOD Mathematics at Hagley Community College since 2000.   Before that I taught at Christchurch College of Education and Burnside High School.  In 1996 I emigrated from Britain after 14/15 years teaching in a variety of Comprehensive schools and a year at Oxford University Department of Educational Studies.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

Making use of Mental Imagery in the Teaching of Mathematics

John Mason

Open University

Room:  Open Air Block - OA7
cabri files1

cabrifiles2

By mental imagery I mean inner virtual experience of sense impressions, whether pictorial, aural, kinaesthetic, some combination of these, or something less choate and more like a taste of flavour. Every learner comes to class with a range of powers for making sense of their experience.  These can be developed and extended within mathematics so that learners can make mathematical sense and make sense mathematically.  The fundamental power possessed by all human beings is the power to form mental images.  It is through this power that we harness our emotions (the source of our energies and motivation)  in order to learn from experience. Participants will be invited to explore this power and to see how it can be used to involve learners in using their powers to make mathematical sense and to make sense mathematically. Tasks offered will be useable across the age range.

John is an invited speaker, for more details refer to programme book.

2.45pm

Collaborative Learning:  Planning for Effective Participation

Mary Barnes

University of Melbourne

Room:  Open Air Block - OA8

Resource

Have you tried collaborative group work in your classroom, only to find that a few people do all the work while some students sit back and do nothing, and others see it as an opportunity for off-task chatter? In this session I will draw on my recent research to discuss typical patterns of student-student interaction observed during collaborative activities. This will be the starting point for a discussion of steps teachers can take to encourage productive patterns of participation and avoid dysfunctional ones. Strategies to be discussed include formation of groups, setting norms for behaviour during group work, and design and selection of tasks.

Mary is an invited speaker, for more details refer to programme book.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

Mathplot - Using computers in a maths classroom (years 7 - 10)

Robert Rook

Mathplot/Sebastopol College

Room:  Open Air Block - OA9

Topics covered are graphing, consumer maths, fractions, geometry, measurement, mensuration, percentage, plotting, spatial relations, statistics, tessellations, trigonometry, probability, to name a few. Use of the new worksheet generator, tutor and printing of homework and workbooks will also be shown. All participants will receive a free registered copy of the latest CD to take and load on their home computers.

Target audience:  GENERAL INTEREST, INTERMEDIATE (YRS 7-8), SECONDARY (YRS 9-13), TEACHER EDUCATION

2.45pm

A Structure for Quality Mathematics Instruction

David Clarke

University of Melbourne

Room:  Open Air Block - OA10

Recent research and contemporary curriculum development has led to the advocacy of the instructional use of contextualised tasks, interactive groups, open-ended tasks, and new approaches to assessment. The difficulty for a teacher is how to combine such elements into a coherent instructional program. This workshop presents one possible structure by which teachers might incorporate the products of such recent curriculum initiatives into their mathematics teaching. The intention is not  to be prescriptive but rather to set out the key elements of a contemporary instructional program in mathematics: (i) Common vocabulary and common experiences, (ii) physical and real world examples, (iii) diagrammatic and symbolic representations, (iv) applications in familiar situations, (v) practice to consolidate key procedures, (vi) selection and use of mathematical tools in familiar and unfamiliar situations, and (vii) innovative classroom assessment. Each of the seven structural components will be illustrated with at least one example.

David is a plenary speaker, for more details refer to programme book.

2.45pm

Can we help you with your NCEA Assessment?  Land Surveyors have the tools and the practical problems

John Hannah

School of Surveying, University of Otago

Room:  Old Boy’s Theatre

Resource

Surveyors constantly use the trigonometry and the coordinate geometry taught in high-schools.  They are thus in a unique position to provide practical assistance to high schools in developing new NCEA teaching and assessment techniques.

The author outlines how he has been able to work with his daughter’s high school in developing a practical NCEA assessment exercise, some of the NCEA teaching and assessment exercises that are being developed in the School of Surveying, and how teachers might be able to draw upon the skills of surveyors to help them bring a real-life element to their NCEA assessment exercises.

John Hannah is both a land surveyor and a geodesist.  He has studied and worked in the United States as well as in various governmental positions in Wellington. He was appointed Head of Department and Professor of Surveying at the University of Otago in 1993, where he teaches surveying mathematics.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

2.45pm

Livewire Thinking

Neil Riley

Live-Wire Learning Ltd

Room:  Technology Room

The workshop is designed to introduce the Live-wire Learning PLD (personalised learning device) CD ROM. This interactive and personalised learning resource is designed as a revision tool specific to the NZ curriculum, especially NCEA, and incorporates a sophisticated management suite to support teachers in their administrative functions. The workshop will demonstrate the product's features, explain how the content addresses NCEA's requirements, suggest some strategies for use in teaching and learning and as a homework tool, provide free samples and an opportunity for hands-on experience.

I've had nearly 23 years of English teaching experience including being HOD English at Southland Boys', Invercargill 1996 - 2003. My most satisfying accomplishments include implementing a nationally recognised literacy programme and the promotion of character education in schools. I enjoy reading and playing Masters hockey.

Target audience:  SECONDARY (YRS 9-13)

4.15pm

Mathematics and Sex

Clio Cresswell

University of New South Wales

Room:  Assembly Hall

Is making a connection between 'mathematics' and 'sex' a strange thing to do? And does it fit the notion of thinking outside the square? A dalliance with the equations explaining love, marital bliss, and the number of partners you should have before you stop playing the field will have you decide. A brand new perspective on both mathematics, as well as sex, is in store. A smorgasbord of mathematical sexual activity and relationship advice packed into a presentation to remind us that mathematics can be used in a variety of unexpected fields, and that it is often the key to understanding what on face value can be the most abstract of connections. But more importantly, a presentation designed to highlight the crucial role contributors, especially educators, play in the field.

Clio is a plenary speaker, for more details refer to programme book.