ORIGO At Home provides guidance and instruction to continue maths learning at home. ORIGO’s team of educators have handpicked these resources and activities to help provide engaging mathematical thinking and practice for school students in Years F to 6. Each week provides five daily activities organised around a specific maths topic. To help establish a […]
READ MOREWin Their Hearts to Win Their Minds
Making Mathematics Enjoyable for Young Learners I didn’t particularly like maths in primary school. There were too many rules and procedures to remember and problems lacked contexts that had any real meaning for me. Although I could remember and reproduce some procedures, I didn’t really understand much of it, so I found maths quite […]
READ MOREFocus on Fractions: The Necessary Prerequisite for Addition and Subtraction of Fractions
It’s not always “apples to apples” for the addition and subtraction of fractions. There are only a few things this writer remembers from his early primary school days. Mrs. Weeks, my Year 1 teacher, often repeated the statement, “You can only add apples to apples.” At the time, it really wasn’t clear what the “apples […]
READ MOREFocus on Fractions: Linking Fractions and Decimals (Using the Number Line)
Decimal fractions used in history and the use of the number line in teaching fractions. In this post, I’ll explain how fractions came into being and how today’s number line is an invaluable tool for making the link between fractions and decimals. My first post in this series described the elusiveness of fractions to previous […]
READ MOREFocus on Fractions: Visual Images That Help Teach Fractions
Children benefit greatly from the use of concrete materials and visual images when learning fractions. Over the past 50-plus years, various learning theorists have advocated the use of concrete materials and visual images to help children develop full understanding of mathematical ideas, but three stand out in particular. The most noted was Jean Piaget, who […]
READ MOREFocus on Fractions: Are Fractions Key to a Child’s Future Success in Mathematics?
Research suggests fractions are essential for a student’s future success in mathematics. Since 2012, there have been a range of published research studies (Bailey et al., 2012; Booth & Newton, 2012; Torbeyns etal., 2014; Siegler etal., 2012)1, suggesting that fractions are essential for a student’s future success in mathematics. While it is overly simplistic […]
READ MORELanguage in Mathematics: Parents Teaching the Concept of Multiplication
What’s a parent to do with two children, two approaches, and two vastly different outcomes in teaching the concept of multiplication? Similar to those reading this article, I am passionate about mathematics education, and as a parent of two young children, I am very interested in the homework they bring home! In this article, I […]
READ MORELanguage in Mathematics: Questioning as an Active Thinking Maths Strategy
Questioning as an Active Thinking Maths Strategy Questioning, the second of the three research-based strategies covered in this series on language in mathematics, is effective in generating active engagement in class. Techniques for questioning help clarify and deepen the understanding of a focused maths topic, but for many students, questioning is not instinctive. Teachers who model […]
READ MORELanguage in Mathematics: Maths Literacy Strategies
Maths Literacy Strategy Activity #1: Activating prior knowledge and using schema to make predictions Over the years, elementary teachers in non-maths subjects have made great use of research-based literacy strategies. These strategies increase reading comprehension by asking students to explore connections between what they’re reading and their previous experiences, background, or prior knowledge. The question […]
READ MOREUsing Language Stages to Guide the Development of Concepts – Addition
The Language Stages Over 30 years ago, I worked with students who were experiencing difficulties with problem solving and generally applying mathematics. From that work and my continued focus on helping all students succeed with mathematics, it became apparent that the language students know is a major factor in their success. In order to build […]
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