20250730 MAV25 synopsis - Flipbook - Page 88
SESSION E: Friday, 11am-12pm (cont.)
E04 THRIVING IN MATHEMATICS: FADING
LESSON TECHNIQUES
Subtheme: Innovation and inspiration
Rachael-Ann Burgin, Bentleigh West Primary School
(F to Year 6)
Fading is a teaching strategy grounded in cognitive science
and educational psychology, where support and scaffolding
are gradually reduced as students gain mastery. The goal is to
help students move from dependence on teacher guidance
to independent, confident problem solvers. This session will
draw on the research of Sweller and Hiebert & Grouws.
In practice, fading techniques include:
•
Moving from worked examples to completion problems
to independent problems
•
Reducing prompts in questioning
•
Removing visual or step-by-step guides over time
•
Encouraging metacognitive skills (e.g., “What do I do
next?” self-questioning)
Key takeaways:
Fading helps students thrive in mathematics by:
1. Strengthening long-term understanding
2. Supporting transfer of skills to new problems
3. Building mathematical confidence and independence
E05 DEVELOPING CONCEPTUAL
UNDERSTANDING AND PROCEDURAL
FLUENCY THROUGH ENGAGING WARM-UP
ACTIVITIES
Subtheme: Pedagogy and curriculum
Jodie Hunter, Massey University
(F to Year 6)
Mathematics education research studies highlight the
importance of developing both conceptual understanding
(rich deep connected understanding of mathematical
concepts) and procedural fluency (being able to choose and
apply an efficient procedure based on the characteristics of
the mathematics task) in concert during mathematics lessons.
THE MATHEMATICAL
ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA
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Designing and using high-quality and engaging warm-up
activities is the perfect opportunity to support your students
to develop both understanding and fluency in mathematics
lessons. With careful planning, you can use this time to
support your students to be both thinking and working
mathematically. This workshop will use a hands-on format
where you will be engaging in the warm-up activity before
you work in a group to adapt it to your classroom and setting.
By the end of the workshop, you will have planned a set of
relevant worthwhile warm-ups for your own class that provide
opportunities to develop conceptual understanding and
procedural fluency.
Key takeaways:
1. Both conceptual understanding and procedural fluency are
necessary for student success in mathematics education.
2. Warm-up activities can be used to develop both
conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
E06 STRENGTHENING PRIMARY
MATHEMATICS THROUGH AGENCY, GOAL
SETTING, AND PROFICIENCIES
Subtheme: Leadership and agency
Jessica Morgan, Georgia Schumann and Michelle
Freeman, Ringwood Heights Primary School
(F to Year 6)
At Ringwood Heights Primary school, we’ve embarked on
a sustained inquiry into how mathematics teaching and
learning can be deepened, in our context, through a focus
on agency, goal setting, and conceptual understanding. This
session shares our journey of refining how both teachers and
students engage with mathematical proficiencies to ensure
we maximise connections between concepts and allow
for time to revisit concepts. High levels of collaboration,
professional risk-taking, and shared ownership among staff
enabled the trialling, review, and ongoing improvement of
practices that support consistent, high-quality mathematics
learning across the school. We’ll begin by “zooming out”
to explore the whole-school structures and levers that
supported this improvement work, before “zooming in”
on the classroom strategies that helped embed it — from
goal-setting routines to strengthening shared metacognitive
language and reflection. This session offers practical insights
for anyone aiming to build a culture of confident, reflective,
and mathematically curious learners.