20250730 MAV25 synopsis - Flipbook - Page 95
Remember:
This session will showcase a range of middle school
investigation tasks designed to develop reasoning,
collaboration, and deep thinking within a Thinking
Classroom. Some activities will incorporate the use of the
Texas Instruments CAS calculator to support exploration and
mathematical justification. Participants are encouraged to
bring their TI-Nspire CX CAS handheld to engage fully in
the tasks and reflect on how these strategies can be applied
in their own classrooms. While having your own device is
preferred, shared use will be supported during the session.
E24 BEYOND THE MATHS CLASSROOM:
BUILDING A NUMERACY-RICH SCHOOL
CULTURE
Subtheme: Pedagogy and curriculum
Samantha Hellessey, Dromana Secondary College
(Year 7 to Year 10)
At Dromana College, we’ve transformed numeracy from
being just a maths focus to a whole-school priority. Through
targeted professional learning and a strong data-informed
approach, we’ve built a culture where numeracy is embedded
across all learning areas. This session will share our journey
in achieving this. It will consider how we’ve engaged staff,
used student data to inform practice, created a shared
responsibility for numeracy development, as well as
challenges along the way. Attendees will walk away with
practical ideas and examples on how to build staff confidence
in numeracy instruction, make numeracy visible across
learning areas, and ultimately help students improve their
numeracy skills.
Key takeaways:
1. How Dromana College has successfully embedded
numeracy across all subjects
E25 THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING
FROM FIRST PRINCIPLES FOR STRUGGLING
STUDENTS
This is a commercial presentation
Subtheme: Pedagogy and curriculum
Olis Kinnear, Big Picture Tutoring
(Year 7 to Year 12)
Many maths students struggle not because they lack
ability, but because they’ve been taught procedures instead
of mathematical thinking. Through extensive tutoring
experience, I’ve observed that struggling students often
improve dramatically when we strip away memorized steps
and focus on a relatively small number of fundamental
concepts.
Teachers frequently teach “tips and techniques” - telling
students what steps to follow rather than helping them
understand why. For example, in trigonometry, students
learn to mechanically apply formulas without recognizing
that subsequent steps are simply algebra. This procedural
approach creates students who freeze when problems look
unfamiliar.
Teaching from first principles means helping students
see the underlying mathematical structures, and it almost
immediately reduces overwhelm.
This presentation will explore practical strategies for
identifying where conceptual understanding breaks down and
techniques for building genuine mathematical reasoning from
the ground up.
Key takeaways:
1. Identify where procedural teaching masks conceptual gaps
- recognize when students follow steps without understanding
underlying mathematical structures.
2. Strategies that empower staff to confidently teach
numeracy.
2. Replace ‘tips and techniques’ with fundamental concepts
- show students that complex problems reduce to familiar
operations like algebra.
3. Practical examples of how numeracy is explicitly integrated
into different disciplines.
3. Reduce student overwhelm immediately - focus on core
mathematical ideas rather than endless procedures.
4. The impact of a whole-school numeracy approach on
student outcomes.
5. Challenges encountered and lessons learned in
implementing a school-wide numeracy strategy.
Remember:
Laptop, paper and pen.
THE MATHEMATICAL
ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA
95
