Conference synopsis_FINAL_20260815 - Flipbook - Page 47
SESSION A: Thursday, 11am-12pm
A01 HANDS ON, HEADS ON: USING SIMPLE
MATERIALS TO SUPPORT LEARNING
Sub-category: Planning
John West and Paul Swan
Y3 - Y8
Hands-on learning is powerful – but only when it leads to
heads-on thinking. In this practical, highly interactive session,
Dr Paul Swan and Dr John West explore how manipulatives,
games and physical tasks can be used purposefully to deepen
mathematical reasoning and align with the intent of the
Victorian Curriculum 2.0. Participants will engage with rich,
classroom-ready activities that highlight the connection
between concrete action and conceptual understanding. Paul
and John will unpack the pedagogical moves that transform
hands-on tasks into meaningful learning, demonstrating
how purposeful questioning, representation and task design
support the curriculum’s focus on reasoning, fluency and
problem-solving. Teachers will leave with practical strategies,
ready-to-use resources and a clearer sense of how to make
hands-on mathematics both rigorous and aligned with
Victorian Curriculum 2.0 expectations.
Key takeaways:
John and Paul will demonstrate how using simple materials
can be used to
1.
Support the explicit teaching of maths concepts
2. Developing fluency through practise
3. Applying what has been taught
Remember:
Delegates will be provided with a set of materials and
resources required for the workshop.
A02 WHEN MATHEMATICS COMES
ALIVE: GAMES AND CLASSROOMS
WHERE STUDENTS FLOURISH
Sub-category: Mathematical content and concepts
Jane Hubbard, Deakin University, James Russo,
Monash University
F - Y8
What are the conditions under which students genuinely
flourish in mathematics – and what role can mathematical
games play in creating those conditions? Jane and James
will explain how their conceptual model, framed as the
Learning Conditions Mandala, can be adopted by educators
to better understand the interconnected relationships that
exist between the cognitive and affective domains of learning
and how such conditions can be orchestrated by teachers to
optimise mathematics learning for students of all abilities.
Drawing upon a series of classroom examples, James and
Jane will unpack how mathematical games can be designed
and implemented to align with the Learning Conditions
Mandala, providing students with authentic opportunities
to feel capable, connected and agentic in their learning.
Participants will leave with a coherent and holistic framework
for designing and evaluating mathematical games and tasks –
one that connects motivation and deep learning in ways that
are both practical and powerful.
Key takeaways:
1. Operationalising the Learning Conditions Mandala for
student engagement
2. Understanding strategic game design to support student
flourishing in mathematics.
A03 WORDS MATTER: MOVING FROM
ANSWERS TO MATHEMATICAL REASONING
Sub-category: Leadership and teachers as learners
Ben Dixon, Kanchan Suri and Emma Sheehan,
St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Primary School
F - Y6
The words we use across a school influence how students
and teachers understand, communicate and reason in
mathematics. When mathematical words are used incorrectly,
inconsistently or without context, students can be left with
unclear meanings, limiting their ways to explain their thinking.
This session explores how precise mathematical language
can be explicitly modelled, practised, and refined as a skill
that is deliberately taught rather than something to pick up
on. It examines the words that leaders, teachers, and students
hear, use, notice, prompt, and practise, and how purposeful
use in daily lessons helps build clarity over time in student
representations and reasoning. Using examples of actions
from leaders, teachers and students, participants will examine
how timely noticing, prompting and reframing can sharpen
meaning and deepen understanding. Participants will leave
with moves, prompts and questions for using language more
consciously to move mathematics from answers, to thinking,
to reasoning.
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