Conference synopsis_FINAL_20260815 - Flipbook - Page 58
SESSION A: Thursday, 11am-12pm (cont.)
A31 DESIGNING TASKS AND DISCUSSIONS
FOR DEEP MATHEMATICAL THINKING
Sub-category: Mathematical content and concepts
Anja Mori, BASIS International School Guangzhou
Y9 - Y12
This session explores how to design mathematics classrooms
where all students are actively engaged in thinking. Drawing
on classroom practice, it focuses on creating accessible tasks
that maintain challenge and depth, structuring discussions
so that all students participate, and using thinking routines
such as Odd One Out, True/False, and Always–Sometimes–
Never to promote accountability and reasoning. Practical
strategies will be shared for managing whole-class discussion,
supporting collaborative work, and balancing independent
thinking with timely teacher input. The session will also
address common challenges, including student hesitation
and reliance on procedural instruction, and how to scaffold
participation and confidence over time. Participants will
leave with concrete approaches to designing tasks and
discussions that support engagement, rigour, and meaningful
mathematical thinking in diverse classrooms.
Through graphing, students can visualise different types
of functions, explore key features like roots, intercepts,
turning points, asymptotes, etc. and investigate how changes
in parameters affect graphs. They can also examine the
relationship between a function and its derivative, explore
optimisation problems, and connect graphical, numerical, and
algebraic representations to gain deeper insights. Rather than
memorising rules and procedures, learners can experiment
and discover patterns for themselves. This shift from passive
reception to active exploration demonstrates how digital
technologies foster deeper conceptual understanding,
greater engagement, and richer mathematical thinking.
Key takeaways:
1. Technology helps activate hearts, hands, and minds by
increasing engagement, fostering conceptual understanding,
and promoting deeper mathematical thinking.
2. Digital technologies make abstract mathematical concepts
visible, interactive, and easier to understand.
3. Tools such as graphic calculators encourage exploration
and discovery, moving students from passive learning to
active inquiry.
Key takeaways:
1. Designing accessible mathematical tasks that enable all
students to engage while maintaining challenge and depth
2. Structuring discussion effectively so all students participate,
not only the most confident
3. Using thinking routines (e.g., Odd One Out, True/False,
Always–Sometimes–Never true) to promote accountability,
attention, and mathematical rigour
A32 FROM EQUATIONS TO INSIGHTS
THROUGH GRAPHIC CALCULATORS
Sub-category: Digital technologies
Veena G R, The International School Bangalore (TISB)
Y11 - Y12
This presentation explores how digital technologies,
particularly graphic calculators can activate students’ hearts,
hands, and minds in mathematics learning. Using functions,
quadratic models, and applications of calculus as examples, I
will contrast traditional teaching approaches where equations,
formulas, and procedures were often presented symbolically
on the board with technology-enhanced learning that makes
mathematical ideas visible, interactive, and meaningful.
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A33 WHEN MULTIPLICATION FACTS
HAVEN’T STUCK: SUPPORTING SECONDARY
STUDENTS
This is a commercial presentation
Sub-category: Mathematical content and concepts
Olis Kinnear, Big Picture Tutoring
Y5 - Y12
Many secondary mathematics teachers work with students
whose progress is limited by gaps in basic multiplicative
fluency, including times tables. These gaps can affect
students’ ability to recognise factors, make connections in
algebra, manage cognitive load and approach everyday
numeracy with confidence. This session explores why times
tables can remain difficult for some secondary students,
and how teachers can support older learners in ways that
are age-appropriate, low-anxiety and grounded in research
on memory, recall and mathematics learning. Delegates will
consider common barriers students face, practical approaches
for rebuilding fluency, and how targeted intervention can
support access to more advanced mathematical concepts.
The session may also share the design principles behind an
emerging resource for secondary students, with a focus on
what teachers can learn and apply in their own classrooms.
