Conference synopsis_FINAL_20260815 - Flipbook - Page 96
SESSION E: Friday, 11am-12pm (cont.)
Key takeaways:
1. Develop a deeper understanding of the big ideas that
underpin division, including partitioning, quotition, inverse
relationships and remainders.
Sub-category: Digital technologies
2. Experience practical teaching strategies that promote
mathematical reasoning, multiple solution pathways and
conceptual understanding.
Malamati Papasimeon, Reflective
Y3 - Y10
3. Build confidence in designing learning experiences that
help students develop flexible, connected understandings of
division.
AI is rapidly entering mathematics education, but it does not
replace teachers, curriculum knowledge or strong learning
design. Used well, it can help teachers build interactive
tools that make mathematical ideas visible, testable and
discussable.
E10 DESIGNING WHAT COUNTS: WHAT AN
EARLY NUMERACY SCREENER REVEALS
Sub-category: Assessment
Nicola Andrews, Australian Council for Educational
Research (ACER)
F - Y2
This session presents early findings from an early years
numeracy screener that combines independent digital tasks
with teacher-led interview tasks. We show how different
assessment modes produce an holistic picture of student
understanding by combining direct digital assessment of
students with teacher-led interview assessment tasks. While
many digital tasks show high success rates, interview data
reveal a wider range of strategies and misunderstandings
that are not visible in digital formats and associated response
types. Using examples from subitising and counting, we
illustrate how design and representation shape what is
being measured. The session explores the implications for
classroom assessment, arguing that valid assessment in the
early years requires deliberate integration of modes rather
than reliance on a single task format.
Key takeaways:
1. High success on digital tasks does not necessarily indicate
strong understanding.
2. Different assessment modes reveal different aspects of
students’ mathematical thinking.
3. Teacher-led interview tasks can reveal strategies and
misunderstandings that are not visible in independent
formats.
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E11 MAKING MATHS VISIBLE:
BUILDING VIRTUAL MANIPULATIVES
WITH AI
Drawing on the idea of making thinking visible, this practical
session explores how AI-generated virtual manipulatives
can spark curiosity, invite hands-on exploration, reveal
mathematical structure, surface student reasoning and
support richer classroom discussion. Examples will span
number, algebra, measurement, space, statistics and
probability.
Participants will learn a simple process for designing and
generating their own virtual manipulatives with AI: defining
the mathematical purpose, choosing useful representations,
setting constraints that focus student attention, and planning
feedback or prompts for likely misconceptions.
Participants will also receive access to a bank of ready-touse virtual manipulatives across levels and strands. The
key message is that AI works best when guided by teacher
expertise.
Key takeaways:
Participants will learn how to:
1. Use AI to create virtual manipulatives that make
mathematical ideas visible.
2. Design tools around mathematical purpose,
representations, constraints and misconceptions.
3. Access and adapt a bank of ready-to-use virtual
manipulatives across curriculum levels and strands.
Remember:
Delegates are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop with
internet access so they can explore the virtual manipulatives
and experiment with generating their own during the session.
Access to Claude, or another AI tool that can generate code,
will be useful. Delegates without a laptop will still be able to
follow the session and access the resources afterwards, but will
not be able to fully participate in the hands-on activities.
