It is coming up to the end of the school year and my thoughts are now starting to turn to the transition arrangements for the new Year 12s. Many questions are occupying my thoughts. How will they respond to being back in the classroom after so long? Will the extended break have had an impact […]
Read moreCraig Barton looks at how both teachers and students will need time and patience in order to make the transition back into the classroom. Speaking of “unprecedented times” has become something of a cliché. And yet I know of no other phrase to better describe the period from when schools first closed because of the […]
Read moreBy Anne Watson Why am I talking about linear equations? Thinking about them takes me to several important hidden threads in school mathematics, wondering how learners might pull ideas together meaningfully. It is also helpful that there has been some research about ‘solving’ them. What is linear anyway? I started by searching textbooks and the […]
Read moreBy Rehana Akhtar It has always been a recurring thought to me over my years of teaching as to ‘Why do pupils need to be re-taught and why do they not retain key skills and concepts?’ The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study by OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and […]
Read moreWhat can we learn from the 2019 GCSE Mathematics papers? By Jemma Sherwood We have now seen the third year of the new GCSE in Mathematics and we are starting to get a feel for the question types, the mix of procedure and application, and the complexity of the problems. It is clearly a different […]
Read moreI was surprised to hear that in the pre-2013 Key Stage 3 national curriculum there was only one statement about ratio, whereas in the current version there are ten statements. I was surprised because I did not remember, from my work on the development of the current curriculum, that there were so many, so I […]
Read moreLesson Study in Japan is a model of teacher-led research in which a group of teachers collaborate to target a particular area for development in their students’ learning. Based on their prior teaching, the group of teachers work together to research, plan, teach and observe a series of lessons, using ongoing discussion, reflection and expert […]
Read moreConsistent use of images supports the understanding of mathematical structures. The outstanding examples of this in mathematics have become ‘canonical’, that is part of the mathematical canon. At school level these canonical images are: number line; function graphs (thankyou Descartes); 2-dimensional combination grids (thankyou Omar Khayyam and Cayley); Venn diagrams (thankyou Cantor and Charles Dodgson). […]
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I have been floating the idea of treating key mathematics ideas as handrails for teachers and students. Recently several positive comments about this perspective have floated back to me, so I am sharing the idea with you. In mathematics, teaching key ideas could be handrails. Handrails can be held, used as guides or supports, or […]
Read morePreparing students for the new A-level exams The first cohorts for the new linear Maths A-Level exams are well over halfway through, so our attention is now turning to how best to prepare for the upcoming exams. I’d like to reflect on some of the changes in A-level Maths that I think we should all […]
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