Gestures help student learning

New studies have shown that students learn better when teachers use hand gestures, particularly while teaching mathematical skills such as algebra. The study, posted on Science Daily, showed that primary-school-aged students performed dramatically better on tests when taught maths with accompanying hand gestures. Interestingly, students also retained the knowledge better long-term when taught in this particulate manner. 

First Grade Maths Skills Vital to Secondary Success

New studies have demonstrated that children who showed basic mathematical understanding in first grade mathematics tests maintain their grasp throughout primary school to Year 7, while their less successful classmates continued to lag behind. 

Children who failed to grasp a basic understanding of numeracy skills greatly struggled to catch up after their stunted start, with those tested poorly in Grade 1 also receiving disappointing results in a similar test in Year 7. 

Researchers were also quick to point out that one in five American adults were not capable of the basic numerical skills required in modern workplaces, which means that early identification of struggling students could alleviate otherwise life-long difficulties with numeracy.  

The study, carried out by the National Institute of Health, followed the progress of children involved, and found that those who struggled with early understanding of basic mathematical skills never truly caught up, lacking the skills necessary to function in adult life. The tests largely measured number system knowledge; the ability to relate a quantity to the numerical digit that represents it. 

The researchers found that early intervention could have significant long-term benefits, provided that the children were identified early in their educational institutes. The study has further solidified the importance of early childhood mathematical capabilities: read more here. 

Falling maths rates don't add up, says Reserve Bank's Heather Ridout

Reserve Bank's Heather Ridout has commented on the plunging number of enrollments in HSC level science and mathematics, claiming that the numbers are 'very worrying,' and a major 'economic threat to Australia'. 


'We're going into this economy where the sciences are going to be more and more important,' said Ridout, 'and it's vital that women have those skills.' Recent studies have found the number of girls not taking any HSC level mathematics has more than tripled in the last decade, while the number of boys not taking the subject has also declined significantly. 


Many have expressed their concerns that the declining trend will solidify the pay gap between genders. 'It's going to perpetuate the under-representation of women in the finance industry … and in areas like engineering, which has been really hard for women to break into,' Ridout said.


Dr Rachel Wilson, who helped prepare the report in question as part of the University of Sydney's educational assessment department, further commented that Australia risks falling behind other developed countries if there is not a major cultural shift in the approach and appreciation of mathematic's value in society. 'If we want to think of ourselves as a smart country, we can't do that without having maths at high-school graduation,' she said. 'Because at the moment we are the sore thumb sticking out.'


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/dropping-maths-doesnt-add-up-says-ridout-20130226-2f46o.html#ixzz2M8jkxHX4

Leave us your thoughts in the comments section; Does Australia face major economic detriment with the decline of HSC level enrollments? How can we encourage students – particularly females – to continue their mathematical studies?

Place Value Activities

Our previous post focused on forming the basis of place value understanding for primary-school aged children, particularly when using "tens" as the basis for the place value system. This post includes additional details and activities to get students more engaged and practicing their new skills. This is especially important when building a further understanding of numbers from ten to twenty. 

Paper bag activities:

• Sort numbers bigger than ten into one bag, and 
• Sort numbers smaller than ten into a separate bag 

Beach ball activities:

• Place the digits 0 - 9 on stickers on the ball - the person who catches the ball adds 10, 100 or 1000 to the number

Students can also sort numbers into the following "houses." 

For instance, large numbers can be broken down as follows:

With a better grasp of large numbers, students can now use their understanding of tens within the place value system to break larger numbers into smaller components and fractions: 

Students can use play-dough to break a whole into ten smaller parts to demonstrate the above diagram, which will help them visualize what one tenth looks like, and then, what one hundredth looks like:

And finally, what one thousandth looks like:

Remember, you can access more information on place value via our free online modules:

http://www.amsi.org.au/teacher_modules/Counting_and_place_valueK-4.html

http://www.amsi.org.au/teacher_modules/Using_place_value4-7.html

Place Value Systems

Just as we need the alphabet to write down words and sentences, so we need a notation to write down numbers. Place value is core to our understanding of so many areas of mathematics. As students build their understanding of counting and additive properties, they must develop the capacity for multiplicative thinking in order to work flexibly and efficiently with a range of whole numbers, fractions and decimals.

Hindu-Arabic numerals exhibit some of the qualities that make mathematics so powerful, namely
• they can be used by understanding a small number of ideas, and
• they can be generalized beyond the original setting for which they were devised.
(The notation was developed to express whole numbers, but it extends to the representation of fractions and decimals.)

Hindu-Arabic numerals are a decimal, or base-ten, place-value number system with the ten digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 as fundamental building blocks.

Hindu-Arabic notation is a place value system based on bundles of 10; so it is a decimal system.
The key to a place value system is the use of a place marker.
A place value system using 9 digits and a space or the word kha (for emptiness) as place marker was used in India the 6th century.

By the 9th century the system had made its way to the Arab world (including Persia and Al-Andalus in what is now Spain).
The digit 0 evolved from “·” and was used in both Madhya Pradesh (Northern India) and the Arab world by the 10th century.
Leonardo Fibonacci learned to use the notation from merchants in Africa when he was a boy and wrote a book, Liber Abaci, in 1202 which popularized the system.

Once the numbers below ten are established, the next goal is to look at the numbers from ten to twenty.
We want students to:

• see the importance of ten
• start to use ten as a countable unit.

Students are encouraged to use a variety of materials in building their understanding of counting in tens:

From here, students can start to understand more complex numbers and ideas – for instance, what does one hundred look like?

Students can now start to build on their knowledge of tens as the base of the place value system:

For more information and activities focusing on place value, please see our free models:
http://www.amsi.org.au/teacher_modules/Counting_and_place_valueK-4.html and
http://www.amsi.org.au/teacher_modules/Using_place_value4-7.html

More girls dropping out of maths than boys; worst gender gap since the 80s

The Conversation has reported that studies undertaken in New South Wales have found girls are dramatically losing ground in HSC level mathematics and science, resulting in the most exaggerated gender gap since the 1980s.

The number of girls not taking any HSC level mathematics has also more than doubled in the last decade, while there are currently only 1.5% of females studying advanced mathematics, chemistry and physics in their final school years.

Since 2001 the percentage of girls studying no maths has jumped from 9.5% to 21.8% in 2011. A mere 13.8% of females took one maths and one sciences subject for their HSC studies, compared with 18.6% of boys, whose enrollments have suffered only minor declines.

Read the full article here: http://theconversation.edu.au/study-finds-more-girls-opting-out-of-maths-and-science-12221

Why do you think girls are so reluctant to enrol in higher-level mathematics subjects at school, and what can be done to boost enrollments in the coming years? Leave us your thoughts in the comments section.

Teach Next plan a costly failure

The Age has recently reported that Labor’s $16 million Teach Next campaign has disappointed many after dramatically failing to reach expectations; recruiting a mere 14 participants out of the promised 450 mid-career professionals to classrooms.

Announced by Julia Gillard during the 2010 election campaign, the Teach Next program was designed to lure 450 mid-career professionals from fields such as banking, accounting and engineering into teaching positions over a four year period.

The program was to specifically target teacher shortages in regional and difficult-to-staff schools, and reduce the number of teachers who are currently teaching outside their discipline. These professionals were also intended to alleviate the dramatic shortage of maths and science teachers in schools across Australia.  

Participants from the program were to undertake a six-week intensive course at Deakin University and then disperse to schools in their state, earning a postgraduate Diploma of Teaching after two years in classrooms. However various legislation has restricted the eligibility of participants, and contributed to the disappointingly low number of confirmed placements.

Do you think the Teach Next program was a viable campaign to rectify the shortage of qualified teachers in the science and mathematics disciplines in schools? Leave us your thoughts below...

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillards-school-plan-a-costly-failure-20130213-2edbi.html#ixzz2Kq7vk1qV

Good News for the Sciences...

The House of Representatives has approved a Greens motion to protect science and research funding in the next Federal budget. The motion was supported by the Coalition and crossbench, and calls on the Labour government to recognise the crucial nature of Australia’s scientific community.

Adam Bandt said of the successful motion that ‘Parliament has sent a strong message to the government about the importance of science and research funding,’ and continued to say ‘Science and research is crucial to our economic prosperity and is the key to sustaining our economy after the mining bubble bursts.’

‘As the decline in revenue continues to put pressure on the Budget, the government must heed the Parliament’s call to protect the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council and other areas of research from any cuts.’

The motion affirms the significance of science and scientific research in Australia, particularly identifying the importance and relevance to the nation’s economy.

The motion also notes the growing concern amongst the scientific community regarding the security of funding and consequential risk to jobs if not adequately protected.

Finally the motion also calls upon the treasurer to guarantee the protection of funds during the next financial year, rule out any attempt to defer, freeze or pause Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, or other science and research grants in an attempt to achieve a Budget surplus.

Read more at: http://www.adambandt.com/science_funding_motion

Do you think each motion is required to preserve Australia's scientific research community? Leave us a comment below!