Mathematics at OGPS

Next term will prove to be a very exciting one as Ocean Grove Primary School moves into a school review process.

The previous four years of achievement and success will be reviewed and then recommendations will be formulated by a panel, after careful consideration of data sets, analysis and goal setting take place.

We believe that mathematics will become a school priority for our next strategic planning stage.

Please have a look/read of some of the maths material and snapshots that will be provided in this section of the newsletter over the coming weeks.

I also invite you to have a read (below) from one of my favourite researchers, Jo Boaler –

Beliefs and Achievement

We now know that the messages we give students can change their performance dramatically, and that students need to know that the adults in their lives believe in them. Researchers are learning that students’ ideas about their ability and potential are extremely important, much more than previously understood. As well as the messages we give students about their potential, brain research is now showing that messages students pick up from their parents about math and their parents’ relationships with math can also change students’ math learning and achievement.

Mathematics and Mistakes

Research has recently shown something stunning—when students make a mistake in math, their brain grows, synapses fire, and connections are made; when they do the work correctly, there is no brain growth (Moser et al. 2011). This finding suggests that we want students to make mistakes in math class and that students should not view mistakes as learning failures but as learning achievements (Boaler 2013a). Students do not, as many assume, need to revisit a mistake and correct it to experience brain growth, although that is always helpful; brain growth comes from the experience of struggle. When students struggle with mathematics, their brains grow; being outside their comfort zone is an extremely important place to be.

Kristy Hannan-Cuthbertson