Maths & Numeracy

Scoresby Secondary College Leads the Way Again

2017 saw the inclusion of coding into the Mathematics syllabus nationally. In preparation for this students at Scoresby Secondary College were exposed to Algorithmic thinking via the CAT (Computing and Algorithmic Thinking) Competition in both 2016 and 2017.

This year in conjunction with KIOSC at Swinburne University we decided to introduce coding to Year 7 at one of the whole day visits. This is now being followed up at school with an intensive short course on coding delivered by Dr Russell Smits, who is currently working as part of the Mathematics staff.

The learning intention is for students to investigate properties of geometrical shapes by coding ‘spheros’ to draw the shapes on paper. This will involve coding similar to this.

Algorithm for drawing a square

1     Set up a drawing area with a width of 400 and a height of 400.

2     Go to the point (-80, 150).

3     Do the following steps 4 times:

3a      Draw a line with length 40.

3b      Turn left 90 degrees.

It is exciting to see our students participating in such an innovative activity. At a recent meeting of Mathematics coordinators from schools over Melbourne, including government and non government schools and colleges, Scoresby Secondary College was one of only two schools currently implementing coding through Mathematics lessons.

This makes me very proud!

Leanne Wilson

Mathematics & Numeracy