Math

Maths and Reporting in 2022

This year in Maths we have had a change in philosophy. We recognise the challenges that the last two years have presented our community and as a result we have implemented a highly differentiated program. Every students’ knowledge and understanding exists on a continuum and needs work suited to their needs. 

We have changed our normal program from one unit per term to short units that last an average of 3 weeks. This is to give our students some variety and to attempt to improve engagement. The other major change is the use of developmental rubrics. 

Students are pre tested to find their current level of understanding of a set of skills. After the students are pre tested they are given their Pre Unit Level which tells them their starting point for the work that they need to do. During the unit we have a mix of direct instructions, small group interventions and individual practice. All work that students complete is assessable and needs to be submitted to the learning tasks to complete their work requirement.

Within the developmental rubric the students set goals and have options on the complexity of the work they complete. We use the 4 Maths competencies of Understanding, Fluency, Problem solving and reasoning, with a 5th criteria of Mastery which extends the student into creating their own real world applications scenario for the unit at hand. This means that the students should know what their result is as the mark they get is the work they can complete. 

An example of what the competencies’ look like is:

Understanding refers to students building a robust knowledge of adaptable and transferable mathematical concepts and structures. Students make connections between related concepts and progressively apply the familiar to develop new ideas. They develop an understanding of the relationship between the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of mathematics. 

Fluency describes students developing skills in choosing appropriate procedures, carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately, and recalling factual knowledge and concepts readily.

Problem-solving is the ability of students to make choices, interpret, formulate, model and investigate problem situations, select and use technological functions and communicate solutions effectively.

Reasoning refers to students developing an increasingly sophisticated capacity for logical, statistical and probabilistic thinking and actions, such as conjecturing, hypothesising, Analysing, proving, evaluating, explaining, inferring, justifying, refuting, abstracting and generalising.

At the end of the unit the students are Post tested. As students have already submitted work to pass the unit and have achieved a minimum possible score this is to ensure they have retained the skills we have covered and to expose them to assessments that are like VCE but with out the pressure of it being the only form of assessment that gives a score. The aim of this is to attempt to reduce maths and test anxiety. Many students are able to achieve a higher score on the post test as they have been exposed to higher direct instruction to the work they have completed and have developed an understanding of this work.

On compass students get the highest score they gain from their work submitted and the post test as a post unit level. This post unit level will also appear on reports.

This change in practice has enabled us to implement more of the High impact teaching strategies, Build in greater differentiation to our program and put an emphasis on student growth rather than final results. We have seen an uptake in student work but we also now have a better understanding of our students how they learn and what they know!

So far we have seen some great successes from many of our students, especially those who put in the effort. We hope this continues for the rest of the semester.

Brad Gibbs - Maths/Science Domain Leader