9.10-10.15
Welcome and Keynote Speaker
Keynote Speaker: Professor Tom Lowrie – “Numeracy Research: Perspectives from Near and Far.”
10.15-11.00 Morning Tea
Session Room 101
Sue Wilson
1
Critical incidents
in maths
11.00- classrooms: What
11.50
do students
remember?
Room 102
Debra Sayers
Do you have to
teach maths in
the middle? Is
this a global
problem?
PS
P
Carol Spencer & Theresa
Kyleanne
Shellshear
2
Gillespie
Fractions: in a
12.00- Planning and
line, on a line
12.50
implementing
differentiated
maths lessons
P
P
1.00-2.00 Lunch and Prize Draws
Kate Flynn &
Sam Hardwicke
Haeley Simms
3
A STEM festival
Raising the
2.00profile of
2.50
mathematics at
Palmerston
District Primary
School
P
PM
3.00-3.30 Afternoon Tea
Melinda
Diana Pham
Campbell
4
SMiS: Inspiring
Beat Dyscalculia
the next
3.30generation of
4.20
STEM experts
PM
4.30
PMSC
Room 103
Joel Smith
These 4
visualisations
make fractions
easy
Room 201
Michael
Denmead
Adapting the
global to fit locally
– a high school
experience
Room 202/203
Valerie Barker
Literature as a
gateway to
numeracy
Room 204
Chris Wetherell
My favourite
patterns
Room 301
Chris Green
Let digital
learning create
new horizons for
students and
teachers
MS
Bruce
Ferrington
Multiplication x8
S
Brian Lannen
From Year 9
function
machines to
ACTion photos of
our environment
MS
Ben Quill
Something from
nothing –
engineering your
waste
SC
Paul Turner &
Ed Staples
Mathematical
Whetstones
PMS
Christine Devine
- Cambridge
Senior
Mathematics
- HOTmaths
PM
SC
MSC
SC
PMS
Mike Clapper
Convergent and
divergent thinking
MS
Zoltan Bacskai
Just how hard is
it to work this
stuff out? Theory
of algorithms and
computational
complexity
MSC
Concluding Remarks, President’s Drinks and Book Launch
Kate Manuel &
Renee Hoareau
Dimensions:
AAMT’s
professional
online learning
portal
PMSC
Heather & Andy
Wardrop
The Big Mac and
GINI indexes:
Global and local
measures of
inequality
SC
Jeremy Smith
Humanitarian
engineering
PMSC
Rachael Quill
Understanding
bushfires with
statistics
SC
Stephen Hood
There's stuff
everywhere!
Getting organised
in the digital
mess
PMSC
Greg Ledwidge
& Jessica Smith
Let’sLocate: A
model for
industry-based
education in
schools
SC
Sharon Laws
How to create
test and
assesments with
exam view
software and test
banks.
C
Tobias Cooper
Using technology
to teach statistics
in stage 4- 6
S
Room 302/303
Justin Matthys
Is perfect
differentiation
impossible?
These teachers
found a way AND
save marking and
prep time
MS
Stuart Mitchell
Integer partitions
and symmetric
functions concepts and
activities for the
senior classroom
SC
Bruce Fuda
Mathematics +
code = engaging
learning
opportunities
BYO LAPTOP
PMS
Session 1
Critical incidents in maths classrooms: What do students remember?
Maths anxiety refers to feelings of tension and fear in mathematical situations in school and in everyday life. High maths anxiety impacts on performance and
achievement in mathematics. The changes that occur as a result of mathematics classroom experiences are persistent and enduring.Emotional responses are not
determined by objective reality but by interpretation of events - by subjective reality. Critical incident reflections are descriptions of events that people remember as
being meaningful in their experience.The presentation reports student reflections of the impact of mathematics classroom experiences on how they feel about
themselves as learners of mathematics, especially experiences which have led to positive outcomes for students.
Room
101
PS
Sue Wilson is a lecturer at the Canberra campus of ACU. She has taught Mathematics and Science in secondary schools, trained as a Maths Task Centre
consultant, worked as a Sales Director training educational consultants, and teaches in Mathematics and Science education at tertiary level.
Sue investigates maths anxiety and ways it might be overcome.
Do you have to teach Maths in the Middle? Is this a Global problem?
Deb believes that everyone has the capacity to be an exceptional teacher of maths – they just need to find that inner (sometimes very tiny) mathematician who will
rise to the surface once the confidence has been restored. If we have had a great maths teacher just once in our lives it will have changed our perspective forever
– however if we have suffered at the hands of a poor maths teacher then our capacity to even string together one decent maths sentence will be diminished.
SO: Deb will talk about bringing passion into the teaching of maths in the Primary setting. She will cover maths walls; mental computation; those dreaded times
tables; making maths a critical part of your day (can you teach maths before recess?) and lots of other fun things.
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Debra Sayers is the Student Engagement Executive teacher for the Junior School at Harrison. She has a passion for maths and has previously been the
Numeracy coach where she worked with students from preschool to year 8. She is a primary trained school teacher and enjoys working with kids of all ages but
admits to a fear of Kindy’s – although she claims to be working through that via daily contact with 8 Kindy classes. Deb spends a lot of her day working with
students from K-4 who have difficulty with anxiety and enjoys the opportunity to complete 20 playground duties a week.
These 4 visualisations make fractions easy; free resource pack.
The concept of fractions is a tough one for many students. Most find basic visual models easy enough, but fall over as soon as it becomes abstracted. Often this is
because students visualise fractions in a limited way; different embodiments are more useful for building different abstractions. We discuss how these models tie
together and connect with higher level fractions knowledge. Participants receive a resource pack to make it easy to implement when back at school.
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Joel Smith is a particle physicist and stickler for mathematical rigour. He joined Maths Pathway to help create a world where students understand what they're
doing and value their learning.
Adapting the global to fit locally – a high school experience
As the head of the Mathematics faculty at Lyneham High School, I have been working with my team to implement a number of directions to support the
introduction of the Australian Curriculum, the challenges of appropriate assessment, and alternative ways of making connections with our parent community, using
a range of digital media. This workshop will provide an overview of our journey so far, its rationale, the benefits (and some problems). Participants will be invited to
share their experiences as well.
Michael Denmead I trained as a Physical Education Teacher but always had a strong love of Maths. As a PE teacher, I got the opportunity to teach some lower
ability classes and this renewed my love for Mathematics. I re-trained in 2004, obtaining a Graduate Certificate in High School Mathematics (Yr. 7-10). I also
completed my Master of Education in 2006. Since 2010, I have been the SLC (Head Teacher) of Mathematics at Lyneham High School.
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Literature as a Gateway to Numeracy
As Alice celebrates her 150th birthday it is timely to ask what the world of books is able to offer the classroom teacher of mathematics. If the world were a village,
what could Alice (and Harry and a parrot) contribute to my students’ world view?
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Valerie Barker is a Mathematics and English teacher with over 40 years’ teaching experience in New Zealand, the UK, Brunei and Australia. She is currently
working as a Clinical Teaching Specialist seconded to the University of Canberra in their undergraduate Primary and Secondary Education courses, and the
developing M Teach (Secondary) course.
My Favourite Patterns
Though for some of us choosing your ‘favourite mathematical pattern’ is a bit like choosing your favourite child, this talk will draw on some enrichment topics used
with high school and college students to make several observations about the ways in which mathematics teaching can shape public perception about ‘what maths
is’ and ‘what maths is for’. If you’re looking for guaranteed strategies for improving student engagement and performance, solutions to the dilemma of authentically
addressing a full curriculum amid ever-increasing administrative pressures, or even an answer to the age-old question “when will I ever need to know this?”… this
is probably not the talk for you.
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Chris Wetherell teaches Years 7 – 12 at Radford College and is a member of the Australian Mathematics Competition Problems Committee and the Australian
Mathematical Olympiad Committee.
Let digital learning create new horizons for students and teachers
EdTech offers unparalleled access to resources and big data, giving the promise of individualised learning pathways and a reduction in marking and assessment
time. What’s more, when EdTech is fully harnessed it can create unique opportunities to reach out to other schools around the world and share experiences which
will enrich the lives of your students. In this presentation Chris will explain the problems that prevent digital learning’s potential from being realised and suggest
solutions.
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Chris Green has been a secondary Maths teacher in the UK for 15 years and published teacher guides for Oxford University Press. For the last 6 years Chris has
been developing digital maths resources and games for K to 10 with Mangahigh. During this time Chris has delivered training in digital teaching around the world
including Australia, USA, India, Lebanon and India.
Is perfect differentiation impossible? These teachers found a way AND save marking/prep time.
Do your classes have 25 students with 25 different learning needs? Catering to this properly would take a superhero teacher, and none of us can differentiate
perfectly on our own. A group of Australian teachers resolved to act as side-kicks for all those heroes by building Maths Pathway. Now, hundreds of teachers are
catering to diversity more easily than ever before, and are saving time in marking and preparation. Now you can try it out free.
Justin Matthys is cofounder of Maths Pathway, changing the way mathematics is taught in school. He is a 2014 Echoing Green Fellow, and is an alumnus of the
Teach For Australia program. He has also taught mathematics and physics at secondary and tertiary levels, and conducted astrophysics research into Dark Matter.
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Session 2
Planning and implementing differentiated maths lessons, including explicit learning, guided and independent investigation, reflection and problem
solving.
You've heard it said that differentiation is essential for developing deep understanding as it allows each student to learn at their leading edge. But how can we
embed differentiation seamlessly into our everyday teaching? This session provides a research- and evidence-based approach to ensure every child is developing
deep understanding of maths concepts and the relationships between concepts within their 'Goldilocks zone'.
Room
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Carol Spencer has over 25 years successful experience as teacher and leader in schools in 3 countries (Australia, New Zealand and UK). She is a writer of
Mathematics curriculum support material for Education Boards and Departments, and a provider of in-school and on-line professional learning in Mathematics for
NSW Department of Education and A Learning Place A Teaching Place.
Fractions: In a Line, On a Line
Using Number Lines to explore the ordering and the recording of addition and subtraction of common fractions will be presented using concrete/enactive,
pictorial/iconic and symbolic/abstract representations. Hands-on tasks will be explored for fractions with like and related denominators. This is a participatory
workshop using these resources to explore the conceptual understanding of common fractions using standard and open number lines.
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Theresa Shellshear is currently a lecturer in primary mathematics for Early Childhood and Primary pre-service teachers on the Canberra campus of ACU. She has
a wide experience in primary school education, both in class and on school executive. She has participated in many mathematical projects and has implemented
current maths programs in primary schools. Provision of professional development for primary teachers and parent workshops are a current interest as is
supporting students with learning difficulties.
Multiplication x8
Let’s have a look at 8 different ways to do multiplication. There’s Russian, Japanese, Egyptian, European peasant. Then there’s the grid method, the lattice
method, the circle method, the cup method… I wonder what other ways people around the world do this operation?
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Bruce Ferrington is a primary teacher at Radford College. He was Churchill Fellow in 2012 and writes a very successful blog, Authentic Inquiry Maths.
From Year 9 Function Machines to ACTion photos of our environment
The notion of mathematical functions is at the very heart of the Mathematical Methods and other Australian Curriculum Senior Secondary courses, but the
foundation for learning this is really set in the Middle Years. This workshop session will guide participants through the introduction to linear functions activities that I
do with my Year 9 class and build to considering some real world examples such as fitting linear functions to a refraction photo and using gradients to determine
the refractive index. Armed with a TI-84CE, Google Images (or your own camera) and a sense of enquiry of your global environment, the ACTion can all happen
locally on a handheld computing calculator.
Brian Lannen does his best to think big – maybe even globally. He does ACT locally – well with the Yackandandah Theatre Company anyway. (This year he was
a bad Santa and an unhip hippie). He is a past-President and Life Member of the Riverina Mathematics Association with maths teaching and consultancy
experience spanning the past 30 years. A significant influence in his own learning has been opportunities he has embraced through T-Cubed (Teachers Teaching
with Technology) and various other mathematics professional associations. He presently teaches senior maths at Victory Lutheran College, Wodonga and
Engineering science & calculus at Wodonga TAFE.
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Something from Nothing: Engineering your waste
The Landfill Engineer role at Woodlawn Bioreactor is responsible for effectively disposing of 500,000 tonnes of waste every year and capturing the generated
gasses to fuel an onsite power station. The Woodlawn facility, operated by Veolia Australia New Zealand, currently holds 4.5 million tonnes of waste and produces
enough power to supply 6,000 homes. The site also produces enough Barramundi for 5,500 dinners! The system is a wonderful mix of civil, mechanical and
chemical engineering, and this presentation will highlight how mathematics is used across the Woodlawn facility on a daily basis.
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Ben Quill graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from ANU in 2011. He majored in Materials and Mechanical Systems, and Manufacturing and
Management Systems. For the required industry experience component of his degree, in 2009 he took on a part-time role at Woodlawn Bioreactor in Tarago, NSW.
After 12 months, and while still completing his degree, he progressed to the full-time Assistant Engineer role in the power station facility. He is now the Landfill
Engineer for the Woodlawn site.
Mathematical Whetstones
Ed and Paul have written a book, mostly for teachers, with the title Mathematical Whetstones. Erin has created a website and has provided other supports for the
project. Each chapter is a short paper aimed at sharpening the reader’s understanding of a mathematical topic. The collection, with additional supplements, is
mapped to, but not limited by, the Methods and Specialist courses of the new national curriculum. This workshop will give an overview of the pedagogical beliefs
underpinning the writing, and will examine a few of the 80 4-page Whetstones contained within it. The workshop will endeavour to present the essence of the work
– designed to provide teachers with new perspectives on familiar material. It will focus on the pedagogical aspects, the applications, and the time-honored narrative
of human endeavour involved.
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Ed Staples, Paul Turner and Erin Gallagher
Cumulatively, Ed Staples, Paul Turner and Erin Gallagher have well over 40 years of experience teaching mathematics in ACT schools and colleges. Each has
served as a councillor of the Canberra Mathematics Association, Erin having served two years as president. All three have influenced the ways in which
mathematics is taught in and beyond the schools where they have worked, by developing and implementing innovative teaching strategies. Back in the early 90s,
Erin was a student of Ed, from which time she traces her inspiration to become a Mathematics Teacher herself. Erin is an impassioned supporter of the
Whetstones project and is proud to be contributing through online presence and marketing, while the job of putting together the chapters has fallen to Ed and Paul.
Session 1: Cambridge Senior Mathematics - 15 minutes
The session will provide you with a snapshot of the NEW Senior Mathematics for Australian Curriculum/VCE. The textbook and all of its components: PDF,
Interactive Textbook powered by HOTmaths and the on-line Teaching Suite powered by HOTmaths.
Session 2: HOTmaths - 30 minutes
HOTmaths is Australia’s premier online resource to teach and learn mathematics. This session will provide you with a demonstration on how to best use
HOTmaths and enhance your students’ learning experiences. Anyone from those with no experience to existing users may find this session very useful.
HOTmaths covers the F-10 curriculum but this session will have a particular focus on the secondary years.
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Christine Devine is the NSW Sales Manager, Education, Primary and Secondary, for Cambridge University Press
Integer partitions and symmetric functions - Concepts and Activities for the Senior Classroom
Algebraic combinatorics, unlike many subject areas in modern mathematics, is an area that is quite graspable by senior mathematics students. It provides teachers
some wonderful ideas for assignment questions when teaching combinatorics to seniors. In this talk we look at two particular aspects of algebraic
combinatorics: integer partitions and symmetric functions, and will look at some ideas for assignment style questions using these concepts.
Stuart Mitchell is a Mathematics teacher at Radford College and PhD student at ANU.
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Session 3
Raising the profile of Mathematics at Palmerston District Primary School - our journey.
This presentation focuses on the journey that the teaching staff at Palmerston District Primary School have undertaken in mathematics this year. Responding to
and analysing NAPLAN results, staff have utilised a range of techniques (including the discipline dialogue questions) to work together to explore pedagogy and
assessment strategies. A variety of resources have been purchased and we have stepped into classroom coaching- going beyond Count Me in Too and Middle
Years Mental Computation strategies. The presentation highlights the start of our journey as a school to develop staff capacity and confidence in mathematics. This
is a journey that will continue to evolve over a sequence of years. Discussion topics will include the engagement of a mathematics Consultant/critical friend,
collection of data and analysis of the data, as well as strategies to develop a whole school approach to mathematics P-6.
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Haeley Simms has worked in both N.S.W and the ACT as a classroom teacher and is currently acting School Leader C for K-2. She recently completed her
graduate certificate in literacy and numeracy (the early years) and is co-leading the Mathematics Committee.
Kate Flynn has worked in a variety of schools across Canberra as a classroom teacher, a School Leader C, and has also acted in the position of Deputy Principal.
She has also taught in the United Kingdom. Kate has taught a range of year levels from preschool to Year 6 and holds qualifications in both early childhood and
primary teaching. This year she is co-leading the Mathematics Committee.
A STEM festival
This seminar will take participants through the innovative festival hosted by Turner School (ACT) in 2014 where school was suspended for 9 days and replaced by
a festival of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Local universities and businesses along with parents from within the school community worked
with school staff to provide rich, authentic opportunities for student learning. Students learned to link their classroom learning with real world situations and
professions whilst developing an understanding of the importance of mathematical proficiency.
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Sam Hardwicke is a 5/6 teacher, team leader and maths coach at Turner School in the ACT. He is passionate about building student engagement with
mathematics and has led a number of innovative projects to promote mathematics education within the community.
Convergent and Divergent Thinking
This presentation is designed to assist teachers in developing enrichment programs in their school that incorporate elements of both convergent and divergent
thinking in order to assist students in developing mathematical creativity. It will include exploring a very large number of activities which have been successful in
the classroom.
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Mike Clapper is the Executive Director of the Australian Mathematics Trust. He was previously a maths teacher and school principal.
Dimensions: AAMT’s Professional Online Learning Portal
The Towards Educating Mathematics Professionals Encompassing Science and Technology (TEMPEST) project will collaborate with teachers to develop a deeper
understanding of what works in teacher professional learning and why. The workshop will elicit your views and prompt discussion about what is important in
mathematics professional learning.
Kate Manuel is the Manager National Projects, Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers. Formerly Head of Mathematics in an independent girls’ school in
Adelaide, Kate has worked for AAMT for the past 5 years, firstly as a Professional Officer and latterly as the Manager of various national projects.
Renee Hoareau is Project Manager Online Teacher Support with AAMT managing the Connect with Maths project.
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Humanitarian Engineering
This workshop will be based on a school outreach workshop developed by Engineers Without Borders exploring humanitarian engineering and the impacts of
technology in developing communities. A build activity will be used to introduce the idea of humanitarian engineering, which will then be linked back to the
underlying mathematical equations involved in designing the technologies. The workshop is designed to spark the interest in humanitarian engineering for STEM
students, particularly under-represented groups in these areas.
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Jeremy Smith has led the development of education and outreach initiatives around humanitarian engineering education. These highlight the role technology and
STEM have in developing engineering that helps improve the quality of life of marginalised and vulnerable groups. Jeremy has been a research engineer at the
ANU for over 15 years in various research and education roles and has been involved with the not-for-profit organisation Engineers Without Borders Australia
(EWB) for 10 years.
There's Stuff Everywhere! Getting Organised in the Digital Mess.
One of the challenges for the modern Mathematics teacher is organising yourself digitally, given the various locations and formats of content and tools available in
the ICT realm. Stephen will walk participants through the digital challenges he has confronted over the past 10 years as a teacher and provide some practical
suggestions and approaches to getting organised, locally within a faculty and how that organisation framework can integrate local and external resources within a
school through a concept of digital brokerage. He will emphasise the cultural aspects of information management of an organisation, and how to build improve
efficiency in a team and an institution, through improved information management practices.
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Stephen Hood is Executive Teacher at the University of Canberra Senior Secondary College, Lake Ginninderra, teaching Mathematics and Digital Photography,
but he has also taught Financial Literacy and Information Technology. He was formerly at the University of Canberra High School, Kaleen for many years, where
he developed a passion to be an advocate for effective ICT Governance, Information Management and ICT-based pedagogy. With a previous professional life
both as a Naval Officer and Senior Manager specialising in Information Technology, Stephen has a great passion and vision for effective integration of ICT
resources and capability in the Mathematics classroom, particularly in higher maths now that he is in 'big school'.
How to create tests and assesments with Exam View software and test banks.
Exam view is a software test bank created for Nelson Senior Maths Series for Australian Curriculum. Participants will use Exam view Test Generator to build
assessments utilise premade content. Objectives: Create a test using various question selection options; Edit test sections; Modify test questions; Format test;
Export Test.
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Sharon Laws works for Cengage.
Mathematics + Code = Engaging Learning Opportunities
BYO LAPTOP FOR THIS SESSION
This workshop will present examples of learning activities that help students apply their mathematical knowledge and skills to computer problems. Teaching
students to think about problems algorithmically equips them with skills that are easily transferable to a range of contexts, and allow students to easily address
elements of both the Mathematics and Digital Technologies subjects in the Australian Curriculum. The focus of the learning becomes the application of
mathematical concepts through computer programming, providing students with a deeper understanding that is not possible through traditional drill and practice
activities.
Bruce Fuda is the President of Information Technology Educators ACT (InTEACT) and has been teaching programming to students of all ages for the past ten
years in ACT Government Schools. He was a member of the writing team and advisory group for the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies, and is an
advocate of integrated approaches to the teaching of computational thinking, particularly in the primary school.
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Session 4
Beat Dyscalculia.
Can’t count! Can’t add! – Could it be dyscalculia? This workshop will offer an overview of what dyscalculia is, what it looks like in the classroom, its prevalence,
the emotional and economic consequences, as well as strategies to use in the classroom.
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Melinda Campbell is a private educator, working predominantly with dyslexic and dyscalculic students. She is the first person in Australia to use the highly
successful Beat Dyscalculia program. As the teacher of children who fail within a traditional classroom setting, and a mother of a dyslexic and dyscalculic child,
Melinda offers a unique perspective on what it is like to be dyscalculic, as well as some effective strategies for teaching dyscalculic learners.
SMiS: Inspiring the Next Generation of STEM Experts
Scientists and Mathematicians in Schools (SMiS) is a nationwide volunteering program which creates ongoing partnerships between teachers and STEM
professionals. The idea is to bring real-world science and maths into the classroom so that students can develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of these
topics. Since its inception in 2007, SMiS has expanded nationwide, with almost 1700 urban and regional partnerships currently established across the country. There
are no fixed hours or set activities – the nature of the collaboration is negotiated by the teacher and STEM professional, making the partnerships highly flexible and
unique. Activities can range from seminar presentations and classroom exercises, to site visits and project mentoring. In this session, hear about how you could
become involved with the program, and how a SMiS partnership could provide a truly valuable learning opportunity for your students.
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Diana Pham is the ACT and Regional NSW Project Officer for Scientists and Mathematicians in Schools. She has a research background in biomedical engineering,
but has a keen interest in science education and communication.
Just how hard is it to work this stuff out? Theory of Algorithms and Computational Complexity.
Some problems are simply harder than others. Even if a problem is easy, some ways to solve it are more work than others. Long multiplication may seem like a
tedious exercise in year 5, but try it with Roman numerals! I thought I was familiar with the real number line until I realised that most real numbers are
'uncomputable' by any method. Algorithms are recipes to compute answers to problems, and Computational Complexity is the study of how long algorithms take to
complete. While much is known, there's also much which remains a mystery. For example, a million-dollar prize for awaits anyone who can resolve the famous
"P=NP?" problem which amounts to "Are most hard problems actually sort of easy?"
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Zoltán Bacskai has worked as a research mathematician in the Defence Science Technology Organisation since graduating from the ANU in 2000. He has been
involved in maths outreach activities for primary, secondary and tertiary students, through the ANU, AMT, NMSS, Defence, and CSIRO's Scientists In Schools
program. Please approach him about future interactions.
The Big Mac Index and the GINI Index: global and local measures of inequality
The Big Mac Index is a simple method for determining the relative wealth within and between countries. The GINI Index is a way of measuring inequality in any data
set. It is widely used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and most international agencies as a way of measuring inequality of wealth in communities and countries.
These topics can be used effectively in high school settings but are also valuable examples of the applications of college mathematics (including integral calculus) to
real world problems. The indices will be fully explained and participants will be given resources and teacher-ready examples of work to take away.
Heather and Andy Wardrop have taught Mathematics in Act high schools and colleges for almost forty years. Heather is a school leader of the Mathematics Faculty
at Lake Tuggeranong College and Andy is the Deputy Principal at Erindale College.
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Understanding Bushfires with Statistics
Bushfires travelling across complex terrain, such as those experienced in Canberra in 2003, are dynamic, volatile and extremely dangerous. It is well known that
aspects of bushfire behaviour are directly linked to factors such as terrain, fuels and wind conditions, and models incorporating such factors are used across the
world for fire management and research. Unfortunately, due to operational constraints, many of the more complicated features of fire spread are often simplified in
these models. My research aims to use statistics to capture these more complex mechanisms without violating the constraints of operational use. By considering the
probability of different wind conditions, it will be possible to understand the likelihood of different fire behaviours, leading to more informed fire predictions for
operations, management and research.
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Rachael Quill Having completed my undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Statistics at Lancaster University in the UK (with an exchange to ANU in 2009), I
moved to Canberra in 2011. I completed a multi-disciplinary Masters degree at ANU in 2013, covering subjects including Environmental Science, Computing and
some more Mathematics. I am now half way through my PhD program at UNSW Canberra. My studies focus on how to statistically model wind flow over
mountainous regions for input into bushfire prediction systems.
Let’s Locate: A model for industry-based education in schools
Let’s Locate is an innovative education program designed to address Australia’s shortage of surveying and spatial professionals and to equip future decision makers
with an understanding of the capabilities of spatial information and related technologies. Maths and Science are fundamental disciplines. Maths in particular is the
basis of surveying. Let’s Locate is working in schools to attract more students to the spatial industry professions and to assist all school students to become
“Spatially Aware and Literate”. It is now a pilot program in anumber of ACT schools.
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Greg Ledwidge and Jessica Smith are both Registered Land Surveyors in the Act and NSW. Jessica also has a bachelor degree in Mathematics. They are both
involved in the Let’s Locate education program initiated by the ACT regional members of the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute.
Using Technology to teach Statistics in Stage 4- 6
This session will focus on bringing Statistics alive with dynamic Statistics software. Real world data sets will be explored and fun data collection activities will be
experienced. A variety of concepts in the NSW Stage 4-6 courses will be the foundation of the workshop. Participants will also see how to use formative assessment
seamlessly in a lesson.
Tobias Cooper is a Mathematics Coordinator at De La Salle Revesby NSW and has been teaching secondary Mathematics for 18 years. His passion is integrating
technology with contemporary pedagogy into Mathematics lessons to increase student achievement and engagement.
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