Mathematics Teachers' Day 2013
Tāmaki Innovation Campus, University of Auckland (Map)
Monday 25 November 2013
The annual Mathematics Teachers’ Day will be held on Monday, 25 November 2013, at the
Tamaki Innovation Campus of the University of Auckland, Morrin Road, Glen Innes.
The day is an opportunity to catch up with developments in Mathematics; to share
resources and ideas; to listen to others; and to meet up with people old and new.
Registrations open on Monday 11 November and will close at midday on Thursday 21
November.
Programme outline
8:30 – 9:00 am
Registration
9:00 - 9:50 am
Plenary 1 : Mike Thomas, University of
Auckland
9:50 - 10:20 am
Morning tea
10:20 - 11:20 am
Workshop 1
11:25 am - 12:25 pm
Workshop 2
12:25 - 1:15 pm
Lunch
1:15 - 2:15 pm
Workshop 3
2:20-3:10pm
Plenary 2: Richard Thornton, NZQA
Registration Information
Notice of late withdrawal
If, after registration, you cannot attend, you are welcome to send a replacement from your
school. If you don’t have a replacement please let us know.
Registration Form
Before proceeding to register please ensure that you have selected the workshops you wish
to attend. You will be asked to choose, in order of preference, three workshops in each of
the three sessions. We will do our best to give everyone at least 2 of their first 3 choices.
Registration will be on-line here:
http://www.aucklandmaths.org.nz/upcoming-events/mathematics-and-calculus-day-2013/
Confirmation of registration
Registration will be confirmed (by email) within two days of receipt, and at the latest by late
Thursday afternoon 21 November 2013
Cost

AMA School Members $80 (incl. GST)

AMA Personal Members $60 (incl. GST)

Non-members $100 (incl. GST)

Pre-service Teachers $80 (incl. GST)
Payment details

Payment should be made to the Auckland Mathematical Association (GST Number 55126-402) as soon as possible after registration is confirmed.

Details of payment methods will be included in the information sent with confirmation
of registration.
Contact for queries
Tony Carey
Phone: 09 269 0690 Ext 234
Email: ct@manurewa.school.nz
Plenary Information
Plenary 1
The Transition from School to University: Implications for School Mathematics Teaching
Mike Thomas, Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Auckland
In recent years there has been increased attention paid by international researchers to
issues arising in the transition from school to university study of mathematics. In this talk I
will present some of the findings from two of my research studies that examined this. One
was a New Zealand study funded by the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) and
the other an international survey team I led that reported to the 2012 International
Congress on Mathematical Education held in Seoul. Some implications of these studies for
school mathematics teaching in New Zealand will be discussed and I will present a few
mathematical examples to illustrate them.
Plenary 2
Future Pathways and developments in New Zealand qualifications and assessment
Richard Thornton, Deputy Chief Executive, Qualifications, NZQA
Richard has a background as a teacher of mathematics; Head of Department at Avondale
College; Principal at Penrose and Manurewa High Schools; and National Manager Northern
Region of the Education Review Office.
Workshop Information
Please read the information on workshops carefully prior to registering. You may wish to
consult with other teachers from your school before making your workshop selections.
Note that in each workshop session there is a “Curriculum and Assessment Forum”. Each
school is encouraged to have one of their participants attend one of these sessions. They
will discuss current issues in secondary school mathematics. This will help focus members of
the AMA Executive when they meet with Geoff Gibbs, a Lead Adviser for the Ministry of
Education, and Richard Thornton, the Deputy Chief Executive, Qualifications of NZQA at a
meeting later in the day.
Please make sure you have noted your selections prior to going to the
registration form.
Workshop 1
Choose three in order of preference
1A
Calculus and Forensics
Ricky Pedersen, De La Salle College
In this workshop I will show you how to introduce forensics into your teaching. We will look
at blood analysis with trigonometry, Newtons law of cooling and a few other fun ideas. We
will also look at a unit on teaching the unit circle using spaghetti!
This workshop will be repeated in Workshop Session 3
1B
Achievement in Mathematics and Statistics – Years 1-13
Geoff Gibbs, Lead Adviser, Senior Secondary Team, Ministry of Education
This workshop will look at what we know about student achievement in mathematics and
statistics at both primary and secondary school levels. This will involve consideration of:
the available data including international and domestic evidence
what enables change in student achievement
what are the barriers to change in student achievement
options for change.
Time will be available for input of ideas and discussion on the above.
This workshop will be repeated in Workshop Session 3
1C
Work Routines for Academic Support Students
Masina Poe-Tofaeono, Papatoetoe High School and Ranee Prasad, Rosehill College
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In this session, our personal trainers will give you tips and strategies for muscle success
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routine, we guarantee visible results within the first term.
1D
An alternative Year 12 course that is not Statistics or Statistics based !
Cheryl Everitt, Waiuku College
This presentation will cover why we changed from a Statistics based alternative Year 12
course and what standards we included. I will share the things that worked and the things
that did not, including the mundane such as timing and order. There will be some analysis
that includes student evaluations as well as results. Sharing of ideas and discussion will be
welcome.
1E
Running a Gifted and Talented in Mathematics programme at your school
Marion Steel, Team Solutions, University of Auckland
The needs of students who are gifted and talented in mathematics are unlikely to be met by
a generic G&T programme. I will share my experience as the G&T mathematics co-ordinator
for a large school, organising both classroom based and co-curricular programmes. There
will be an opportunity to discuss effective strategies for supporting mathematically gifted
and talented students, and to share resources.
1F
Cooperative Learning
Gillian Frankcom, School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Auckland
Working in groups of four, workshop participants will be problem-solving together, within
the tradition of cooperative learning, which has a huge body of theory behind it. Groups can
choose which levels to work at, from senior mathematics to primary number acquisition.
This is both grouped and practical – hitting some key concepts that your department may
have found difficult to address.
1G
Supporting the classroom via YouTube, facebook groups, google drive and
Wikispaces.
Priscilla Allan, Pakuranga College
Towards the end of 2012 I started using facebook groups to help students locate my
electronic resources on my wikispaces and YouTube. The system works for me and many of
my students find the additional 24/7 support helpful. This does not mean I am answering
their questions 24/7, it means they can watch a video recorded in class to help them at any
time. A bit of a show and tell will be followed by questions, answers and discussions.
http://2013stats.wikispaces.com/
http://2013maths.wikispaces.com/
1H
Curriculum and Assessment Forum 1
Schools are invited to send one representative to one of these three forums to discuss
current issues facing secondary mathematics teachers in curriculum and assessment. The
session will be chaired by a member of the Auckland Mathematical Association Executive.
The Executive will meet at the end of the day with Geoff Gibbs, a Lead Adviser from the
Ministry of Education, and Richard Thornton, the Deputy Chief Executive, Qualifications of
NZQA. Issues and concerns will be raised on behalf of our members and member schools at
this meeting and hopefully we can offer some suggestions and solutions as well.
Further forums will be available in workshop sessions 2 and 3
Workshop 2
Choose three in order of preference
2A
What can we expect in excellence questions ?
Jan Wallace, Educational Consultant and Ingrd Rinsma, Hillcrest High School
“That was not what I expected for excellence.” This workshop will aim at exploring just
what might be expected for excellence in the externally assessed achievement standards
and provide the opportunity for discussion.
This workshop will be repeated in Workshop Session 3.
2B
How the Sports in Education Project affected year 9 students.
Colin Andersen, Howick College
This is a review of an inquiry learning project, run over 6 weeks in 2013.
A cohort of just over 400 students studied the Measurement topic in term 2 of this year.
Some of the classes were exposed to activities based on sports while others were not.
Before the topic began a survey of the student’s attitude to maths was taken.
A very similar survey was taken after the topic had been completed. 9 classes managed to
complete the two surveys.
The analysis was completed on the changes in attitude to maths, in isolation and also
compared to other “core” subjects.
Students were asked to comment on the activities undertaken.
The results were surprising. As an additional inquiry, I decided to look at the summative
assessment at the end of the measurement topic. I hope to have this ready for presentation
on the Mathematics Day.
2C
“Some Mathematical Gems and Intersecting Planes”
Philip Lloyd, Epsom Girls’ Grammar School
Philip will present a few mathematical gems based on his philosophy of “Teaching
Mathematics using Reasons not Rules” plus an innovative, little known insight for
understanding “Intersections of Planes” which even intrigued Douglas Butler, the founder
of “Autograph” and Director of ICT Training Centre (Oundle, England)
2D
Critical Path Analysis
Johanna McHardy, Mount Albert Grammar School
Although this is a Level 3 Standard, this Achievement Standard is suitable for any course at
any level. This workshop is aimed at those who have never taught this standard and those
who are looking for a different method that is pretty much agony-free and fool-proof and
can get students to Merit and Excellence. I will provide teaching materials that are readily
useable in the classroom.
2E
Lessons with LOGO
Gillian Frankcom, School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Auckland
This workshop will be hands-on and be held in a Computer Suite with PC’s. LOGO lessons
take students through to understanding exterior angles of polygons, programming and
making artful pictures ! This is a very investigative approach and so I will talk about
pedagogy and alternative ways of learning mathematics.
2F
Using a broad range of Problem-solving Heuristics
Peter Watson, Retired Secondary Teacher and active Researcher
In recent studies on problem solving teachers have indicated they tend to rely on a limited
number of favourite strategies from among the many that are possible. George Pólya in
1945 published the book “How to Solve It” and introduced us to a problem-solving plan and
problem-solving strategies which he called heuristics. These are as relevant today as they
were back then. The current curriculum has identified a few of these heuristics but they are
“scattered” throughout the online version of the curriculum documents and may not be
immediately obvious. In this presentation a wide range of heuristics will be discussed that
can be used in a problem-solving situation together with explanations of how to use them
and problems to use them on.
2G
Manipulative number strategies
Jyoti Jhagroo, School of Education, Auckland University of Technology
This workshop focuses on ancient and interesting manipulative number strategies
[multiplication, squaring numbers, multiplication by 11, etc]. I will also have a little activity
and a booklet for teachers of Y9 to 11 to take away.
2H
Curriculum and Assessment Forum 2
Schools are invited to send one representative to one of these three forums to discuss
current issues facing secondary mathematics teachers in curriculum and assessment. The
session will be chaired by a member of the Auckland Mathematical Association Executive.
The Executive will meet at the end of the day with Geoff Gibbs, a Lead Adviser from the
Ministry of Education, and Richard Thornton, the Deputy Chief Executive, Qualifications of
NZQA. Issues and concerns will be raised on behalf of our members and member schools at
this meeting and hopefully we can offer some suggestions and solutions as well.
A further forum will be available in workshop session 2
Workshop 3
Choose three in order of preference
3A
Productive Noticing: The case of calculus in secondary school
Ban Heng Choy, University of Auckland
Mathematics teacher noticing—what mathematics teachers see and how they understand
instructional events or details they see in classrooms (Jacobs, Lamb, & Philipp, 2010; Mason,
2002; Sherin & van Es, 2003)—is central to mathematics teaching practices (Mason, 2002)
and is necessary for improving teaching (Schoenfeld, 2011). But what makes noticing
productive?
In this presentation-workshop, I will share with teachers the notion of noticing, and my
current characterization of productive noticing. Teachers will then apply these ideas to
problems encountered in their teaching of calculus, and look at these problems in practice
through the lens of productive noticing, in order to explore new possibilities on how to
respond to the learning difficulties of their students. The problems discussed will be drawn
from the sample paper and 2012 examination paper for standard 91262. Handouts will be
provided.
3B
Achievement in Mathematics and Statistics – Years 1-13
Geoff Gibbs, Lead Adviser, Senior Secondary Team, Ministry of Education
This workshop will look at what we know about student achievement in mathematics and
statistics at both primary and secondary school levels. This will involve consideration of:
the available data including international and domestic evidence
what enables change in student achievement
what are the barriers to change in student achievement
options for change.
Time will be available for input of ideas and discussion on the above.
This workshop is a repeat of the one in Workshop Session 1
3C
What can we expect in excellence questions ?
Jan Wallace, Educational Consultant and Ingrd Rinsma, Hillcrest High School
“That was not what I expected for excellence.” This workshop will aim at exploring just
what might be expected for excellence in the externally assessed achievement standards
and provide the opportunity for discussion.
This is a repeat of the workshop in Workshop Session 2.
3D
Decimal Fraction Understanding using Manipulatives and the
Numeracy Teaching Model
Gail Ledger, School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Auckland
In this workshop you will manipulate different equipment models and solve whole number
calculations that result in decimal fraction answers. The use of The Numeracy Teaching
Model will enable you to explore how the solving of problems on materials can assist
students to use, and understand, traditional recording methods.
3E
A review of the 2013 Scholarship Calculus Paper
Rory Barrett, Macleans College
Rory will talk about this year’s scholarship calculus paper. He will compare it with other
recent papers as well as recent Cambridge A Level and NCEA Level 3 papers.
3F
Calculus and Forensics
Ricky Pedersen, De La Salle College
In this workshop I will show you how to introduce forensics into your teaching. We will look
at blood analysis with trigonometry, Newtons law of cooling and a few other fun ideas. We
will also look at a unit on teaching the unit circle using spaghetti!
This is a repeat of the workshop in Workshop Session 1
3G
Curriculum and Assessment Forum 3
Schools are invited to send one representative to one of these three forums to discuss
current issues facing secondary mathematics teachers in curriculum and assessment. The
session will be chaired by a member of the Auckland Mathematical Association Executive.
The Executive will meet at the end of the day with Geoff Gibbs, a Lead Adviser from the
Ministry of Education, and Richard Thornton, the Deputy Chief Executive, Qualifications of
NZQA. Issues and concerns will be raised on behalf of our members and member schools at
this meeting and hopefully we can offer some suggestions and solutions as well.