Musings on Maths, education, teaching and technology.
As net-books continue to outpace the rest of the PC industry, prices falling and specs improving, are they ready for prime-time use in schools?
I have dallied with eeePCs back in the day, I was impressed then, unfortunately school didn’t back that up with a permanent wireless network and they have been little used since. Back then the main issues were small screens, small keyboards and small batteries. All of these features have been greatly improved over the past two years.
The new KS3 Framework has a renewed focus on using and applying Maths along with developing the Personal, learning and thinking skills and the Cross-curricular dimensions introduced with the new National Curriculum.
On reflection the content which we need to deliver has changed little and so with some tweaking our previous scheme of work will suffice in structure. This statutory change in the manner in which we deliver the content and offer opportunities to put the Maths in context, develop pupils personal skills and link in with other subjects can only be a good thing in my opinion.
There are a number of fantastic resource banks out there full of ‘rich’ mathematical tasks which we could use:
nRich: Hundreds of puzzles and investigations, updated monthly.
Kangaroo Maths: Particularly Using & Applying and Enrichment sections.
Bowland Maths: New resources designed specifically with the new curriculum in mind.
Defence Dynamics: Interactive resources / lesson plans based on real world scenarios from the MoD.
Of particular interest are the Bowland Maths resources, these have been produced by the Bowland Charitable Trust in conjunction with the NCETM. To quote their site:
‘Bowland Maths makes maths fun for pupils aged 11-14. The aim is to help change pupils’ views of maths by increasing their motivation and enjoyment, which should help increase their confidence and their competence. A second aim is to help teach maths in a different way.
The Bowland Maths materials look very different from most maths teaching materials. They consist of innovative case study problems, each taking 3-5 lessons, designed to develop thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills – as in the revised Key Stage 3 curriculum. Each case study is different, but all provide pupils and teachers with problems that are fun and engaging, while also being a rich maths experience. The case studies are not remotely like answering questions from a book. For Portraits of the case studies, click here.’
As a department we will be reviewing a number of these resources and planning their integration into our teaching over the coming weeks. I will add more in the future about any particular highlights.
Have you any other links to quality resources to enrich Maths teaching? How is your department tackling these changes?
I have introduced a fantastic resource into both of my recent schools over the last 2 years. It continues to impress me to this day and it’s about time I wrote a glowing review of it!
MyMaths.co.uk has been around for a couple of years now and continues to grow. When I originally bought it for my previous school it consisted of a series of excellent lessons with interactive elements for use on the IWB or a pupil’s individual computer.
Sample lesson:
There are also a wealth of excellent games focussing on all manner of mathematical skills. These are tremendously popular with pupils and work brilliantly on IWBs. A particular highlight of these are the leaderboards, showing the highest score of the day and of all time for all users. It’s a great incentive trying to beat other schools!
Over the last year online homeworks have been introduced. Each pupil is given an individual login so that their progress can be tracked. All of your class and pupil details can be uploaded with a simple csv file. This gives you the ability to set whole classes homework tasks and to monitor their progress online – no marking required! These combine with the excellent ‘Booster Packs’ designed to move pupils on to KS3 Levels 4 and 6, and GCSE levels C, B & A*.
The Management Console where you can assign tasks etc:
Pupil Feedback:
Overall MyMaths is a comprehensive suite of lessons, games, homeworks and other tools that covers the entire UK National Curriculum for Maths. The resources are well written and of a much higher standard than alternatives such as SAM Learning, it is also much easier to navigate than many of its competitors. Our pupils now complete more homework than they used to and have been spotted playing on the games in spare time during other subjects! A considerable number of pupils come back to the department during their lunchtimes to work through the Boosters. I must add that this includes a number of pupils who were not greatly engaged with Maths previously and who are now excelling.
At a cost of £400 per year, MyMaths represents excellent value for money. I am expecting to get much more use out of it now that I have taken delivery of 6 eeePCs for my classroom. Initial tests show that the site scales well to the size of the screen and I expect pupils will use it in the majority of my lessons.
So a gushing review, but one that is deserved, well done to the team behind it and long may the improvements keep coming.
me elsewhere