Task Centre News

February 2005

• Maths With Attitude
  This is a resource from Years 3 - 10 like no other.
  • Practical hands-on problems
  • Whole class investigations
  • Integrated software
  • Teachers manuals with week by week planners
  All designed to integrate with the best of what you already do. Kits have been prepared in Paired Year levels:
  • Years 3/4, Years 5/6, Years 7/8, Years 9/10
  • In each kit, for each level there is weeks of work to help all students learn to work like a mathematician.
  At each paired level kits come in four strands:
  • Chance & Measurement
  • Number & Computation
  • Pattern & Algebra
  • Space & Logic
  In total there is 25 weeks of problem-solving/investigative work provided for each and every level.

  These kits capture years of work by many teachers who have been stimulated and challenged to search out the features of better maths teaching and learning. Find out more detail in the Resources link on the left.

• Flinders Christian College
  Michael Swanborough tells us:

  This year we have programmed a range of Tasks/Maths 300 lessons across Years 7-10 so the staff are becoming more familiar. We are also getting staff to present one task/lesson each at faculty meetings through the year so that each person in the faculty becomes familiar with at least 10-15 new activities. The level of enthusiasm amongst staff and students is encouraging and we are appreciative of all of the work you have put into the Maths With Attitude kits - they are fantastic!!

  Thanks once again for all of your hard work - it is making maths relevant and meaningful to lots of students!!

  Of course the hard work is being done by Michael and his team and it's great to hear of a staff working together so enthusiastically and seeing the results of their efforts. However, there is a big background thank you in Michael's note to all the teachers in all the schools who, over many years, have been willing to enter the debate about what makes maths teaching better; and willing to share the best of what they have done in a way that we have been able to collect and structure.

  You are also encouraged to become engaged in this debate through the tasks and investigative lessons built on them. It only takes a paragraph like Michael's to share your efforts more widely.

• Maths on the Move
  Whatever your professional development needs this year, it is likely we can service them through our library of 13 Maths on the Move workshops. If not, then we will design a program just for you. School or cluster or district or mathematical association or whole system - our programs have been successfully used at all levels.

  In the Maths on the Move link on the left there are already opportunities for teachers in Victoria, South Australia and Far North Queensland. Preliminary details for programs in Northern Territory are also available.

  • Victoria
    We are delighted to have formed a partnership with the MAV. You are strongly encouraged to get in early for these programs. Application Form in the MOTM link.
  • Cairns & Tablelands
    One session in Cairns only at the moment. Application Form in the MOTM link.
  • South Australia
    Programs planned in partnership with DECS and AISSA. Details in the MOTM link.

• Indigenous Students Working Mathematically
  We are in the process of planning a new MOTM workshop day titled Indigenous Students Working Mathematically. We know there has been great success in many schools with the Task Centre Kit for Aboriginal Students. We also know, especially from work in the Changing Places project in Tasmania, that Poly Plug have been a successful source of hands-on learning for Indigenous students through the primary years.

  The intention of the workshop will be to tell stories from Indigenous classrooms and stories about Indigenous students to uplift, resource and encourage participants who are working with Indigenous students.

  WE NEED MORE OF YOUR STORIES.

  If you have been involved in Indigenous learning using the Task Centre materials and related resources and have been excited about the developments you have seen in your students, please send text, photos, scans etc. with permission for us to use the information. Anything from a paragraph to an encyclopedia would be welcome.

  USA readers take note. We know that our Indigenous material has been used in some of your schools too, so let's hear some of your stories.

• Special Discounts
  Our review of service, prices and products which took effect from October 1st led us to discontinue some lines in favour of the exciting new range of Maths With Attitude kits which offer hands-on problem solving and whole class investigation alternatives from Years 3 - 10. See the Resources link on the left for more information about MWA.

  We have some stock of the discontinued lines on the shelf and they are now available at substantial discount. Prices listed are for sales within Australia only. Clients from beyond Australia please ask for a quote. Prices include GST and delivery in Australia.

  Discontinued Replacement Units

  • Now available at $299 each (were $357.50)
  • Each kit is made up of 20 tasks and a manual of extensive notes and investigation sheets.
    • 20 x Pattern & Algebra Upper Primary
      (NB: The 20 tasks in this kit include doubles of three tasks.)
    • [4] 0 x Pattern & Algebra Lower Secondary
      (2/2/2005 - All Sold!)
    • 18 x Computation Upper Primary
    • 25 x Computation Lower Secondary

  Discontinued Mixed Media Unit 2: Fractions in Action

  • Now available at $275 each (were $302.50)
  • Each kit is made up of 10 tasks, two manuals of extensive notes and investigation sheets and software on floppy disk.
  • The software is for Windows only and is an earlier version of Fraction Estimation which is now on Maths300.
  • The software is sold with a Campus Licence giving the purchaser the right to use it on any number of computers on the one physical campus.
  • There are 25 of these kits available.

  To order, fax your purchase order made out to Black Douglas Professional Education Services to (03) 9727 4644. State the items you want and add the words 'discontinued lines'. To talk further about this offer, ring (03) 9726 8316 or email:
  doug@blackdouglas.com.au.

  NOTE: The Chance & Data Replacement Unit which is designed for Upper Primary and Lower Secondary classes, and Mixed Media Unit 1, Points of View, remain on our Resources list as examples of two different unit plans which integrate hands-on problem solving into the mathematics curriculum. Maths With Attitude requires Maths300 Membership. These Units do not.

• Working Mathematically Reviewed
  The printable form of the Working Mathematically Process (see Working Mathematically link on the left) is now available as a Word Document or as a PDF document. The document has been reviewed and has become two pages. The first is a one page summary of our work which is useful background. You could find it valuable when briefing colleagues about the possibilities of working with the Task Centre Project. The second page is a framework students paste to the inside cover of their maths journal, or teachers use to guide a wall display - or both!

• eBuddies Wanted
  Our tasks are the only resources you can find in schools all over the world. That means students in Australia, Sweden, UK, USA, ... can work together using exactly the same material. Try doing that with a text book!

  Andy Martin has organised a successful eBuddy network before and wants to do so again. PLEASE HELP. There are many benefits which accrue apart from young mathematicians talking with each other.

  • At this stage of the year Northern Hemisphere schools are just firing up, so this is a great time to begin an adventure which can continue through this academic year.
  • Southern Hemisphere schools are winding down for their summer holiday, but now that exams are more or less out of the way it is a great way to add an interest to the curriculum.
  PLEASE register your interest directly with Andy Martin at either of these email addresses and help him get this under way.
  • andy@1martin1.freeserve.co.uk
  • andy.martin@thorne.doncaster.sch.uk

• Did you miss the December/January News?
  If so you missed information about:
  1. In depth task teaching.

Keep smiling,
Doug.

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