Ruth Lansdell is a tutor in the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) in Tasmania. Through her own love of numbers and patterns she has supported her (formerly reticent) students to become excited about investigating mathematics. Sample reports from her students have been added to the Indigenous Students link on the left. Read down that page to find reports entitled:
- Patterns With Nines by Tim Butterworth
- The Twelve Days of Christmas by Luke Swan & Dylan Gow-Lapham
Erin Sells from Ernabella Anangu School, South Australia, has sent more photos of her kids working with tasks from the Task Centre Kit for Aboriginal Students. The faces and body language tell a great story. Access from this link, or through the Indigenous Students link on the left.
Maths on the Move offers 14 one day professional development programs which can be used independently or in a sequence, one established six day program for Years K-8 and one six program for Years 4-10 which is in development. This month we feature the one day program:
Indigenous Students Working Mathematically
For more than a decade we have been collecting stories of success from teachers of Indigenous students. The common theme in this anthology is Working Mathematically in a context of best teaching practice. The purpose of this workshop is to retell those stories to uplift, resource and encourage participants. These exciting learning experiences have much to offer every teacher. The session involves practical, hands-on investigations supported by photographs or other classroom-based evidence of student work. You will discover the link between the Task Centre Project logo and Aboriginal people; explore the Task Centre Kit for Aboriginal Students; learn about research evidence showing extensive improvement for Indigenous students; and fill your notebook with ideas to try with your own students.Please read more about the background of our programs in the Maths on the Move link on the left, or review all our programs in the Workshop Library.
Do you have Poly Plug in your school? Last month, two tasks were added to the list of those which can be investigated as a whole class using this resource. This month another one, Plate Triangles, has been added. The plugs provide a wonderful visual image of two ways to sum the triangle numbers, which is the algebraic generalisation underlying part of this task. Two ways of showing the generalisation, lead to two different symbolic representations and therefore offer opportunity to explore equivalent algebraic expressions. Poly Plug is a task centre support resource, so you can also find your way to this information through the Resources link on the left.
Plate Triangles had its beginning as task during the original development of the Task Centre Kit for Indigenous Students. The task investigates number patterns (natural numbers and triangles numbers) in a large scale visual/kinaesthetic way. Floor space is advised. Beyond the initial investigation the task offers number puzzles a little like magic squares and also opens the door to visual algebra, which leads in turn to symbolic algebra. So, shape number and algebra all in the same task - pretty rich really.
The Farmer's Puzzles is another spatial context which is deeper than it first appears. The problems offered are all spatial - the farmer has to create pens for her animals according to certain conditions - but asking the appropriate What happens if...? questions leads to a visual pattern, which can be represented by number pairs which are governed by a simple algebraic rule. The tasks also suggests several spatial extensions.
Read about these Tasks of the Month in Task Cameos in the Iceberg Information link on the left, or click on a photo to go straight to printable information about the task. Add the printed files to your Cameo Collection. There is a cover page for your collection in the Iceberg Information link.
If so you missed information about:
- Professional development opportunities for 2007.
- Iceberg Information about two Tasks of the Month.
- Tasks being used at Ernabella Anangu School.
- An update to the Working Mathematically link.
- More tasks which can be investigated using Poly Plug.
- ... and a little about Eric The Sheep.
