A busy end to 2024 with the Maths in Schools team.
Our Maths in Schools team have been busy attending and presenting at numerous end of year conferences and events around the country in recent weeks, including Digicon for Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV), the Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV) conference, the Mathematical Association of Western Australia (MAWA) conference and the South Australia STEM conference.
We were excited to have the opportunity to present at Digicon 2024 in Melbourne, for Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV). Celia Coffa and Toni Falusi's workshop focused on the connections between Maths and Digital Technologies, presenting some practical, fun classroom activities which were really well received by a very engaged group of educators.
At the Mathematical Association of Victoria Conference (MAV24), the Maths in Schools team and the team from Mathematics Hub joined together to share our free resources with a large crowd of educators. Celia Coffa and Dr John West, from the Maths in Schools team, brought the Maths in Schools Project to life during their workshop at the conference held at LaTrobe University in Melbourne. With over 1,000 teachers in attendance, the event buzzed with activity as educators visited the Mathematics Hub stand.
John also co-presented with Martin Richards, Content Manager from the Mathematics Hub at the Mathematical Association of Western Australia (MAWA) conference in Perth. Together, they hosted an engaging session demonstrating hands-on mathematical modelling tasks for Years 1-6.
Lyn Dyer, Jojo Chen and John represented our team on a stand at the South Australia STEM Conference at the UniSA, Mawson Lakes Campus. The conference brought together around 170 delegates to engage in the conference theme of "Harnessing STEM: Empowering Innovators" sharing the potential of STEM to nurture hope, shape positivity and build thriving communities. The team shared lots of free resources from Maths in Schools, Mathematics Hub, our CSER Digital Technology offerings including the recently updated Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence MOOCs and the National Lending Library.
Our final two events for the year were held in early December kicking off with John running a workshop here on The University of Adelaide campus focussed on Mathematical Modelling, Investigations and Explicit Teaching. During this workshop, John demonstrated how mathematical modelling, maths investigations and explicit teaching are complementary approaches that combine to produce confident, competent users of mathematics. John also provided a range of take away classroom-ready resources to inspire students and showcased the Maths in Schools online courses together with resources from the Mathematics Hub. It was lovely to catch up with a wonderful group of teachers face to face sharing ideas and finding new inspiration for the classroom.
This workshop was followed by our final maths webinar for the year held in collaboration with ATSIMA. Dr Caty Morris delivered a webinar on First Nations Australian Counting Systems to a highly engaged group of educators! This quickfire 30 minute workshop finished with an insightful chat and questions sparked by the presentation. A recording and supporting teacher background information document will be available on the Mathematics Hub Webinar page.
The team looks forward to attending more events across Australia in 2025. If you are interested in participating in free Maths in Schools Professional Learning with a member of our national team, please register your interest via the Mathematics Hub: Maths in Schools Professional Learning page.
This initiative is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education and is part of the Maths in Schools: Teaching and Learning Resources to Support Mathematics project.
