Posts in category Current Issues

The new Stage 6 Australian Curriculum – response from the Sydney Morning Herald

Jun13
2012 1 Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The Sydney Morning Herald published this article commenting on the proposed curriculum.

With four courses proposed – 2 non-calculus courses then mathematical methods and specialist mathematics. These last two are loosely equivalent to harder versions of the 2 unit Mathematics course and the Extension 2 mathematics course. Where does that leave Extension 1? Out in the cold!

I am very concerned by this move! Only a small percentage of students go on to study Extension 2 maths, but a middle subject between these two courses makes perfect sense.

What are your thoughts?

Posted in Australian Curriculum - Tagged ACARA, Australian Curriculum, Board of Studies, Stage 6

Things to think about before flipping… Not flipping? — Some thoughts on homework

Apr21
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

Freetech4teachers has recently cautioned about introducing the flipping model. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/04/three-questions-to-consider-before-we.html

Rather than introducing a full-flip model, we just need to rethink homework. What do we want students to be doing at home? What would your best student be doing at home? Here are some thoughts

Consolidation – quality, not quantity
Assignments/Assessments
Preparation

The third of these – preparation is where flipping comes in. We want our students to be preparing for lessons in advance by reading ahead (or watching videos). Surely if our students have a basic knowledge of the content that can be filled out in class, they will benefit.

What are your thoughts? Do your students read ahead?

One other thought on homework is that my best students actually spend time correcting their work and finding the parts of content where they do not completely understand.

Tagged flipping, homework

The new General Maths Syllabus from 2013 – why they decided to introduce it and where to find the new syllabus.

Apr18
2012 1 Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The Board of Studies issued a notice on 12th March which can be accessed here. It seemed like a very hurried announcement with no clear direction. Here is what we know:

The Board of Studies wrote the General 1 and General 2 Syllabus (as well as three new calculus mathematics syllabi) back in 2009.
At a MANSW Annual Conference in 2008 I asked the question of whether the BOS was planning on making schools write new program’s for NSW and then new ones within “a few years” for the National Curriculum (now Australian Curriculum) as it was in the works by ACARA.
The Board of Studies completed these documents but recommended to the minister that they not be implemented (due to ACARA in my opinion).
Schools could implement the General 1 course from 2010?? (from memory) as a Board Endorsed Course (not count towards ATAR)
Then… The implementation of the F-10 Australian Curriculum got delayed… Until 2014 at this stage, if it ever gets implemented
The 11-12 Maths Curriculum seems to be on hold with little information coming out of ACARA on this.
2012 – New HSC Examinations in all Maths courses (including General Maths – for one year???)

So the question has arisen – Why has the Board of Studies decided this year to suddenly implement General 2 as a Board Developed examinable course, which counts towards an ATAR? At the same time General 1 has an elevated status of a Content Endorsed Course, non-examinable and not count towards an ATAR. The 3 Calculus developed courses have been ignored.

The new syllabus was due to be published by the “end of Term 1″ but we haven’t seen it yet. If you’re keen to see the new syllabus then visit this link: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/archives/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/mathematics-general-2-stg6-draft.pdf

Posted in Australian Curriculum - Tagged Australian Curriculum, Board of Studies

A new use for mathematics – to put you to sleep?

Feb17
2012 1 Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

Sometimes us mathematicians get a bad rap.

“what do you do?”

“I’m a maths teacher.”

“oh, I didn’t like maths at school”

Had that conversation before? Checkout life hacker who suggests using numbers as a cure for insomnia.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/02/do-some-maths-if-you-have-trouble-fallingasleep/#.Tz4jFVRIqKI.mailto

Samsung Windows 8 Tablet – the computing solution for education! No longer is iPad an option!

Sep19
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

This little machine ticks almost all the boxes. It is pictured here in ‘laptop/desktop’ mode, where the table part is docked and a bluetooth keyboard is in use.

It is a tablet, so it it highly portable.

You can easily use a normal full size keyboard.

It can be used as a normal laptop

It sports a USB slot as well as mini HDMI and many other connectors.

You can use a tablet pen to write directly on the screen (which is a huge advantage over iPad.) This benefits maths as you can write formulas directly onto the screen.

It runs a full operating system unlike iOS – on Windows 8, you can do anything that you could on a normal PC – laptop or desktop.

Battery life seems to be 9 hours (if it is indeed the same as the Samsung Windows 7 machine).

Downside? The only downside I can see is that it runs a 64GB SSD Hard Drive. Now, I like solid state drives and it would be essential in a device like this, but being limited to 64GB could be a problem (note: the largest iPad is 64GB). With the increase in cloud computing, windows live and windows skydrive, this may abate this problem slightly. There is also the opportunity to expand via USB Keys.

Students

Students can carry the tablet part to school with them easily, as it is highly portable. They can use the on screen keyboard and get full functionality as with a laptop (as opposed to the iPad).

Caution: There has been some discussion that Win8 will not support Flash. Whilst this initially seems a concern, ultimately if Win8 does not support flash, then software and website developers will be forced to change their programming to support HTML5 and possible more native apps.

If you haven’t watched the Windows 8 Keynote from the Windows Build conference, I highly recommend it. I’m Excited!

Posted in iOS, Technology

Free Commonwealth Bank Australian Maths Challenge – Get Mathletics Free for a few weeks!

Aug26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The Commonwealth Bank has teamed up with Mathletics for a competition, where studente complete maths problems on Mathletics. There are 2 big days. August 30 (Curriculum Challenge) and August 31 (Live Mathletics Challenge).

If you’re not already signed up to Mathletics, you can effectively register for the competition and gain access at no charge! Just head over to http://www.mathletics.com.au/challenge

Posted in General Teaching, Technology

CSIRO Maths & Stats By Email

Aug21
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

CSIRO have been sending out “Maths by Email” for some time. They have recently joined forces with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to form “Maths and Stats by email”.

You can subscribe to the fortnightly newsletter here. It includes a news story, brainteasers and a hands-on activity in each newsletter.

Posted in General Teaching

Board of Studies Approved Calculators for the HSC 2011 AND Can you spot the difference between these calculators?

Aug19
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The Board of studies has released this list of approved calculators for this year.

Be careful! Have a look at the two calculators below. Can you spot the difference?

Have a look at the key directly under the ON button and also the display on the screen of both.

Posted in General Teaching, Technology

NSW Board of Studies releases workbooks of HSC Questions and Answers

Aug18
2011 1 Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

In an interesting move, the board of studies has released workbooks that include last years HSC Paper, marking guidelines, markers notes and top students answers. They can be purchased for $15.40 from eBOS Shop Online.