13 - 17 Jan 2018 (Sat-Weds)
St Hilda's College, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010
Enabling your students to work in a way that is similar to the way a research mathematician works can dramatically change the classroom experience, for the better. Would you like to find out how, for example, a topic like Pythagoras' Theorem could be approached a little differently?
This professional development event will give you more information about the MathsCraft program, and equip you to become a leader of MathsCraft sessions in your area.
What is Mathscraft?
In their work, research mathematicians do not generally:
- Sit competitions
- Have daily lessons or lectures
- Study for tests and exams
So what do they do? Among other things, they use previously learned facts and know-how to build solutions to problems, problems that they initially have no idea how to solve.
In MathsCraft sessions, teachers and students get to do just this, in a supportive, collaborative, conversation rich environment. The DMLARM session leader poses problems, provokes participants and organises the sharing of the ideas that are being had in the group. The problems are constructed to give students and teachers an authentic experience of doing mathematical research, at their level.
MathsCraft sessions have been running since 2012, led by Anthony Harradine, Director of the Potts–Baker Institute at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide. In 2015 and 2016, in collaboration with ACEMS, sessions were held at the University of Melbourne, Ballarat Grammar School, University of Adelaide, University of Technology Sydney and the Queensland University of Technology.
More details about MathsCraft sessions can be found here.
Who might be a good session leader?
A MathsCraft session leader might be a secondary teacher of mathematics who:
- Likes mathematics;
- Is generally inquisitive;
- Is not afraid of problems that they can not solve;
- Believes that students can solve problems by themselves, if the problems are appropriate;
- Is interested in learning how to help students develop reasoned responses to a problem, as opposed to providing them with solutions;
- Wants to learn more than they already know.
What you will get out of it / your commitment
This training workshop will give you the knowledge and resources needed to be a MathsCraft Session Leader and run MathsCraft sessions on your own. You will have to be willing to conduct 2 MathsCraft sessions in 2018, and have your school's support to do so. We will provide ongoing support for the running of these sessions.
The approaches used in MathsCraft sessions can be applied more generally to the everyday classroom. This workshop will include sessions that illustrate how topics like Pythagoras Theorem can be transformed into a research-like experience for students.
Official Professional Development certification will be provided by the University of Adelaide.
Event Details
| Where: | St Hilda's College, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010 |
| When: | 1pm Sat 13 Jan – 1pm Wed 17 Jan, 2018 |
| Cost: | Travel only (attendance and board is free) |
| Contact: | Please register interest by contacting Anita Ponsaing <aponsaing@unimelb.edu.au>. |
About the facilitator
Anthony Harradine began teaching mathematics in 1984. Currently Director of the Potts-Baker Institute at Prince Alfred College, he has spent the last eleven years trying to better understand his 'failures' of the previous twenty-one. His many mentors have taught him lots about mathematics and statistics, problem solving, and research. He likes nothing better than sharing ideas with anyone silly enough to listen. He really likes mathematics.
In the recent past his professional time has been filled with a variety of tasks that include: facilitator problem-solving workshops, mathematical-person in residence, leader of a unique STEM project (eduKart), Advisory Board Member (The University of Adelaide, Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences), Prime Ministerial working group member (Transforming Learning and the Transmission of Knowledge), consultant, web application developer, curriculum writer and teacher.
This event is being run with the support of: The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS), the Potts-Baker Institute, and the University of Adelaide.