EDMA262 Week 1 reflection

Key ideas for mathematics content area

Relational understanding= the ability to make connections
from general mathematics and use it in a in-depth way to find
the solution (Skemp, 1978)
Instrumental understanding= the ability to apply a rule to find
a solution without knowing why you are doing this (Boaler,
2014 & Skemp, 1978)
A constructivist view of learning
Students should be mentally active for learning to occur
They construct their own knowledge and understandings; we cannot
transmit ideas to passive learners
Knowledge and understandings are unique
Learners need to build new knowledge from prior knowledge. (Van de
Walle et al. 2015).

Teaching strategies for the mathematics content area

Plan and implement to help children understand and engage
actively (Sexton, 2016)
Children need to know the importance of mistake making and
to not see it as a bad thing but as a way to improve (Sexton,
2016)
Repetition helps children to grasp the idea as the same
concept will be explained in several different ways on different
occasions (Sexton, 2016)

Learning activities for the math content area

One block change train- for early childhood and early primary
learners
This activity uses relational understanding, as students need
to know both the how and why the next block is placed down
in order to complete the train. Children are able to understand
the different attributes and properties. (Sexton, 2016)

Concrete and/or virtual materials for learning the mathematics

Attribute blocks are a concrete material to help both early
childhood and primary aged children learn (Sexton, 2016)

Links to early years learning framework and Australian curriculum:

mathematics curriculum documentation
Patterns and algebra:
Foundation level: Sort and classify familiar objects and explain
the basis for these classifications. Copy, continue and create
patterns with objects and drawings. (ACARA, 2012)
Shape
 Foundation level: sort, describe and name familiar two-
dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the
environment
Level 1: Recognise and classify familiar two-dimensional and
three-dimensional objects using obvious features (ACARA,
2012)
Location and transformation
Foundation level: describe position and movement (ACARA,
2012)

Implications for future teaching

When introducing a new material, provide time to play, and
then focus by asking questions focused on the mathematics.
(Sexton, 2016)

Reference list
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2012). The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Sydney,
Australia: ACARA.
Boaler, J. (2014). The mathematics of hope. Retrieved from
www.youcubed.org/wp-content/uploads/Mathematics-of-Hope-
Paper2.pdf
Sexton, M. (2016). EDMA262 Tutorial 1, 2016: Teaching and
learning mathematics for relational understanding: What does
it mean to be a teacher and a learner of mathematics.
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://leo.acu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=19166.
Sexton, M. (2016). EDMA262 Lecture 1 2016: Teaching and
learning mathematics for relational understanding: What does
it mean to be a teacher and a learner of mathematics.
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://leo.acu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=19166.
Skemp, R.R. (1978). Relational understanding and
instrumental understanding, The arithmetic teacher. 26(3), 9-
15.
Van De Walle et al. (2015). Chapter 2: Exploring what it means
to know and do mathematics (p37-53)

EDMA262 Week 2 reflection

Key ideas for mathematics content area

Development of pre-number concepts, counting and early
number sense (Van De Walle 2015 & Sexton, 2016)
Classification skills are prerequisite to any meaningful number
work (Sexton, 2016)
Patterns, repeating patterns, ordinal number (Sexton, 2016)
 Early number development: conservation of number,
comparison, one to one correspondence, group recognition
(subitising) (Sexton, 2016)
The understanding of corresponding one object to one other
object is important for students to engage with higher order
counting understandings and skills. (Sexton, 2016)

Teaching strategies for the mathematics content area

Questioning and giving them the chance to question their
learning (Sexton, 2016)
Giving opportunities to facilitate their learning (Sexton, 2016)
Breaking it down to understand why (Sexton, 2016)
Open ended questions (Sexton, 2016)
I wonder statements (Sexton, 2016)
Engaging experiences (Sexton, 2016)
Facilitate rich discussions (Sexton, 2016)
Make connections between the ideas that are learning with
what they already know and make connections of this new
learning to their experiences in the real world (Sexton, 2016)
Grouping items and asking them to tell you the rules that they
used (Sexton, 2016)
We need to adopt the role of provocateur when teaching
mathematics in the early years (Perry and Dockett, 2002)
Undertaking mathematics activities and have the potential to
learn mathematics while playing (Sexton, 2016)

Learning activities for the mathematics content area

Who has more helps children to understand number sense and
pre number concepts. (Sexton, 2016)
Block play supports young children to notice important
mathematical ideas such as the pre number concepts, early
counting and number sense. (Perry & Dockett, 2002).
Tens frame snap helps children to convince that even though
numbers can look different there still might be the same
number on the cards. Children can also learn to subitise.
(Sexton, 2016)
Using childrens literature: background of the story, using
relational understanding of maths concepts to understand the
story, maths emerges naturally and can be used to explore
maths in a non-contrived/forced way. (Sexton, 2016).

Concrete and/or virtual materials for learning the mathematics

Play
Problem solving
Problem posing
Self-directed activities
Representations/images
 Tens frame (Sexton, 2016)
Dominoes (Sexton, 2016)
Unifix blocks (Sexton, 2016)

Links to early years learning framework and Australian curriculum:

mathematics curriculum document
Number and place value
Foundation level- Establish understanding of the language and
processes of counting by naming numbers in sequences,
initially to and from 20, moving from any starting point.
Connect number names, numerals and quantities, including
zero, initially up to zero and then beyond. Subitise small
collections of objects, Represent practical situations to model
addition and sharing, Compare, order and make
correspondences between collections, initially to 20, and
explain reasoning.
Level 1: Represent and solve simple addition and subtraction
problems using a range of strategies including counting on,
partitioning and rearranging parts. (ACARA, 2012)
Patterns and algebra
Foundation level- sort and classify familiar objects and explain
the basis for these classifications. Copy, continue and create
patterns with objects and drawings.
Level 1: Investigate and describe number patterns formed by
skip counting and patterns with objects. (ACARA, 2012)
Data representation and interpretation
Foundation level- Answer yes/no questions to collect
information
Level 1: Represent data with objects and drawings where one
object or drawing represents one data value. Describe the
displays. (ACARA, 2012)

Implications for future teaching

Prepare and explore the activity
Well informed
Well resourced
Adapting the activity to make it easier or harder depending on
students
Support the students understanding of vocabulary

Reference list
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2012). The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Sydney,
Australia: ACARA.
Dockett, S & Perry, B. (2002). Smoothing the way: What makes
a successful school transition program? In education links.
(65), 6-10.
 Sexton, M. (2016). EDMA262 Tutorial 2, 2016: Development of
pre-number concepts, counting and early number sense.
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://leo.acu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=19166.
Sexton, M. (2016). EDMA262 Lecture 2 2016: Development of
pre-number concepts, counting and early number sense.
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://leo.acu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=19166.
Van De Walle et al. (2015). Chapter 8: Developing early number
concepts and number sense (p166

EDMA262 Week 3 reflection

Key ideas for mathematics content area

Place value- value of the place using relational understanding
and hundreds, tens and ones (Van De Walle et al. 2015)
Interpreting place value: involves understanding numbers or
quantities that can be partitioned, compared, ordered,
reduced, increased, renamed and combined. (Sexton, 2016)

Teaching strategies for the mathematics content area

Ask students to model for others and coach them. (Sexton,
2016)
Ask clarifying questions to ensure they know what to do.
(Sexton, 2016)
Ask questions related to more than and less than. (Sexton,
2016)
Explore partitioning to develop flexible thinking and
understanding of part-whole relationships. (Sexton, 2016)
Use a variety of materials to model numbers. (Sexton, 2016)
Use tasks that integrate both counting and place value
knowledge. (Sexton, 2016)
Use tasks that develop understandings of the number triad
relationships. (Sexton, 2016)
Focus on developing understanding of quantity with these
tasks, using everyday contexts. (Sexton, 2016)
Use the growth points to help plan learning. (Sexton, 2016)
Support the development of mental number lines. (Sexton,
2016)
Continually ask students to prove their thinking. (Sexton,
2016)

Learning activities for the mathematics content area

Fastest finger- with the results children can represent the
numbers using place value and the number line. (Sexton,
2016)
 More or less- place blocks in a way that someone can find the
amount of blocks without the need to count one by one.
(Sexton, 2016)
Number busting- this activity involves partitioning. (Sexton,
2016)
One minute challenge- grouping into tens and ones,
estimating. (Sexton, 2016)
3 in a row number line- can choose which number you want
depending on which place you give the values on the dice.
(Sexton, 2016)
Sticky labels- prior knowledge is needed to know what sorts of
questions to ask to find your number. (Sexton, 2016)
Number charts- understand number and counting sequences,
patterns and number recognition. (Sexton, 2016)
Pick it and place it- prior knowledge of how to make really big
numbers is needed. (Sexton, 2016)

Concrete and/or virtual materials for learning the mathematics

Calculator
Number line
Sticky labels
Number charts
Dice
Lima beans
Counters
Unifix blocks
More or less cards

Links to Early Years Learning Framework and Australian Curriculum:

Mathematics curriculum documentation
Number and place value
Foundation level- Establish understanding of the language and
processes of counting by naming numbers in sequences,
initially to and from 20, moving from any starting point.
Connect number names, numerals and quantities, including
zero, initially up to zero and then beyond. Subitise small
collections of objects, Represent practical situations to model
addition and sharing, Compare, order and make
correspondences between collections, initially to 20, and
explain reasoning.
Level 1: Represent and solve simple addition and subtraction
problems using a range of strategies including counting on,
partitioning and rearranging parts.
Level 2: Investigate number sequences, initially those
increasing and decreasing by twos, threes, fives and ten from
any starting point, then moving to other sequences.
Recognise, model, represent and order numbers to at least
 1000. Group, partition and rearrange collections up to 1000 in
hundreds, tens and ones to facilitate more efficient counting.
Explore the connection between addition and subtraction.
Solve simple addition and subtraction problems using a range
of efficient mental and written strategies. Recognise and
represent multiplication as repeated addition, groups and
arrays. Recognise and represent division as grouping into
equal sets and solve simple problems using these
representations. (ACARA, 2012)

Implications for future teaching

Observational listening (Empson & Jacobs, 2008) listen to the
learner trying to work out what he is thinking during the
activity
Mixed ability grouping- peer tutoring, explain/ suggest,
students speak the same language, more capable peer is
working in collaboration in a problem solving situation who
has a learning need (Vygotsky, 1978)
Focus more on the term difference than take away as it is an
easier concept for children to grasp (Sexton, 2016)
Create an environment in the classroom where children feel
safe to have a wrong estimate. (Sexton, 2016)

Reference list
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2012). The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Sydney,
Australia: ACARA.
Empson, S & Jacobs, V. (2008). International handbook of
mathematics teacher education, vol.1: Knowledge and beliefs
in mathematics teaching and teaching development. Chapter
11: learning to listen to childrens mathematics. (p257-281).
Sexton, M. (2016). EDMA262 Tutorial 3, 2016: Development of
whole-number concepts: Place value. Lesson planning in
mathematics. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://leo.acu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=19166.
Sexton, M. (2016). EDMA262 Lecture 3 2016: Development of
whole-number concepts: Place value. Lesson planning in
mathematics. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://leo.acu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=19166.
Van De Walle et al. (2015). Chapter 11: Developing whole
number place value concepts (p246-270).
Van De Walle et al. (2015). Chapter 4: Planning in the problem
based classroom. (p81-94).
Vygotsky. J. (1978). Interaction between learning and
development. From: Mind and Society (p79-91). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.