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Are you looking for a professional learning activity for staff meetings or pupil-free days?
You are welcome to explore these workshops and resources independently, but if you choose to work through them with colleagues then consider adapting the suggested activities on the ‘Group Professional Learning Template’ to best suit your context.
The suggested framework for addressing the M in STEM, to enhance mathematics learning, has been developed with consideration to how children learn mathematics. Here, we share these considerations by providing a review of theory.
In Part A, we draw from research by Professor Jo Boaler on what is happening in our brains as we learn. Then, we draw from the work of John Hattie to look at stages in learning. This is not a comprehensive account of all theories about how children learn mathematics but picks out key points that are relevant to the aims of this professional learning series.
In our review of theory, Part B, we look in more detail at the process of conceptual development, with some specific maths learning examples. Challenges that can be encountered by students learning mathematics are brought to light, along with associated implications for teaching.
In this video, we consider how to adjust our teaching approaches to meet specific teaching aims. We suggest that, for education to be of practical and personal value to students, success in mathematics includes the ability to transfer knowledge and apply skills in new contexts. Therefore, it is important to facilitate deep and transfer learning.
We also recommend that you access an article by Charles Munter called “Defining High-Quality Mathematics Instruction” which is freely available and can be found via Google Scholar.
In particular, we highlight the importance of providing students with opportunities to make connections, think about their own thinking, and engage in collaborative learning.
In this video we explore why teaching mathematics across the curriculum could be beneficial. For example, we may be able to engage students in mathematical thinking within other subjects, without the interference of shutting down (due to anxiety) that can occur when they know it is a maths lesson. For students who struggle to understand a concept or see the relevance of mathematics, experiencing mathematics in different learning contexts may also trigger ‘aha’ moments. Addressing mathematics across the curriculum can also be a time-efficient way to revisit concepts, without giving you more to do in mathematics lessons.
In this video we discuss the different approaches to STEM education and suggest that mathematics learning could benefit from a focus on STEM practices. We refer to the examples of STEM practices given in Table 2 (p. 12) of Lowrie et al.’s (2018) article, which is also freely available and can be found via Google Scholar:
Lowrie, T., Leonard, S., & Fitzgerald, R. (2018). STEM Practices: A translational framework for large-scale STEM education design. EDeR. Educational Design Research, 2(1).
By addressing mathematics across the curriculum, with a focus on engaging students in STEM practices, we believe that you may better enable your students to develop the characteristics of successful mathematics students.
In this video, we talk through each element of a proposed ‘Experience-Represent-Apply’ framework and show how it could be implemented. We have taken inspiration from Lowrie et al’s (2018) STEM Practices Framework and adapted it for use in upper-primary classrooms, to support mathematics learning.
To conclude this series of videos, we share the aims of this research project and briefly describe the theory underpinning it. Importantly, I draw attention to the critical role we can each play in developing a framework for addressing the M in STEM, that could assist us in the ongoing transformation of our teaching practices. We hope that everyone will benefit from collaboratively exploring how – not just theoretically, but practically – mathematics can be taught meaningfully within STEM, with the purpose of enabling our students to further develop their practices in mathematics.
If you need further support to implement the ideas on this website, please explore the Further Resources page.
We would love to hear your perspectives on the suggested framework. Insight into the arrangements in your classrooms and schools (please keep anonymous – do not name students, staff or schools) that enable and constrain your teaching practices and/or your students’ learning practices, would be especially helpful to inform the development of the framework. If you would like to share with us the aspects of the suggested framework that you think will work well for you (and why) and the aspects that will be most challenging to adopt (and why), then please contact us.
Mathematics content descriptors on this site are copied from © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2010 to present, unless otherwise indicated. This material was downloaded from the Australian Curriculum website (www.australiancurriculum.edu.au) (Website) (accessed 4 Jan 2023) and was modified (format adapted and activity links added). The material (content descriptors from v9) is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Version updates are tracked in the ‘Curriculum version history’ section on the ‘About the Australian Curriculum’ page (http://australiancurriculum.edu.au/about-the-australian-curriculum/) of the Australian Curriculum website.
ACARA does not endorse any product that uses the Australian Curriculum or make any representations as to the quality of such products. Any product that uses material published on this website should not be taken to be affiliated with ACARA or have the sponsorship or approval of ACARA. It is up to each person to make their own assessment of the product, taking into account matters including, but not limited to, the version number and the degree to which the materials align with the content descriptions and achievement standards (where relevant). Where there is a claim of alignment, it is important to check that the materials align with the content descriptions and achievement standards (endorsed by all education Ministers), not the elaborations (examples provided by ACARA).
Materials accessed through links on this website (such as related activities and further resources) are intended to provide inspiration for educators and it is on the onus of each individual educator to use their professional judgement as to the suitability of materials for their education setting, including alignment with their current curriculum.
If you use the links provided on this website to access other websites, you acknowledge that the terms of use, including licence terms, set out on the other websites apply to the use which may be made of the materials on that website.
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© 2023 All Rights Reserved Addressing the M in STEM
Students investigate newspaper design to inform the planning and creation of their own newspaper. In particular, students consider ratios and percentages of different types of material in a newspaper (international news, local news, sport, adverts and so on). If appropriate, students could also consider how different graphs suit different purposes.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M6N07
Students perform calculations such as division to calculate fractions, ratios and percentages, when considering coverage of different types of material in a newspaper and in their own newspaper design.
AC9M6N08
Students use estimation strategies while working with fractions and percentages, to approximate solutions when designing their own newspaper.
AC9M6ST03
Students collect and interpret data.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of Goos et al., 2011
Goos, M., Dole, S., & Geiger, V. (2011). Improving numeracy education in rural schools: A professional development approach. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 23(2), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-011-0008-1
Students engage in internet research to access data and statistics used in the media, comparing articles on the same issue. Encourage students to make judgements, listen to and evaluate each other’s opinions, and use data to support their opinions.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M6ST01
Students analyse information provided by statistics, in both numerical and graphical forms, interpreting and comparing data.
AC9M6ST02
Students look critically at the sources of information, examining arguments and critiquing methods. For example, they may explore whether data was collected from samples that provide a fair representation of the group as a whole and examine the basis for different arguments /points of view on the same topic.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of Geiger et al., 2015
Geiger, V., Forgasz, H., & Goos, M. (2015). A critical orientation to numeracy across the curriculum. ZDM, 47(4), 611-624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-014-0648-1
Students explore a specific historical event, such as a temple’s design and construction. With this example, students analyse the temple’s building plans in terms of patterns and symmetry and consider the meaning of building ratio. Students explore measurements and construction timelines, and may also like to consider comparing this to their estimations of the expected completion time if the building were to be reconstructed with modern building methods and machinery.
When exploring historical events, students will need to extract data from text. When students create a time-line, ask them to consider the scale’s purpose and to justify their choices regarding scale and event placement on the timeline.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M6N01
Students map events and duration on a number (time) line, considering scale and event placement.
AC9M6N02
Students connect the product of a number with itself as square with calculations of area (for example, if considering the square footage of the temple building on the land).
AC9M6M03
Students collect and interpret data to estimate duration and explore how to represent duration and events on a timeline.
AC9M6SP01
Students explore the relationship between cross-sections of the temple and the building’s construction.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of: Bennison (2015b); Ferme (2014)
Bennison, A. (2015b). Supporting teachers to embed numeracy across the curriculum: A sociocultural approach. ZDM, 47(4), 561-573. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0706-3
Ferme, E. (2014). What can other areas teach us about numeracy? Australian Mathematics Teacher, 70(4), 28-34. https://albert.aamt.edu.au/Journals/Journals-Index/The-Australian-Mathematics-Teacher/AMT-70-4-28
Students investigate the best options from a range of imported goods. think critically about the origin countries of imported goods, including associated transport options, costs, quality, ethical production, and sustainability when justifying choices.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M6N01
Students use integers to represent quantities in financial contexts and consider potential profit or loss when investigating different costs of imported goods.
AC9M6M03
Students use timetables and compare estimated frequency and duration of the same journey (start/end point) with different modes of transport.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of English (2017)
English, L. D. (2017). Advancing elementary and middle school STEM education. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 15(1), 5-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-017-9802-x
This activity could be adapted to suit your current history planning, by including consideration of the living conditions of people in the context/time of study. Consider changes in circumstances with students, such as wages, working conditions and prices. Students conduct research to create an example budget for then and now, then compare them. Challenge students to explain why it will be necessary to adjust historical prices (taking inflation into account) before making comparisons to today’s prices. Ask students to choose the most appropriate graph type to represent their data.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M6N08
Students work with percentages in the financial context of considering inflation when investigating historical prices and comparing them to current prices.
AC9M6N09
Students conduct internet research to create a budget.
AC9M6ST01
Students compare data sets (historical and current prices, wages and budgets) and create comparative displays to support communication of their findings with others.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of Bennison, 2015a; Bennison, 2016
Bennison, A. (2015a). Developing an analytic lens for investigating identity as an embedder-of-numeracy. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 27, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-014-0129-4
Bennison, A. (2016). A sociocultural approach to understanding identity as an embedder-of-numeracy: A case of numeracy and history. European Educational Research Journal, 15(4), 491-502. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904116643327
Students design and trial different devices (measure drop height, use fan to create wind, measure distances travelled by each device); 3 to 5 trials per device, to get average distance. Students design devices and compare different designs with consideration of different types of seeds, for example parachute design (think dandelion seed), sail design (think elm seed) and helicopter design (think maple seed). Allow time for improvements to be made to the design of devices – trial again and compare results to previous design(s), to check if ideas for improvement were effective.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M5M01
Students measure design dimensions, drop height, and distances travelled by seeds (from drop point).
AC9M5ST03
Students collect data (measuring distances travelled by seeds) and analyse variations in seed dispersal.
AC9M5P02
Students conduct repeated experiments, observe results and compare to estimates/predictions.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of Smith et al., 2019
Smith, C., Fitzallen, N., Watson, J., & Wright, S. (2019). The practice of statistics for STEM: Primary students and pre-service primary teachers exploring variation in seed dispersal. Teaching Science, 65(1), 38-47.
Designs could be physically made (Design and Technologies) or created within an app such as Minecraft (Digital Technologies).
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M5N04
Students work with fractions in the design stage, when given conditions for the design such as “one of the humps being at least 105% higher than the other” (Widjaja et al., 2019, p. 165)
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of:
Herro et al., 2019; Widjaja et al., 2019
Herro, D., Quigley, C., & Cian, H. (2019). The challenges of STEAM instruction: Lessons from the field. Action in Teacher Education, 41(2), 172-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2018.1551159
Widjaja, W., Hubber, P., & Aranda, G. (2019). Potential and challenges in integrating science and mathematics in the classroom through real-world problems: A case of implementing an interdisciplinary approach to STEM. In Hsu, YS., Yeh, YF. (eds) Asia-Pacific STEM teaching practices (pp. 157-171). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0768-7
Adapt to your local context, if there is a road bridge in the vicinity.
Either provide data on different bridge designs (truss / arch / suspension / cable) or ask students to gather this (advantages and disadvantages of each, potential span, recommended materials, and estimated build costs, based on previous builds of each design). Students will use this data to assist with their design of a new bridge (possible alternative) for your chosen location. Include required parameters for their designs, such as length and number of car lanes.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M6N09
Students research costings and create budgets for bridge construction.
AC9M6SP03
Students investigate the role and properties of strong shapes in the physical structure of bridges.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of: English, 2017
English, L. D. (2017). Advancing elementary and middle school STEM education. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 15(1), 5-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-017-9802-x
Students could design a solar vehicle (for example, see www.modelsolar.org.au), or consider the design of aeroplanes (for example, see www.nasa.gov).
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M4M01
Students measure vehicle dimensions (especially if they are required to design within specific parameters for the task).
Students measure distances and duration when trialling and comparing models.
AC9M4SP01
Students recognise and represent composite shapes within designs.
AC9M4SP03
Student recognise and represent symmetry within designs.
AC9M4P02
Students conduct repeated experiments; identify and describe variations in results.
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of: Doig & Jobling, 2019; English & King, 2015
Doig, B., & Jobling, W. (2019). Inter-disciplinary mathematics: Old wine in new bottles? In Interdisciplinary mathematics education (pp. 245-255). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11066-6
English, L. D., & King, D. T. (2015). STEM learning through engineering design: Fourth-grade students’ investigations in aerospace. International Journal of STEM education, 2(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-015-0027-7
Students use playdough to make model licorice sticks (suggested 3 pieces each). Aim to mimic dimensions of shop-bought licorice sticks. Students examine variation (in mass) of their own hand-made sticks and collate class data (graph). Repeat with students using Play-DohTM Fun Factory extruders (to mimic process of creating machine-made licorice). Graph variation of class data and compare to first (hand-made) trial, suggesting reasons for differences.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M4M01
Students measure dimensions and mass
AC9M4ST01
Students acquire and represent data
AC9M4ST02
Students compare data distributions and variation in the data
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of Watson et al., 2020
Watson, J., Fitzallen, N., English, L., & Wright, S. (2020). Introducing statistical variation in Year 3 in a STEM context: Manufacturing licorice. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 51(3), 354-387. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2018.1562117
Adapt this activity to your local context: Students investigate either past, current, or proposed changes to local public transport infrastructure. For example, initiatives set in place to cope with increasing population numbers.
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M5ST01
Students acquire and analyse data to understand the needs of public transport users, and for considering environmental impact
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of Attard et al., 2021
Attard, C., Berger, N., & Mackenzie, E. (2021). The positive influence of inquiry-based learning teacher professional learning and industry partnerships on student engagement with STEM. Frontiers in Education (6). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.693221
Adapt this activity to your local context: Students consider potential need for a bypass, or additional access to a specific location, then design/plan a route for the proposed new road(s).
Mathematics curriculum links:
AC9M5N08
Students consider the effects of rounding the large numbers associated with large distances and budgets
AC9M5M01
Students choose appropriate units of measurement (for example km, m, cm, mm) when considering distances between places and how to represent these on a map
AC9M5SP02
Students use coordinates as part of map work, considering locations and directions
Acknowledgements:
This activity idea was inspired by the work of Goos et al., 2011
Goos, M., Dole, S., & Geiger, V. (2011). Improving numeracy education in rural schools: A professional development approach. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 23(2), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-011-0008-1