London Schools Excellence Fund Developing teachers’ mathematics subject knowledge in primary schools to improve the attainment of all pupils Liz Woodham, NRICH Project & Michael Hall, Open University

London Schools Excellence Fund In between face-to-face days … Don’t forget

London Schools Excellence Fund Day 6 – 11 November Welcome Project update and working on mathematical tasks together Update on project achievements to date and points to consider for this academic year Tackling tasks and reflecting on them in terms of subject knowledge and pedagogy Break Working on more mathematical tasks together Tackling one or more tasks and reflecting on them in terms of subject knowledge and pedagogy Sharing experiences since last time Lunch Planning for/sharing ideas about staff meeting Curriculum priorities and curriculum development work In pairs, planning for at least one task back at school Working on another mathematical task together Reflection

London Schools Excellence Fund Common themes from mathematical needs identified on day 1 The following were flagged up by at least two schools: Fractions/decimals/percentages Problem solving Place value Time Algebra Word problems Application of calculation strategies Subtraction

London Schools Excellence Fund

‘ I think that the opportunities to explore mathematical thinking is key and my class were great models of how to speak mathematically and there were opportunities for my SEN children who were on 2s to match the rest of the class. There was an air of increased confidence’.

London Schools Excellence Fund Helping children to become competent and confident problem solvers As teachers we can support this process in three principal ways: Through our choice of task Through structuring the stages of the problem-solving process Through explicitly and repeatedly providing children with opportunities to develop key problem-solving skills. See ‘Developing Excellence in Problem Solving with Young Learners’ article

London Schools Excellence Fund Poly Plug Rectangles The computer secretly makes a rectangle using equal rows of spots on the 5 by 5 grid. The aim is for you to find the rectangle by testing spots on the interactivity. If the chosen spot is part of the rectangle, it will turn yellow. If it isn't part of the rectangle, the spot will turn blue.

London Schools Excellence Fund What makes ‘Poly Plug Rectangle’ a rich task?

London Schools Excellence Fund The Problem-solving Process Stage 1: Getting started Stage 2: Working on the problem Stage 3: Going further Stage 4: Concluding

London Schools Excellence Fund Problem-solving skills 1.Getting started try a simpler case draw a diagram represent with model act it out 2. Working on the problem visualise work backwards reason logically conjecture work systematically look for a pattern trial and improvement 3. Going further generalise verify prove 4. Concluding communicate findings evaluate

London Schools Excellence Fund How does the activity Poly Plug Rectangle support the three National Curriculum aims of fluency, reasoning and problem solving?

London Schools Excellence Fund Before we meet again … Continue to try out rich tasks with your learners and colleagues Take a look at the Problem Solving feature on NRICH, particularly the articles: Look at NRICH’s curriculum mapping documents:

London Schools Excellence Fund Liz Woodham Michael Hall