MPI - Day 1

Today has been the first introductory day of the Mathematics Practice Intensive through Manaiakalani. I found today fast paced, fun, informative and positive.

Highlights from today include the profile of a good mathematics learner, academically productive talk, the model of growing good mathemiticians and the pillars of practice around this.

I particularly enjoyed the research reading I did around visual thinking in mathematics and how this needs to continue as children grow, from early childhood right through to university and beyond. It was very helpful to read research based evidence on why this is so important, and I think that this will help me to impliment better more inclusive strategies in my classroom. I look forward to going to the website mentioned in the article and looking for the lessons it mentions to help get me started in this process.

I particularly enjoyed the following quote from the article. "Visual mathematics is widely thought of as being appropriate for younger or struggling students and as a prelude to the “more important” abstract mathematics. It is true that abstract ideas can come from and be aided by visual mathematics, but visual ideas can also come from abstract mathematics and extend them to much higher levels."

I found having the time to explore the NZMaths and TKI pages very helpful, and seeing how to navigate to the connected journals and the online resources for those was great too.

Lastly I found it a fantastic affirmation to remember going forward that good maths is not the same as fast maths. A student being deliberate and careful, or needing more time to use a range of strategies to get to their understandings is not a reflection on their mathematical ability.