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WEEK 1: Reflective journal

Highlight, discuss and reflect on the mathematics curriculum, the organisation of learning, and the implications for you as future teacher.

Learning Mathematics at university has taught me a variety of skills on how to distinguish between primary school ages and how I can accommodate a class based on which stage, strand and sub-strand they fit under of the NSW education standard. In my tutorial class we looked at mental warm-up activity and a pedagogy to do during class that will allow students to be familiar with the content and how to practice mathematics in an activity rather than a worksheet.



Often students do not find mathematics exciting and engaging, however, mathematics is a

highly useful skill that is used in our everyday life. Mathematic curriculum demonstrates a clear link between various components of mathematics, as well as it links to other school disciplines (NSW Education Standard Authority, 2020). Therefore, it is highly important for me to demonstrate mathematics effectively in my classroom to build up the engagement and allow students to develop a positive self-concept as learners of mathematics. Student-constructed problems help students understand mathematics better (McIntosh, 1998). Through the hands-on skills I did in my tutorial class, it helped me identify and link the outcomes of the activities to theory to further develop computational fluency.

Navigating through and understanding the syllabus of mathematics has increased and deepened my understanding on the rationale of mathematics and how each stage, strand and sub-strand is identified to accommodate to different age groups. As a class we were given an activity to play then we would work in groups to identify which stage, strand and sub-strand it would fall under. The task was highly beneficial as we started to understand how to determine which stage the activity falls under and it increased our knowledge as we were required to create a Math lesson. Figure 2. Image retrieved from

(NSW Education Standard Authority, 2020)



References:

MicIntosh, A., Ellerton, N., & Mathematics, Science Technology Education Centre. (1998). Research in mathematics education : A contemporary perspective. Perth, W.A.: MASTEC, Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Centre, Edith Cowan University. Retrieved from: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=7799&context=ecuworks NSW, B. (2020). Mathematics K–10 :: Organisation of content. Syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au. Retrieved from http://syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au/mathematics/mathematics-k10/content-k10/

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