Joshua Taratuta-212165213

ESM410 Assignment 1:
Problem Pictures Task - Creating openended questions
Student Name: Joshua Taratuta
Student Number: 212165213
Campus: Burwood

PLAGIARISM AND COLLUSION Plagiarism occurs when a student passes off as the students own work, or
copies without acknowledgement as to its authorship, the work of any other person. Collusion occurs when a student
obtains the agreement of another person for a fraudulent purpose with the intent of obtaining an advantage in
submitting an assignment or other work. Work submitted may be reproduced and/or communicated for the purpose of
detecting plagiarism and collusion.
DECLARATION I certify that the attached work is entirely my own (or where submitted to meet the requirements of
an approved group assignment is the work of the group), except where material quoted or paraphrased is
acknowledged in the text. I also certify that it has not been submitted for assessment in any other unit or course.
SIGNED: Joshua Taratuta

DATE: 24/08/2015

An assignment will not be accepted for assessment if the declaration appearing above has not been signed by the
author.
YOU ARE ADVISED TO RETAIN A COPY OF YOUR WORK UNTIL THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN
ASSESSED AND RETURNED TO YOU.

Assessors Comments: Your comments and grade will be recorded on the essay itself. Please ensure your name
appears at the top right hand side of each page of your essay.

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Rationale for the use of problem pictures in the classroom

There are many benefits of using open-ended problem pictures in a classroom setting. When using openended problem-pictures there is more than one correct answer, as there is multiple ways to respond to the
question (Bragg et al, 2015). When giving students open-ended tasks teachers need to make sure that
multiple solutions or multiple paths to get to the solution can be found (Reys et al,2009).When multiple
solutions and multiple paths can be used to find an open ended task this allows all students at different
ability levels to complete the task. This also allows students to use their best learning approach when
answering the question. Questions are also able to be individualised so no two students have the same
response (Sullivan & Lillburn, 2004). The use of open-ended problem-pictures help students understand the
connection between mathematics in and outside of the classroom, whilst experiencing the beauty and
complex nature of mathematics (Bragg & Nicol, 2011). Students curiosity about mathematics is also created
when open-ended problem pictures are used in the classroom (Bragg & Nicol, 2011). Open ended questions
enable students to be flexible by creating their own conclusions while also staying focussed on a particular
topic of mathematics (Sullivan, 2005).
Using open-ended problem-pictures in the classroom will support my teaching as it will provide me with a
more critical mathematical lens in the way that I view mathematics (Bragg & Nicol, 2011). It was also help
my students relate mathematics to real world situations and an engaging and enjoyable way. Open-ended
picture tasks can be arranged in a variety of different ways (Conklin, 2010). Depending on who the teacher
is and their pedagogical beliefs and teaching philosophy, each teacher will arrange the open-ended picture
task slightly differently. In upper primary and secondary mathematic classes, instead of the teacher
providing the open-ended picture-problem tasks, students may be able to take their own pictures and design
their own open ended problem for their peers to complete.
When taking the photos and using problem pictures in the classroom it helps the teacher show off their
creative side to their students. The use of creative photos can help make this a very interesting and engaging
learning tool for the students, and will be much more engaging for students than just doing worksheets. This
also helps students become creative in mathematics and encourage them to think more about mathematics in
a real world context. Students will also start looking at everyday objects and start thinking about how they
can incorporate this into a mathematical concept.
When teachers pose well-formulated open-ended tasks, both the teacher and the students can work smarter
not harder (McKnight & Mulligan, 2010). Open ended tasks are able to integrate a range of mathematical
concepts in an efficient way whilst promoting students mathematical creativity (McKnight & Mulligan,
2010)

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References for the rationale:

Bragg, L & Nicol, C 2011, seeing mathematics through a new lens: Using photos in the mathematics
classroom, The Australian Mathematics Teacher, vol. 67, issue. 3, pp. 3-9
Bragg, L Mousley, J, Gough, J, & Lewis, N, 2015, what is an open ended question? Deakin University
Conklin, W 2010, Differentiation Strategies: Mathematics, Shell Education, California
McKnight, A & Mulligan, J, 2010, Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 15.3, p4
Reys, R Lindquist, M Lambdin, D & Smith, N 2009, Helping Children Learn Mathematics, John Wiley &
Sons, United States of America
Sullivan, P. & Lilburn, P. (2004). Open-ended maths activities: Using good questions to enhance learning
in mathematics (2nd Ed.). South Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford University Press
Sullivan, P 2005, Teaching Mathematics to classes of diverse interests and backgrounds, [lecture] in
Professional Practice and Mathematics: Designing an inclusive program, Deakin University

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Problem Picture 1
Location: 7/11 Ringwood-Warrandyte Road

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Problem Picture 1 - Questions

Grade level: 1
Question 1
Use any of the numbers in this picture to count by in a number pattern, come up with as many patterns as
you can.
Answers to Question 1
0, 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
0, 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20
0, 5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50

AusVELS - Number and Algebra

Develop confidence with number sequences to and from 100 by ones from any starting point. Skip count by
twos, fives and tens starting from zero (ACMNA012)

Enabling Prompt
Start counting by ones from any number displayed on the board, go as high as you can go and complete as
many as you can.

Answers to Enabling Prompt

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,3
9,40,41
3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,4
0,41,42
9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,
44,45,46

AusVELS
Develop confidence with number sequences to and from 100 by ones from any starting point. Skip count by
twos, fives and tens starting from zero (ACMNA012)

Justification for change to the original question

The modification made to the original question was to get students to count by ones instead of choosing
what number they would count by in their number pattern. The choice that students now had was what
number they would start counting at. This modification was made as some students may not be able to skip
count by twos, fives or tens as of yet.

Joshua Taratuta-212165213

Extending Prompt
Use any number displayed on the board to count backwards, start at any number that you wish, do a many
number patterns as you can.

Answers to Extending Prompt

20,19,18,17,16.15,14,13,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0
50,45,40,35.30,25,20,15,10,5,0
20,18,16,14,12,10,8,6,4,2,0

AusVELS
Investigate number sequences, initially those increasing and decreasing by twos, threes, fives and ten from
any starting point, then moving to other sequences (ACMNA026)

Justification for change to the original question

The modification that I have made is that students are now counting down instead of up. This has been done
to extend my students who are capable to the level 2 standard which investigates number sequences that are
both increasing and decreasing.

Cross-Curriculum Links
This picture can be used in a Geography lesson based on both familiar and unfamiliar places to the students.
The picture can be shown to the students and they can be asked if they have ever seen this before? Where
have they seen it? What do you usually do when you are at this place? How do you usually get to this place?
While some students may recognise this as a 7/eleven petrol station where they sometimes get a Slurpee
from other students may not recognise it at all. The picture can be used alongside other places that are both
familiar and unfamiliar to the students with the teacher asking the students what they know about the places
show. If students are unfamiliar with some of the pictures they may ask their peers or teacher questions
about it to get more information.

AusVELS - Cross-curriculum
Geography, Level 1, Geography inquiry and skills, Observing questioning and planning
Pose questions about familiar and unfamiliar places (ACHGS007)

Report of Trialling Problem Picture 1

Childs pseudonym, age and grade level:
Lisa, age 7, Grade 1

Original Question:
Use any of the numbers in this picture to count by in a number pattern, come up with as many patterns as
you can.

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Childs response to the question:

Lisa recognised the number 5 and showed me that she could count by 5s all the way up to 50, she then
recognised the number 2 and showed me she could count by 2s all the way up to 20 she then recognised the
number one then counted to number 20 by 1s for me. Lisa also demonstrated that she could do the enabling
prompt by counting from 9 to 100 for me then 5 to 100. Lisa tried the extending prompt counting back from
20 by 1s but struggled counting back by 2s from 20 and 5s from 50.

Reflection on childs response:

Lisa gave me the exact answers that I was expecting on the original question, this demonstrated that she
knew what I was asking and that she understood the concept of counting by 1s, 2s and 5s. After the way
answered my original question I have decided that I will not change it, as I believe it fits in perfectly with
grade 1 AusVELS (ACARA, 2013) and was worded correctly for students to understand. Lisa was also able
to do the enabling prompt counting by 1s from any number on the board. I have decided to keep the
enabling question the same as I believe it is worded correctly and fits in the grade 1 AusVELS (ACARA,
2013). After doing the original question and enabling question I noticed that her confidence levels were
high, as a teacher you need to be able to gauge your students confidence levels (Churchill et al, 2011). As I
noticed Lisa seemed confident I decided to try the extending prompt with her. Lisa struggled with the
extending prompt counting backwards this is understandable as this was at the grade 2 standard and Lisa is
still in grade 1 so has not learned this concept in mathematics as of yet. I have decided that the wording of
this question was correct Lisa is just not up to the grade 2 standard as of yet. Lisas strengths are counting
up by 1s, 2s and 5s her weaknesses are counting backwards by 2s and 5s. The question did address the
mathematical content of AusVELS (ACARA, 2013) as it helped with students confidence counting by 1s
from any number to 100 as well as skip counting by 2s and 5s. Students may get confused when learning
the concept of counting backwards, as the number the usually comes before that number comes after when
counting backwards (Facchinetti, Leigh, Mccormack, 2012)

References for reflection on the trial of question 1:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013, The Australian CurriculumMathematics-Year 1, retrieved August 17th 2015, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au
Churchill, R Ferguson, P Godinho, S Johnson, N Keddie, A Letts, W Mackay, J McGill, M Moss, J Nagel, M
Nicholson, P & Vick, M 2011, Teaching Making a Difference, John Wiley & Sons Australia, Queensland
Facchiniti, A, Leigh, T & Mcocrmack, S, 2012, oxford big ideas Australian curriculum mathematics
professional support f-2, Oxford University press, South Melbourne

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Problem Picture 2
Location:

My House- Master Bedroom ensuite

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Problem Picture 2 - Questions

Grade level: 1
Question 2
Name and list the features of 2D shapes that you see in this picture

Answers to Question 2
Square- all 4 sides are the same length, 4 corners
Rectangle- 4 sides, 4 corners,
Diamond- 4 sides, if moved around can also be a square, 4 corners

AusVELS - Measurement and Geometry

Recognise and classify familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects using obvious
features (ACMMG022)

Enabling Prompt
Draw and name all the 2D shapes that you see in the picture

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Answers to Enabling Prompt

AusVELS
Recognise and classify familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects using obvious
features (ACMMG022)

Justification for change to the original question

Instead of listing the features of the shapes seen in the picture students just had to draw the shape and name
it. By reducing the writing and simplifying the recording strategy this will make the task easier for students
to do, as some students struggle with mathematics already and adding lots of writing to it makes it even
more difficult.

Extending Prompt
Draw, name and describe all the 2D features of the shapes seen in the picture.

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Answers to Extending Prompt

AusVELS
Describe and draw two-dimensional shapes, with and without digital technologies (ACMMG042)

Justification for change to the original question

In this task students have to name, the shape, describe it as well as draw it so there is extra tasks added on.
Students also have to describe the shape in more detail than just listing the basic features. The year two
strand is used for this task to further extend the more capable students in the level one class.

Cross-Curriculum Links
This picture can be used in a History lesson. The picture will be shown to the students and they will talk
about how this bathroom would have been similar or different to the ones that their parents or grandparents
grew up with. It would be explained that this is an ensuite, and it would be explained what an ensuite is.
Students will then be asked if they think ensuites have always been common and do they think there greatgrandparents and grandparents used to have an ensuite in their house. It will also be discussed what changes

Joshua Taratuta-212165213

in the bathrooms have occurred over time such as flushing toilets, modern showers and basins compared to
what their grandparents and parents had when they were the same age. Students will also look at pictures of
other rooms in the house and will be encouraged to go home and question their parents and grandparents.

AusVELS - Cross-curriculum
History, Historical knowledge and understanding, present and past family life
Differences and similarities between students' daily lives and life during their parents and grandparents
childhoods, including family traditions, leisure time and communications. (ACHHK030)

Report of Trialling Problem Picture 2

Childs pseudonym, age and grade level:
Lisa, age 7, Grade 1

Original Question:
Name and list the features of 2D shapes that you see in this picture

Childs response to the question:

Lisa was able to recognise there was a square, diamond as well as a rectangle in the picture but she was
unable to list the features of these shapes and did not understand what I meant when I asked this question, as
Lisa is a child at the out of school hours care I work out I am not sure she has been taught features of shapes
yet but I know the students in my placement grade would be able to answer this question. Lisa should do the
enabling question of drawing and naming the shapes unfortunately I misplaced the piece of paper with her
drawings on it. Lisa was unable to do the extending question as she did not understand what features of
shapes where.

Reflection on childs response:

Even though Lisa was unable to fully complete this question, I would keep the question the same as I believe
that other grade 1 students would able to complete it as the AusVELS states recognise and classify two
dimensional shapes (ACARA, 2013). I will keep the enabling question the same as Lisa was easy able to
complete this. Even though Lisa was not able to fully complete the extend question I would keep it the same
as this is at grade 2 AusVELS (ACARA, 2013). I believe with some further teaching about shapes over the
next year Lisa will be able to do this she just is not at that level as of yet. Lisas strengths are recognising
and drawing shapes that she identified in the photo. Lisas weakness is explaining features of different 2D
shapes she recognises. To help Lisa get a better understanding of the different features of shapes she could
play and sort out pattern blocks of shapes while comparing how different shapes are different (Seah, 2015).
Lisa like many other grade one students I have worked with identified as their being a diamond in the
picture, she did not recognise that the diamond is actually a tilted square (Seah, 2015). The question asked
related to AusVELS as it asked the student to recognise the shapes students saw in the picture and classify
the different features of these shapes (ACARA, 2013). Lisa may have not fully understood what the word
features meant when asking, describe the features of the shapes as some mathematical terms can be

Joshua Taratuta-212165213

confusing to students. This is because mathematics uses words that already exist and either redesign or
reshape the word as a mathematical term (Gough, 2007)

References for reflection on the trial of question 2:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013, The Australian CurriculumMathematics-Year 1, retrieved August 17th 2015, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au
Gough, J, 2007, Conceptual complexity and apparent contradictions in mathematics language, Australian
Mathematics Teacher, 63.2, p8
Seah, R, 2015, reasoning with geometric shapes, Australian Mathematics Teacher, 71.2, p4

Joshua Taratuta-212165213

Problem Picture 3
Location:

My Kitchen

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Problem Picture 3 - Questions

Grade level: 1
Question 3
Come up with as many questions as you can based on this picture that you can ask your friends

Answers to Question 3
What food is in the bowl?
How many bananas do you see in the picture?
How many apples do you think are in the bowl?

AusVELS - Statistics and Probability

Choose simple questions and gather responses (ACMSP262)

Enabling Prompt
Using the picture come up with as many questions as you can that have either a yes or no answer that you
can ask your friends

Answers to Enabling Prompt

Are there two bananas in the bowl?
Are there five bananas in the bowl?
Are there pears in the bowl?

AusVELS
Answer yes/no questions to collect information (ACMSP011)

Justification for change to the original question

The modification that I made was students use yes or no question as the answer to their question instead of
having any answer. This took the question back down to the foundation level and will make it easier for
some of the students in the class to generate questions.

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Extending Prompt
Come up with as many questions as you can using the picture provided then write and draw the answers to
that question

Answers to Extending Prompt

How many bananas are in the picture? 2
How many apples are able to be seen in the picture? 7
How many pears are able to be seen in the picture? 3

AusVELS
Choose simple questions and gather responses (ACMSP262)
Represent data with objects and drawings where one object or drawing represents one data value. Describe
the displays (ACMSP263)

Justification for change to the original question

The modification made to this question is that students still come up with a question based on the picture,
students then answer the question by writing down the answer as well as drawing a picture that represents

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the answer. This make the task more challenging for students as there are extra tasks for them to do if they
find making questions to ask their friends to easy.

Cross-Curriculum Links
Using this picture in the classroom has a cross-curriculum link with Health and Physical education in the
Australian curriculum. This picture gives the teacher a chance to promote health .When showing the
students the picture of the fruit bowl, the teacher can have a discussion with the students about how fruit is a
healthy thing for students to eat. The teacher should tell students that it is recommended that they have two
servings of fruit a day as well as 5 servings of fruit. This can also lead onto talking about other healthy foods
and what other foods arent as healthy. The healthy food pyramid may also be used in this lesson.

AusVELS - Cross-curriculum
Cross-curriculum area, Content strand/s, year, definition and code
Health and Physical Education, Year 1&2, Personal, social and community health, being healthy, safe and
active
Recognise situations and opportunities to promote health, safety and wellbeing (ACPPS018)
Exploring how eating healthy foods can influence health and wellbeing

Report of Trialling Problem Picture 3

Childs pseudonym, age and grade level:
Lisa, age 7, Grade 1

Original Question:
Come up with as many questions as you can based on this picture that you can ask your friends

Childs response to the question:

Lisa came up with one question for the original question it was How many pears are in the bowl? Lisa also
came up with one question for the enabling question it was Is there pears in the bowl? Lisa came up with
one question for the extend question it was how many pears are in the bowl? Lisa knew the answer was 3
then drew 3 pears.

Reflection on childs response:

Lisa came up with a perfect questions for the original, enabling and extend questions. I would have liked it if
she came up with more than one question for each though as she was on the right track, but as this was the
last part she wanted to go and play with her friends by this time and was getting bored. I am glad she was
able to answer the original question because this was at the grade 1 level of AusVELS (ACARA, 2013). The
enabling question was at the foundation level of AusVELS so she should have easily answered this question

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like she did (ACARA, 2013). It was also great to see that Lisa was able to answer the extend question as this
was at the grade 2 level of AusVELS so a year above where Lisa is expected to be at (ACARA, 2013). The
use of the image of the fruit bowl would have helped Lisa in coming up with her questions (Hilton et al,
2015). Visual representations help students communicate their understanding to others as well as make
connections to both familiar and unfamiliar situations (Hilton et al, 2015). When students generate their own
questions with unlimited possibilities in the questions they ask, this broadens students appreciation in
mathematics as it shows it is not simply about the right or wrong answer (Lily & Martin, 1997). These three
questions are going to be left the way they were originally written as they help develop critical thinking
skills in students (Kitchener, 2008). Critical thinking skills were instilled in students during this task as they
generated their own questions to ask their peers and answer themselves through the use of drawings, they
had to be able to answer the questions asked by just using the picture provided.

References for reflection on the trial of question 3:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013, The Australian CurriculumMathematics-Year 1, retrieved August 17th 2015, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au
Hilton, A, Hilton, G, Dole, S & Goos, M, 2015, Using photographic images to enhance conceptual
development in situations of proportion, Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 20.1, p3
Kitchener, K, 2008, Mathematics, Football & Music: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Students,
Mathematics in School, Vol.37, No.1, pp 2-6
Lily, A & Martin, S, 1997, Logic, reasoning and argument in Mathematics: Strategies for students Earlier
Recognition of these processes, Mathematics in school, Vol.26, No.5, pp32-33