8 Principles of Effective Mathematics Teaching.

1. Build on the knowledge learners bring to sessions.

The advantages of doing this:

 Developmental
 Scaffolding
 Student motivation
 Students see relevance
 Contextualised

The difficulties of doing this:

 Limited by curriculum content
 Time constraints
 Variety of students/needs
 Contextualised

2. Expose and discuss common misconceptions.

The advantages of doing this:

 Identifies source of problem
 Allows learners to move on
 Learners can expose their own misconceptions
 Encouraged to value each other’s opinions and look at different ways of
solving problems

The difficulties of doing this:

 Hard to change pre-conceptions
 Confidence – feeling stupid

3. Develop effective questioning.

The advantages of doing this:

 Opportunity to discuss process, not just the answer
 Inclusive of all levels
 Opportunity to explore and share alternative methods
 Promoting discussion and team building
 Thinking outside the box….helping learners progress

The difficulties of doing this:

 Time to plan questions
 Not as much control for tutor
 Some learners may not want to be involved
4. Use cooperative small group work.

The advantages of doing this:

 Gives learners some responsibility for own learning
 Sharing knowledge
 Learning from each other
 Values learners’ input and experience
 Encourages inclusivity
 Allows for differentiation

The difficulties of doing this:

 Difficult to keep everyone on task
 Classroom management
 Group dynamics
 Competition within group – dominant student
 Practical facilities e.g. size of room
 Easily distracted
 Sharing feedback

5. Emphasise methods rather than answers.

The advantages of doing this:

 Makes students think more carefully about what they are doing
 Allows students to gain important method marks in the exam!
 Allows ‘own’ understanding and ability to discuss/challenge

The difficulties of doing this:

 Sometimes the answer is very important (drug dose calculation)
 Accuracy may be sacrificed when methods are regarded as all-important

6. Use rich collaborative tasks.

The advantages of doing this:

 Maintains student interest/involvement
 Students gain understanding
 All students involved
 Meets needs of different levels
 Uses prior knowledge
 Encourages discussion of different methods
 Encourages passive learners to become active

The difficulties of doing this:

 Dominance of individual students
 Competition between students
 Lower level and unconfident student can be reluctant to participate
 Takes a lot of preparation, time and energy to deliver
7. Use technology in appropriate ways.

The advantages of doing this:

 Can be used as interactive aid
 Enable learner to work elsewhere e.g. home
 Instant response
 Widening IT skills
 Used at any level and some disabled learners

The difficulties of doing this:

 Facilities/resources
 Accessibility of suitable resources
 Assessing learning
 Time-consuming to research
 Poor literacy skills – often lots of reading

8. Create connections between mathematical topics.

The advantages of doing this:

 Develops independent thinking and the ability to solve problems
 Better understanding across different topics
 Transferable skills
 See relevance
 Encourages broader thinking

The difficulties of doing this:

 Serial learning not compatible to above
 Assessment led system – meeting targets