Southland Maths Symposium 2019

Keynote: ​Engaging Children in Mathematical Thinking

Through Spatial Reasoning​, by Joanne Mulligan
Spatial visualisation is form, manipulate and change mental images. Is essential for development of
mathematical concepts and processes. Lots of research is going into this, to find out how it develops
throughout children’s development.

Examples of spatial visualisation activities:

1. Creating different nets for a cube, both with and without a lid. Ss draw possible solutions.
2. Visualise NZ and Australia, visualise how many times NZ fits into Australia. Then show map, allow
Ss time to reconsider how many times NZ fits inside Australia. Discuss:
a. Forming NZ into a “blob”
b. Length vs area
c. Units of measurement
d. Process of estimation
3. After a while spent working with materials that use pattern and structure, get Ss to put these
materials away and ask them to draw the material. Shows you so much about their
patterning/structural understanding and abilities. Can be done for:
a. Ten frames
b. Abacuses
c. Rulers
d. Hundreds charts
e. Clocks
Observe what Ss do: whether they are counting by ones or skip counting, whether they are drawing
square by square or using columns and rows
4. Finding pi, which can even be done down at Year 5/6 level. Use string to measure diameter and
circumference of a range of circles around the school, cut the string and see what the relationship
is. Circumference is approximately 3 times diameter, and this is pi (3.142).

While number is an incredibly important foundation, simple repetition is also key, e.g. for understanding
multiplication. Algebra is key, as this is the teaching of repetition and patterns.

Pattern and Structure Assessment (PASA) is used in the first 3 years of school. Connects to a teaching
sequence.

There is a link here to coding on materials, e.g. the coding maze I have in my room. This involves spatial
thinking (i.e. position and orientation). Recording pathway codes ​from memory​ is an excellent spatial
reasoning task. Next step is to incorporate coding into my maths programme.

Connecting All Strands Presentation by Caxton Education

The A and B show the different Year levels: 2B if for Year 3, 2B is Year 4. 3A is for Year 5, 3B is for Year 6.

This​ would be a good checkup for my class following our number knowledge work.
The ​Mapping​ area of the Caxton website is could be useful ahead of Term 2, or when looking at Strand
planning.

Interactive site links​ would be great for my Weebly.