Australian curriculum maths

Department of Education

An Introduction toThe Australian Curriculum:

Mathematics

Denise Neal


Learning Intentions

• Develop a shared awareness of the structure and intent of the Australian Curriculum: mathematics

• Develop a shared understanding of the requirements for Tasmanian schools for 2011/ 2012

• Build awareness of the key resources to support your work as curriculum leaders

• Ask questions to guide future planning for your school


Success criteria• Increased your individual and shared understanding

of the structure and intent of the Australian curriculum: mathematics

• Considered your school context in relation to the implementation plan for Tasmanian schools and your school improvement plan

• Know how to access resources to support your work as a school mathematics leader

• Asked more questions than you have answers!


In order to achieve improved outcomes for all students, it is necessary to align curriculum, pedagogies and assessment (Lingard et al, 2003). When we have a shared understanding of intended student outcomes, we can shape what curriculum could or should look like.

Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment

Source: Churchill et al 2010


What to teach vs How to teach

• The Australian Curriculum will make clear what we want all young Australians to learn.

• Classroom teachers are best placed to make decisions about how to organise learning for their students and the pedagogical approach/es required.


Development of the Learning Areas

8

Learning areas Timeline

English 2008-2010

Mathematics 2008-2010

Science 2008-2010

Humanities and social sciences•History•Geography•Economics, Business, Civics and citizenship

2008-20102010-20122011-2013

The arts 2010-2012

Languages 2010-2012

Health and physical education 2011-2013

Design and the technologies 2011-2013


What is being developed?

• A K-12 curriculum

• Connects with and builds on Early Years Learning Framework (Birth-5)

• Guided by the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (December 2008)


What will be provided?

• Curriculum content that specifies what teachers are expected to teach for each year level with additional description or examples (content elaborations)

• Achievement standards describing quality of learning

• Advice on how student achievement will be reported.


General Capabilities

• The Shape of the Australian Curriculum identifies seven general capabilities to be addressed in the Australian curriculum


General Capabilities• Literacy• Numeracy• ICT• Critical and

creative thinking

• Intercultural understanding

• Ethical Behaviour• Personal and social

competence

Not all capabilities are considered inherent to all subjects


Cross Curriculum Priorities• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

histories and cultures: to ensure that all young Australians have the opportunity to learn about, acknowledge and respect the history and culture of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders

• Sustainability• Asia and Australia’s engagement

with Asia.


Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics,

2009

• http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Australian_Curriculum_-_Maths.pdf


Clarity

• Documents should communicate succinctly the important ideas of the curriculum. Hattie and Timperley (2007) reviewed a wide range of studies and found that teacher feedback to students is a key determinant of effective learning and that good feedback involves making explicit to students what they should be doing, how they are performing, and what is the next phase in their learning. Teachers do this while they are interacting with students, and so need to know the purpose of the current student activity, the expected standards for performance, and subsequent learning goals. A clearly, succinctly written curriculum will assist in this.


Depth vs breadth• The curriculum should enable teachers to extend students in

more depth in key topics, and one of the challenges will be to identify which are those more important topics. Fractions and decimals are examples of those more important topics, as are the principles of measurement. Long division is an example of a topic which could be given less emphasis. As an example of how advanced students might be extended in a basic topic, like perimeter and area of regular and irregular shapes, such students could be posed a question like: ‘Can you describe some shapes that have the same number of perimeter units as area units?’ This creates opportunities for examination of a range of shapes, for use of algebraic methods, and even the historical dimension of this problem.


Pedagogy7.1 The preceding discussion on the content and organisation of a

national mathematics curriculum is based on some pedagogical assumptions, which include that:

• it is preferable for students to study fewer aspects in more depth rather than studying more aspects superficially

• challenging problems can be posed using basic content, and content acceleration may not be the best way to extend the best students

• effective sets of ideas with goals for key phases specified are preferable to disconnected experiences, even though they may be rich ones

• teachers can make informed classroom decisions interactively if they are aware of the development of key ideas, and a clear succinct description will assist in this

• effective use of digital technologies can enhance the relevance of the content and processes for learning

• teachers can make mathematics inclusive by using engaging experiences that can be differentiated both for students experiencing difficulty and those who can complete the tasks easily.

Shape paper, p.14


Key messages:

• Three content strands:▫ Number and algebra▫ Geometry and measurement▫ Statistics and probability

• Four proficiency strands:▫ Understanding▫ Fluency▫ Problem solving▫ Reasoning


The four proficiency strands in the Australian mathematics curriculum are:

Understanding, which includes building robust knowledge of adaptable and transferable mathematical concepts, the making of connections between related concepts, the confidence to use the familiar to develop new ideas, and the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ of mathematics.

Fluency, which includes skill in choosing appropriate procedures, carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately, and recalling factual knowledge and concepts readily.

Problem solving, which includes the ability to make choices, interpret, formulate, model and investigate problem situations, and communicate solutions effectively.

Reasoning, which includes the capacity for logical thought and actions, such as analysing, proving, evaluating, explaining, inferring, justifying, and generalising


Changes since the May 2010Version:• sub-strands added• some content removed or moved up or down grade levels• please shred any copies of May 2010 version and ensure staff are working with December 2010 version!


Peter Sullivan: Lead Writer

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Mathematics/Introduction


Let’s look at the curriculum!


Rationale, Aims and Organisation

• Why this learning area is an important part of the curriculum

• What the broad goals of this learning area are

• How the curriculum is organised in this learning area


Content Descriptions• What students will be taught

• Specified for every learning area by year of schooling

• Includes: discipline knowledge, skills and understandings; and general capabilities and cross curriculum dimensions

• Supported with examples (elaborations)


Achievement Standards

• The quality of learning expected of students who are taught the content

• Specified for each learning area by year of schooling

• Students reaching the standard are well able to progress to the next level

• Illustrated with work samples


Task

• Share with a partner three key messages you need to have to be informed when leading your school’s exploration of mathematics within the Australian Curriculum


Timeline –phase 1

• 2011 – a preparation year for phase one areas – English, mathematics and science. An awareness-raising of history.

• 2012 – full implementation of English, mathematics and science.

• 2013 – full implementation of history.http://www.education.tas.gov.au/curriculum/

australian


Stages of Implementation

• Preparation stage - awareness raising, familiarisation and developing understanding

• Implementation stage – include planning, teaching, assessing and reporting using the Australian Curriculum.


Timeline Advantages

• Meets our national agreements to show substantial implementation in all phase one areas by the end of 2013.

• Provides additional time for implementation of history with the potential to align it with geography.


Assessment & reporting 2011

• Maintain existing assessment and reporting arrangements

• Avoids a dual system during implementation and potential confusion for teachers and the community

• EPS will map current standards against the Australian curriculum standards

• Central reporting expectations will continue.


Support : professional learning

• Through the Learning Services.• Partnerships with professional

associations, other sectors and UTAS through the Teacher Learning Centre.

• Additional curriculum officers.


Support: resources

• Bridging documents – what’s the same? what’s new? http://ecentre.education.tas.gov.au/txtlstvw.aspx?LstID=c8782e41-f0f3-4f3d-b8c9-67b194f64e0d

• Intros – general and subject specific• Information sheets for teachers &

parents• Access to online resources• Newsletter updates


Support/resourceshttp://ecentre.education.tas.gov.au/C6/Curriculum%20Centre/default.aspx


Where to find out more / provide feedback

• http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Home


Task

What do you need to do tomorrow, next week and throughout this year to support others in building capacity to introduce this curriculum in 2012?

Australian curriculum maths

Documents

Transcript of Australian curriculum maths