Maths Talent Quest b83x

Jose Sicurella S4526414 Maths talent quest, an in service teachers perspectives

The Mathematical talent Quest (MTQ) run by the Mathematic Association of Victoria (MAV) provides students throughout Victoria the ability to apply an inquiry based learning approach to a Mathematical project. There is research that states that inquiry based learning can lead to a deeper understanding when implemented correctly (Baeten et al 2010). Not only does the MTQ give student with a mathematical aptitude the ability to undertake further mathematical research , but it also provides students with strengths and interests in other fields the ability to incorporate these with their Mathematical development. On entering the MTQ judging centre, observers are overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the students’ works, from online and digital presentation, to scale house models and robotics for solving the Rubik’s cube. The majority of entries were from primary school children, with only a hand full of entries in the year 9 category. No entries from 10 onwards were seen on Friday 14 August. Judges were required to sign in and a quick guide was provided by the MAV staff member. Initial judging of the first couple of entries was hard to get right due to a lack of comparison between projects and also referencing the ability of students and the level of the math used. It is for that reason, that at the end of my 3 hours of judging I felt that I had to re-mark the first couple of projects. Even though I had followed the rubric provided, a better understanding of the rubric criteria became apparent the more projects I reviewed. It appeared that the entries with clear mathematical links were chosen first for judging and those with applied mathematical principles in their project chosen later as it made it a little harder to critique the mathematics involved. Identifying the level of mathematics used in a project and identifying if the level used was age- appropriate or above standard levels took time to identify and required referencing with the AusVELS standard. Even though some projects were very complicated and the level of understanding in building such a project demonstrated great problem solving abilities and applied knowledge , little reference to the mathematics used in the project were shown. This was clearly the case with the Rubik’s cube solving computer project. The project wasn’t functional due to a missing piece (3D printer not working at the time to complete the robotic device) but clear explanations were provided of student discoveries and how they resolved problems encountered. The only component that prevented giving this project the highest marks possible was the explanation of how mathematical references were incorporated in the programming of the robotics. Project work such as the MTQ allows students the ability to incorporate other disciplines into the mathematical curriculum to make in more engaging. This was seen in a number of entries that I marked where students incorporated a love of sports with statistical analysis. One particular entrant, a year 7 comic book format project that looked at relative strength of insects to humans specifically wrote that he did not find mathematics enjoyable , but loved being able to incorporate his love of drawing with his Mathematical project. To get the most out of project based work teachers and students are encouraged to agree on

Jose Sicurella S4526414 detailed goals and how the results should be presented, as well constant teacher monitoring to ensure all are contributing to the project (LaFave, N 2012) Neil LaFave (2012) concludes that project work is a great way to engage talented and gifted students where students can work at their own abilities and pace. It is also another tactic teachers could used to manage talented and gifted students as a reward or incentive. However, project work in maths can come with limitations. For example, research has shown that students do find it difficult to design approaches to analyse applied problems (Ganter and Green, 2009). These authors also state it may necessitate teamwork to breakdown the project into subprojects, and the contributions from each team member is not always easy to establish for assessment purposes. Ganter and Green point out assumptions about real life situations need to be made by students to do the projects, so several outcomes based on different assumptions may need to be presented. Finally, different areas of the curriculum may be used in different class projects, meaning the same maths content is not learned by the whole class. It should also be mentioned that judges at the MTQ see only the successful, completed projects, but the number of projects where students felt overwhelmed or planned poorly and abandoned the projects is unknown. Due to the detailed inspection of student project, most judges were observed to be focused on critiquing and marking the project as correctly as possible. This along with the task of marking as many project as possible in a given timeframe meant that there was little time to interact between judges. This limited the effectiveness of MTQ as a professional development opportunity where teachers can interacts with other peers. However, it does provide teachers with a great opportunity to get ideas for projects that could be run in their classes to engage students. The MTQ is a great event that provides students from Victoria with a wonderful opportunity to undertake project based work that is judged by mathematics teachers from Victoria. It provides an opportunity for students to extend themselves and allows teachers to observe and critique student projects from other schools. It also provides opportunities for teachers to reflect on student learning and increase their teaching repertoire.

Jose Sicurella S4526414

References Baeten, M., Kyndt, E., Struyven, K. and Dochy, F. (2010). Using student-centred learning environments to stimulate deep approaches to learning: Factors encouraging or discouraging their effectiveness. Educational Research Review, 5(3), pp.243-260. Ganter R and Green K., (2009). Team base resource modelling projects that teach more than mathematics content. The UMAP Journal 30 (4) p413-428. LaFave, N. (2012). You want me to teach what?. Arlington, Va.: National Science Teachers Association.