Resourceful teaching

A teacher of mathematics assists her students to confront new, larger numbers by utilising physical resources to help with their equations. The teacher observes the students’ thinking and problem solving abilities during the lesson in order to plan further teaching. Students are challenged to show how they solved the problem, not just their answers. At the end of the lesson, students discuss their various solutions so that those at different levels of learning can see how others approached the problem. The teachers' analysis of the value of resources to her teaching and learning is both original and perceptive.

Wooranna Park Primary School emphasises students accepting responsibility for their learning, along with learning through collaboration with their peers. The school has adopted an interdisciplinary, research based approach, to the development of curriculum, with an emphasis on deep and authentic learning experiences. The teacher utilises elements of this approach in her mathematics class, where her students are invited to predict which resources will enable them to solve a problem, and then use these to test their suitability for the purpose.