Supporting your students as they prepare for the STEP examinations could be a daunting task. There is no doubt that STEP questions take maths to the next level but are the questions unstructured or simply less familiar? What’s the best way of supporting your students given your time constraints? How do you approach a STEP question?
In September, a group of ten teachers attended our Introduction to STEP Mathematics at Weald of Kent Grammar School in Kent. The one-day PD course provided guidance on STEP support and offered teachers the opportunity to solve STEP questions together. It was a rich day of doing maths, discussing maths problems with peers and enjoying the challenges of solving unfamiliar problems.
The feedback was very positive – all teachers agreed that the day was of outstanding quality – with teachers agreeing that the most useful aspect of the event was getting some experience attempting questions collaboratively.
- “Great to work through some problems and realise the potential of collaborative working”
- “Took away the fear of trying and not being able to do a question”
- “It was great to just get stuck into some STEP questions, with fabulous support and guidance”
We will be running similar courses throughout the year, so come and join us!
By John Heffernan