Margaret Harding, AC for Cornwall, Devon (South, West and North), Plymouth and Torbay
With the new GCSE in its third year, a skill that many students find difficult is the ability to reason mathematically. One of the many challenges for their teachers is to help them to develop their ability to follow a line of enquiry, conjecture relationships and generalisations, and develop an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language in line with the requirement of the National Curriculum.
Following on from the Enrichment and Extension suite of professional development offered previously by the FMSP, the AMSP has developed a new suite of courses aimed at Raising Confidence with Reasoning, Problem Solving and Higher Level Mathematics, which provide strategies and resources to use in the classroom with secondary students.
Raising Confidence with Reasoning focuses on the development of Reasoning from KS2 focusing on GCSE. It will provide strategies and ideas for teachers to use in their classrooms to develop the skills of their students. Two local events have taken place, in Bodmin, Cornwall and Blandford, with almost forty teachers from across the South West tackling problems, considering reasoning strategies and discussing approaches to enable students to hone their skills.
Raising Confidence with Problem Solving takes place in Bodmin on 6 December, and Blandford on 7 December. Applications are being taken for this course, and for the Raising Confidence with Higher Level Maths, which will happen later this year.