Parents participate in mathematical fun at Mary MacKillop

24/11/2011

Maths activity bags containing counting beads and other resources were given to parents to use with their children at home

Parents participated in mathematical games aimed at demonstrating how teachers work with students to develop numeracy skills

On Monday 21 November, approximately 100 parents from Mary MacKillop Primary School, Penrith South participated in a numeracy workshop aimed at helping parents support their children with learning at home.

Mary MacKillop is one of many schools across the Parramatta diocese involved in the Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU) program. EMU is an academic partnership with the Australian Catholic University (ACU) providing professional learning for principals and teachers to ensure that they are highly qualified educators of Mathematics and numeracy.

Melissa King, teaching educator from Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta ran the numeracy workshop for parents and emphasised the need for students to develop a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and numeracy skills.

‘We are moving away from repetition or rote learning towards a deeper understanding of numeracy,’ said Melissa. ‘Our role as teachers is to ensure that students are using the most efficient strategies and that they understand numbers on a deep level.’

Melissa involved parents in a number of mathematical games aimed at demonstrating how teachers work with students to develop their numeracy skills. One game involved parents breaking off into pairs and using dice and counters to create piles of each number rolled, at the end of two minutes they were asked to identify how many counters they had accumulated. With groups using different methods to identify their final number of counters, Melissa was able to demonstrate how teachers reinforce deep thinking by identifying that not all of the parents’ methods were the most efficient.

‘We constantly ask students how they know what they have counted and how they can prove it,’ said Melissa. ‘We ask them to question - is there a better way? How do you know? Could you do it differently? - to reinforce their learning and encourage deep understanding.’

‘The educational research shows that a deep understanding of numbers means you know how to work with it e.g. add, subtract, multiply, divide, write it, count it,’ she said. ‘It is not always about the answer, it is about the thinking used to get the answer.’

Acting principal, Marina Hardy, said that the workshop was the result of parents and grandparents asking how they could assist their children’s learning at home.

‘This workshop is about engaging parents in the learning,’ said Marina. ‘The way we teach Mathematics is quite different to the way many of our parents were taught. By explaining learning tasks to parents and helping them to understand what their children are learning, they can offer real support and assistance at home.’

Alice Dardaneliotis, has three children at Mary MacKillop and she said that she found the workshop very informative.

‘I came today because I want to learn the way the teachers are teaching so that I can help my children in line with what is being taught at school,’ said Alice. ‘There are different techniques to the way I was taught and I found the workshop really helpful.’

After the workshop, parents were given a maths activity bag containing counting beads and other resources they could use with their children at home.