Make it Count 2009 – 2012

• SECONDARY• Nerang State High School• St Peter Claver College

• PRIMARY• Nerang State School• St Brigid's Primary School• William Duncan State School• Gilston State School

• Establishment of Cluster • Appointment of Indigenous Education Officer – Jay

McQueen• Cultural awareness training• Maths Camp Planning

• Each school undertook: • Dare to Lead ‘Snapshots”• Cultural training with staff• First Steps in Number training

• Indigenous Student Maths Camp• A 3 day 2 night camp for students from Years 5-9

focussing on engaging maths activities that take students out of the classroom, developing positive relationships amongst campers, creating links to culture and engaging students in hands on investigations that make use of the local environment and develop positive attitudes towards Maths.

• Each school undertook:• ‘Leading from the Middle’ projects with key staff• A project where curriculum leaders work with staff on

action learning projects, using pre intervention data, coaching, mentoring and post intervention data follow up

• Indigenous Student Maths Camp• A 1 day camp hearing about how the Titans League

coach uses maths to train players, maths activities and investigations

• KU 5 –There are patterns in the way we write whole numbers that help us remember their order.

• Pre Test• 10 of the 24 children started with a clear understanding of the processes of making

whole numbers.• A further 8 had a very limited understanding.• The children particularly enjoyed the process of bundling a variety of materials and at

the time all became confident in verbalising what they were doing and why.• Post Test• The children were given the post test with out explanation and were left to complete.

They then discussed their answers with the teacher and explained what the lolly roll meant.

• Most children started counting in 10’s then on in ones to get to their final answer. This was something none were able to do at the start.

• The children were assessed on their verbal understanding of the concept and how well they could explain what they were doing.

• 17 of the 24 children showed a very clear understanding of this concept – a further 3 were well on the way to competency.

• Indigenous Perspective• Joseph started with a very limited understanding of the idea of bundling but was able

to demonstrate a clear knowledge at the post test discussion.

• Maths Conference for Staff - January • All teachers attended a conference for 1.5 days on Maths

and indigenous learners. Key speakers Dr Tyson Yungkaporta & Dr Peter Grootenboer

• Each school will undertake:• ‘Leading from the Middle’ projects with key staff• A project where curriculum leaders work with staff on

action learning projects, using pre intervention data, coaching, mentoring and post intervention data follow up

• Indigenous Student Maths Camp• A 1 day camp using maths activities and investigations

• The importance of connectedness between teachers & students• Relationship• Safe & no put downs in a class• Importance of success• Fun • Non threatening

• Gathering pre & post data• Collegial mentoring (‘Leading from the Middle’)• Teacher knowledge