We want all students to finish school with the literacy and numeracy skills they need to take advantage of post-school opportunities and to participate fully in society. Currently, in Australia, many students don’t. The problem of not meeting learning standards starts early, with some students behind in Year 3. An important question is whether these students eventually […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Fewer than 1 in 5 students who are behind in Year 3 catch up and stay caught up
3 reasons we use graphic novels to teach math and physics
Post-pandemic, some educators are trying to reengage students with technology – like videos, computer gaming or artificial intelligence, just to name a few. But integrating these approaches in the classroom can be an uphill battle. Teachers using these tools often struggle to retain students’ attention, competing with the latest social media phenomenon, and can feel limited by […] … learn more→
Daily report cards can decrease disruptions for children with ADHD
As another school year approaches, some caregivers, students and teachers may be feeling something new needs to happen to promote success in the classroom. Daily report cards can be a great starting point. As a clinical psychologist who studies how schools can help students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, I know traditional report cards distributed three or four […] … learn more→
Arithmetic has a biological origin – it’s an expression in symbols of the ‘deep structure’ of our perception
Everyone knows that arithmetic is true: 2 + 2 = 4. But surprisingly, we don’t know why it’s true. By stepping outside the box of our usual way of thinking about numbers, my colleagues and I have recently shown that arithmetic has biological roots and is a natural consequence of how perception of the world around us is organised. […] … learn more→
‘Why would they change maths?’ How your child’s maths education might be very different from yours
There is a scene in the film Incredibles 2 where young Dash asks his dad Bob for help with his maths homework. Bob obliges and begins to scribble on a notepad. But Dash quickly points to his textbook and says, “that’s not the way you’re supposed to do it, Dad”. Frustrated, Bob exclaims I don’t know that […] … learn more→
Too many school students are falling behind: how do we help those most at risk?
There is increasing concern about Australian students falling behind in numeracy and literacy. NAPLAN results show 16.2% of Year 3 students are at or below the national minimum standards in numeracy and 12.9% are at or below the minimum standards in reading. By Year 9, this climbs to 20.4% and 25.1% respectively. The 2021 early development census also found […] … learn more→
Are digital technologies corrupting the school?
Since the world is the world, technology has been present in our day to day. In the Lower Paleolithic, Homo habilis began to use stone tools: from then on, humanity has not stopped generating new objects based on the elements it found in its immediate environment. We must not forget that technology is everything created by man, […] … learn more→
X marks the unknown in algebra – but X’s origins are a math mystery
Even though x is one of the least-used letters in the English alphabet, it appears throughout American culture – from Stan Lee’s X-Men superheroes to “The X-Files” TV series. The letter x often symbolizes something unknown, with an air of mystery that can be appealing – just look at Elon Musk with SpaceX, Tesla’s Model X, and now X as a new […] … learn more→
Digital video storytelling: how can we take advantage of this technique to learn and teach?
The Short Celts already said it: “ Tell me a story and you will see how happy I am ”. The ancient human interest in telling and listening to stories has become a powerful and popular marketing tool (with the modern anglicism of storytelling ) in the business world, due to its ability to capture the public’s attention. Surely we all remember […] … learn more→
How to motivate yourself to learn a language
Are you thinking about learning a language? Perhaps you’ve decided that it’s time to dust off your classroom French. Maybe you’re planning a trip to Japan and feel like you should make the effort to learn the basics, or work is sending you to the Cairo office for a year and you’ll need Arabic. Learning […] … learn more→
