Mathematics

The Mathematics Faculty at Engadine High provides students with a learning environment which nurtures individual problem-solving skills as well as teaching traditional mathematical skills. We encourage students to demonstrate initiative and share their thoughts, experiences and understanding of mathematics wider than the classroom. Studying mathematics provides students with skills to learn to describe, reason, predict, calculate, estimate, measure, interpret and communicate information presented in a numerical, symbolic, geometrical, graphical, statistical, and algebraic form.

All students in years 7 to 10 follow the teaching program and learning continuum as outlined by the NSW Board of Studies’ syllabus “Mathematics K-10” (see www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/schoolcertificate/. Teaching and learning content extends the learning outcomes attained in stages 4 and 5 on the NSW Board of Studies’ syllabus “Mathematics K-10” (see www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/schoolcertificate/ The focus of the syllabus is to provide students with a detailed and extensive program of mathematics which will allow them to show their individuality and to ‘work mathematically’. It connects mathematics to matters beyond the classroom. The five areas of working mathematically are:

• Applying strategies: students develop, select and use a variety of strategies and technologies to solve and explore solutions and problems.
• Communication: students develop and use appropriate language and representations to formulae and express their mathematical ideas.
• Questioning: students ask questions in relation to mathematical situations and their experiences.
• Reasoning: students develop and explore relationships, checking solutions and give reasons to support their conclusions.
• Reflecting: students reflect on their experiences and understanding to make connections with, and generalisations about, existing knowledge and understanding.

The Mathematics Faculty has developed a set of teaching programs based on the “Mathematics 7-10” syllabus.  

Mathletics Program

Mathletics has been introduced into the curriculum at Engadine High School. Parents and students will benefit from a cost effective way of accessing resources from home.

Mathletics is a web-based learning platform that integrates home and school learning via the internet. Mathletics covers the K - Year 12 Australian Maths Curriculum and is currently used in over 2,000 Australian schools, with more than a million students worldwide accessing the site every day! It is the next generation in learning, helping students to enjoy maths and improve their results.

Mathletics will be used for consolidation, homework and diagnostic purposes. Students will be able to use the Mathletics program with 24/7 access to all the resources Mathletics has to offer, so you may notice your child accessing the site at home. Teachers will be monitoring usage and results and we encourage parents to do the same. Teachers will also set ‘focus activities’ for the tasks they think students need to improve on. If students know that parents and teachers check their grades regularly, they are more likely to consider and value Mathletics as a learning resource.

The benefits of Mathletics are:

• students are inspired and motivated to learn
• Mathletics is adaptive, it responds to individual student strengths and weaknesses
• students instantly know if they are on the right track and can work through the curriculum at their own pace
• animated support guides students through concepts whenever they need, like a maths tutor might do with demonstrations, explanations and worked solutions
• teachers can monitor student records in order to track progress and identify learning needs
• students have the opportunity to access tests offered on Mathletics to be able to prepare thoroughly accessing another resource in addition to their textbook.
• students receive immediate feedback with their level of success and development and are able to receive explanation of misunderstanding for mathematical content. 

The cost of the program is an annual fee of $8 per child. The same program, if purchased independently by parents, is $99, so the school purchase passes a considerable saving on to families.

Breadth of content

The Mathletics platform offers videos, dictionary and concept search items, interactive activities, problem solving, times table songs and animations, Live Mathletics for mental skill and accuracy, printable workbooks, diagnostic testing, NAPLAN preparation and benchmarking tools. Mathletics gives students pure mathematical based questions as well as problem solving tasks which relate classroom content to the mathematical skills people use outside of the classroom in every day lives.

How does Mathletics cater for individual student needs?

Mathletics has a plethora of activities, created to align specifically with the curriculum. What is common to these activities is the pursuit of mastery and personalised learning. The activities contain intelligently adaptive questions that respond according to the results of the individual student answering the question. As the student answers correctly, the questions become gradually more challenging, within the scope of the topic. Conversely, if the student is answering questions beyond their ability, they are delivered questions that are more simplistic to help the student get back on track. This intelligent adaptability ensures that every student in the class is working at their personal level to best achieve mastery in that concept.

 All student results are fed immediately back to the teacher, where they can not only view the results, but action the results to create a personalised learning pathway  for each student . This feature alone has been responsible for seeing marked improvements in student results.

For more information about Mathletics you are welcome to consult your child’s Mathematics teacher , alternatively visit www.mathletics.com.au to view the website and see comments from parents and schools.

Staff