Great maths teaching opens doors for pupils, not just in terms of outcomes and life chances, but by giving them a whole new way of experiencing the world.
But, like maths itself, great maths teaching is not just about following a formula or memorising a set of teaching strategies. This means having a toolkit of evidence-informed practices such as worked examples and retrieval practice is necessary but not sufficient. As maths teachers, we need to make decisions in the classroom that lead to great learning. This means knowing what we are trying to achieve, how pupils learn maths, and using these to make decisions about the actions we take in the classroom.
This book unites these three things into aims, principles and actions, helping maths teachers think deeply about teaching. This is approach is needed because context matters when we teach maths – we can’t just plug and play the same techniques in every circumstance. Focusing on evidence-informed principles as well as teaching techniques builds teacher agency, supporting teachers to think about how to apply the evidence around effective maths teaching to their classrooms and their students.
But, like maths itself, great maths teaching is not just about following a formula or memorising a set of teaching strategies. This means having a toolkit of evidence-informed practices such as worked examples and retrieval practice is necessary but not sufficient. As maths teachers, we need to make decisions in the classroom that lead to great learning. This means knowing what we are trying to achieve, how pupils learn maths, and using these to make decisions about the actions we take in the classroom.
This book unites these three things into aims, principles and actions, helping maths teachers think deeply about teaching. This is approach is needed because context matters when we teach maths – we can’t just plug and play the same techniques in every circumstance. Focusing on evidence-informed principles as well as teaching techniques builds teacher agency, supporting teachers to think about how to apply the evidence around effective maths teaching to their classrooms and their students.