Reflections: May 1998

Editorial

Letters to the editor 1

Reflections on an international study

• Teaching mathematics in NSW: What does TIMSS show?, Kaye Stacey
• Do you know your TIMSS tables? Robyn Gibson

Reflections on senior mathematics

• Benchmarking student performance: Student understandings of the number plane,
  John Pegg, Robyn Hadfield, and Anne Hastings
• All stations to confusion? Mary Coupland
• Locus, Ken Grant
• Study skills for MIS/MIP: A different approach, Lynette Hunter
• Using computers in Mathematics in Practice: A brief rationale, Tracey Clarke

Reflections on teaching at university

• A challenging and rewarding experience: Tertiary teaching for one year, Frank Reid

Reflections on Number

• Fibonacci, flowers and fractals, Tony van Ravenstein
• Proofs for the irrationality of e and p , James Taylor
• An innovative approach to an investigation of lowest common multiples
  and highest common factors, Alan C Brady

Reflections on technology

• Further ideas for using graphic calculators in the classroom, Frank Sharpe and Ben Underwood
• Applications of graphic calculators to selected topics from
  New South Wales Mathematics syllabuses, Cary Buecher

Reflections on teaching strategies

• Understanding reluctant learners in mathematics, Beth Southwell
• An investigation into the use of writing prompts to promote learning, Laura Jane Campisi

Reflections on worksheets

• The maths exchange &endash; sharing classroom ideas and activities

Reviews

• Features of additional Year 9 Advanced and Intermediate textbooks, Helen Scanlon and Maureen Campbell

Questions for teachers

EDITORIAL

The fourth issue of Reflections for 1997 focused on the new Years 9-10 Syllabus. In that issue, we

included a brief review of seven of the available textbooks that have been written for this new

course. We inadvertently omitted two texts from that list. In a letter to the editor, Helen Scanlon

expressed concern that we did not review those two texts. We include in this issue a review of each

of the omitted texts, Heinemann Mathematics, by Atkinson and Ward, and Inside Mathematics, by

Sattler and White.

Helen Scanlon also commented that we only recommend one of the books as a student text and

indicates that she suspects that 'students could work well from most of the new texts'. The texts

were reviewed by a group of secondary mathematics teachers from a school in the Sydney area.

These teachers have recommended the text that best suits their students. Their comments reflect

their opinions. Being an open journal, this is true for all articles published in Reflections. They do

not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Committee or the members of MANSW.

The Editorial Committee acknowledges Helen Scanlon's criticisms and wisbes to make it clear to

readers that we believe that all the texts reviewed offer considerable support for student learning.

We also acknowledge that it is each teacher's responsibility to choose an appropriate text to meet

the needs of their students.

In this issue we have included several conference papers that we were unable to include in the

conference proceedings (Reflections 23 (1)) because of the number of papers that were submitted

for publication. We again thank each of the contributors for agreeing to have their papers published

in this issue. They include the following:

In 1997, the results from a large, international study, the Third International Mathematics and

Science Study (TIMSS), were released. At the time, there were several reports in the press about the

poor results of Australian students compared to students from other countries. Others jumped to the

defence of our results and stated that the results 'should be a source of pride for what Australian

students and their mathematics teachers have achieved' (Pegg, 1997, p. 36). Stacey presents a brief

overview of some of the results and offers suggestions as to how these results can best be

interpreted, while Gibson's paper compares the content of Japan's, Singapore's and NSW's junior

secondary curriculum. Stacey's paper has been adapted from a paper that was originally published

in:

Clarke, D., Clarkson, P., Gronn, D., Horne, M., Lowe, L., Mackinlay, M. & McDonough, A. (Eds)

(1997). Mathematics: Imagine the Possibilities, Mathematical Association of Victoria,

Brunswick, Victoria.

The paper by Pegg, Hadfield and Hastings examines student responses to number plane questions in

the HSC and has been reprinted with permission. It first appeared in:

Scott, N. & Hollingsworth, H. (1997). Mathematics: Creating the Future, AAMT, Melbourne,

Victoria.

Other papers provide a rationale for using computers in MIP (Clarke); reflect on a year of teaching

mathematics at university (Reid); and provide further teaching ideas for using the graphic calculator

(Sharpe & Underwood).

The Maths Exchange continues to provide teachers with blackline masters but we need more

responses if we are to continue this feature. Robert Yen would appreciate your contributions.

Another initiative has been suggested by Jim Stamell from the Distance and Rural Education

Directorate. He has asked some interesting questions and we would like responses if anyone can

answer them. We also invite other readers to send questions they would like to have answered.

The photographs on the cover include tessellation patterns from Doonside Technology High School,

and quilt designs from a display at the Powerhouse Museum.

Judy Anderson,Editor

Reference

Pegg, J. (1997). Mathematics Teaching -- Creating the Future. In N. Scott & H. Hollingsworth,

Mathematics: Creating the Future, AAMT, Melbourne, Victoria.