December 11, 2020
Champions of Maths Graduate!
Maths teaching in primary schools across Mandurah, Pinjarra and Rockingham has received a boost with eight teachers about to graduate from the highly successful Alcoa Champions of Maths Program.
This is the second cohort of teachers to graduate since the Scitech-delivered program was introduced in 2019 as an extension to the popular Alcoa Maths Enrichment Program. It aims to create leaders within the school community with the ability to inspire and upskill colleagues and students alike.
Two teachers from Oakwood Primary School in Meadow Springs, Ocean Road Primary School in Dawesville, St Joseph’s Primary School in Pinjarra and Bungaree Primary School in Rockingham committed more than 80 hours throughout the year, working through the disruption of COVID-19, to learn and deliver powerful, engaging and challenging maths experiences for their students.
Kalien Selby, Scitech Chief Executive Officer, said “The Alcoa Champions of Maths program is breaking new ground in how maths is taught to primary school students. Through intensive coaching sessions and one-on-one feedback, teachers introduce techniques that cut-through barriers to engagement.”
“Students learn to respectfully work together to solve complex problems, then explain and justify their ideas. Rather than being shown the answers, they learn to guide their own thinking to ensure deeper and lasting understanding.”
Suellen Jerrard, Alcoa Australia Corporate Affairs Manager, said “Alcoa is proud to continue to support ground-breaking ways to enhance maths education to help ensure students have the knowledge and confidence to be successful in the modern workplace, where STEM skills will be paramount”.
As part of the teacher’s graduation, their students had the opportunity to demonstrate their new skills such as discussing and debating ideas, working through problems together, their ability to revise their thinking and show counter examples and proof, among other critical skills for maths learning.
The graduation family event was hosted by maths comedian Brad Felstead who performed ‘The Maths Show’, a demonstration of the amazing power of numbers to control the mind, predict the future and reveal secrets through mathematical history, puzzles, magic and fun.
During the show the audience met famous (and not so famous) mathematicians from ancient Babylon and Greece, pioneers of Algebra, famous women of maths, and champions of chance and data.