Editorial.
Attard, Catherine
Welcome to the final issue of APMC for 2013. As the year draws to a
close it is an appropriate time to reflect on the teaching year in terms
of the successes and challenges faced in the classroom over the previous
twelve months. It is also a time to begin planning for a new year and an
opportunity to evaluate and make decisions regarding recycling or
perhaps modifying the teaching strategies and tasks you have used in the
past year. I am sure the practical articles in this issue of APMC will
provide much inspiration for your 2014 planning!
There is something for everyone in this issue, with articles
spanning all strands of the Australian Curriculum. The first two
articles address content from the Measurement and Geometry strand. In
the first, Leicha Bragg delves into the sub-strand of Position, with an
interesting exploration of an assessment task that requires students to
produce and read maps. Although Bragg has included student work samples
from Year 1 children, the Hide, Map and Seek assessment can be used with
any age group. Tracy Logan's and Tom Lowrie's paper
complements the first article with a focus on spatial and visual
reasoning, particularly in relation to the interpretation of map task
graphics used in assessment items.
The article by Roche, Clarke, Sullivan and Cheeseman continues the
mapping theme with a focus on strategies that encourage students to
persist when engaged in challenging tasks. A sequence of three lessons
is presented and some interesting data gathered from the teachers who
participated in the lessons is presented.
Jane Watson and Lyn English have provided an interesting and
thought provoking article on the use of percentages within a context of
probability, and distinguish between the use of percentages and raw data
for the purpose of comparison. This is followed by Part Two of Monica
Wong's article on students' understanding of fractions
represented on a number line. Wong presents research data that includes
useful examples of primary students' responses to fraction tasks.
The final article in this issue is a very interesting discussion
from Peter Farrell regarding teacher-research and the value of
disseminating classroom-based research to other teachers. This is timely
for those who work in Victoria, with recent developments within the
government school system requiring teachers to provide evidence of their
achievements.
We have once again included some excellent practical teaching ideas
in our regular column Australian Curriculum Linked Lessons from Derek
Hurrell. In this issue he presents a popular problem he refers to as
"Congratulations" and discusses the problem solving process
within the context of that problem. We also see the return of our
Teaching with Technology column where I provide two ideas to try with
iPads. If you have some great teaching ideas relating to the use of
technology, I strongly encourage you to send them in so we can share
them with our readers.
Finally, I wish to thank all of the contributors to APMC, the
reviewers, those who assist in compiling and printing the journal, and
of course our readers. Have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy the
break!
