2006 AARE Doctoral Thesis Award
The MAV has always been keen to support original research and thinking into mathematics education. But a tight budget with many calls upon it can limit the support offered. So the MAV Council was delighted with the news that Dr Gaye Williams, recipient of a modest MAV PhD research scholarship in 2002, had not only successfully completed her PhD, but that had won the prestigious 2006 Australian Association for Research in Education [AARE] Doctoral Thesis Award! This was for her PhD research on student creative thinking in the mathematics classroom.
First made in 1989, the award is intended as a recognition of excellence in educational research by doctoral students. It is seen by the Association as a way of recognising the high quality contribution made to educational knowledge by graduate students, and at the same time promoting dissemination and furthering of research. The main criterion for assessment of excellence in doctoral research will be the contribution made to theoretical, empirical, and/or methodological knowledge in education. In particular, preference is given to studies which make a conceptual advance in educational theory, policy and practice, which point to the methods of improving educational practice or pioneer innovation, which contribute through disciplined research to knowledge on which new educational practices may be based, or which contribute to advances in methodology of educational research, evaluation and dissemination. Other criteria include originality and thoroughness in carrying through the research and the quality of presentation of the work.
A copy of Dr Gaye Williams thesis, Improving intellectual and affective quality in mathematics lessons : how autonomy and spontaneity enable creative and insightful thinking, has been donated to the MAV library. You can also find it online at http://eprints.infodiv.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00002533/, and details of the work of the International Centre for Classroom Research at http://www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/ict/iccr/projects.html. So, well deserved congratulations are offered to Dr Williams, who is generously sharing her mathematics education expertise with the professions, both in her role as a lecturer at Deakin University and as a volunteer MAV Councillor.
July 2007 Common Denominator now available online.
VELS Progression Points: Surveys of MAV members show that mathematics teachers want support to plan, teach and arrange for meaningful learning, and they want to be accountable. But on top of new reporting requirements, new VELS strands, new Standards, the new Progression Points were just too much at once. Read the MAV Council's response to the VCAA review of the progression points ...
Victorian Institute of Teaching urged to maintain standards for mathematics teachers.
Read the
MAV submission here.
The Tasmanian Education Department has produced a wonderful collection of seven booklets (each about 50 pages) with the general title 'Mental Computation: A Strategies Approach'.
Why you should choose math in high school
Espen Andersen, Associate Professor, Norwegian School of Management and Associate Editor, Ubiquity
Written for Aftenposten, a large Norwegian newspaper, this article encourages students to choose math as a major subject in high school - not just in preparation for higher education but because having math up to maximum high school level is important in all walks of life.
Download the 2007 Publications Catalogue
Visit the 2007 Professional Development calendar
CensusAtSchool: Real projects that use real, raw data. Are you looking for a way to engage students in statistics in the upper primary years through to senior secondary? Lots of real, raw data about themselves is one way to do it!
Mathematical Methods - Examination 1 Summary
EdNA Online News Headlines: School Education
MAV response to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Promotion of Maths and Science Education
