Description:
Productive Struggle in Mathematics: What it is, what it's not and how to make the most of it.
Often misunderstood as something negative or even as “teacher malpractice,” productive struggle is, in fact, a powerful learning experience. It occurs when students are supported to grapple with problem-based tasks, leading to those pivotal “ah-ha” moments, when understanding clicks into place. In this webinar, James Dixon and Tom Mahoney will support teachers to distinguish between productive and destructive struggle in their classrooms, and explore the power of carefully designed challenging tasks as a means of facilitating the former whilst avoiding the latter.
Presenter:
James Dixon is a numeracy specialist and primary educator from Melbourne. His work centres around the importance of challenging tasks as a valuable pedagogical approach to support mathematical understanding. Formerly an instructional coach at Mount Waverley Primary School, James moved regionally and is now Numeracy Learning Specialist at Warragul North Primary School.
Tom Mahoney is a numeracy specialist, teacher and educator of secondary Mathematics students from Melbourne, currently completing a PhD in Educational Philosophy part time through Deakin University. His research explores the influence of dominant educational ideologies on teacher subjectivity and agency.
Registrations close Monday 18th August, 2025
| 
