Building Connection Spring 2018

www.buildingconnection.com.au

3 5

areas and volumes for soil and spoil

and calculating material quantities and

costs for timber, bricks, sand, cement

and plants and irrigation supplies.

They have to visit a hardware store

and contact suppliers to get prices and

order materials. Then they build it. This

is only an example, I’m sure you could

think of many others that would suit a

high school learning environment.

In 2017 a trial of the MITP was set up

in a small number of high schools in the

western suburbs of Sydney involving

year 9 students.

Rooty Hill high school deputy principal

and head teacher mathematics and

past president of the Mathematical

Association of NSW John Meng joined

the AEF and is responsible for the

development of MITP.

He led a team of like-minded

high school mathematics teachers

to collaborate on the design,

implementation and evaluation cycle

of MITP in 2018. Today MITP programs

and resources are shared in the public

domain with teachers from across three

school sectors in NSW and beyond.

“It was not an easy step to take, but

so far, the underpinning theory of MITP

is well accepted by the teachers. But,

some concerns were raised. It would

be challenging to teach mathematical

concepts and skills in ’trade’ context…

and to meet the strict safety

requirements when MITP students are

attempting practical work,” says John.

To overcome the

barriers the team

designed and delivered

multiple professional

development workshops

for MITP teachers with a

special focus on co-plan

and team teach practical lessons with

qualified TAS/VET teachers to avoid the

anxiety and risks caused by teaching

‘out-of-field’. At the moment (early

2019), there are about 50 students in

the MITP across two schools in the area.

But it is expected there will be many

times that number across NSW by year’s

end.

There are similarities between STEM

and MITP approaches to motivate and

engage learners, but MITP applies

mathematics in a ’trade’

context, e.g. calculate

the pitch and rafter

length in a gable roof.

Another distinct

feature of MITP is

the extensive use

of assessment

strategies to assess

students’ knowledge

and skills through

teacher observation

and professional

John Meng, (Co-Deputy

Principal and Head

Teacher, Mathematics at

Rooty Hill High School).

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