The School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics holds an annual Mathematics Teachers Day on campus at the University of Wollongong. The University is committed to supporting schools in its regions and one of the ways we aim to do this is by providing professional development for teachers.This day is a chance to interact with world class academics, to respond to ideas for mathematics teaching from your peers, to increase awareness of trends of professional interest, and to network with colleagues. There is no registration fee and lunch is provided free of charge.

 

 Mathematics Teachers Day 2010
Tuesday 29th June 2010

 see below to download copies of the previous years talks.

 

 Registration - Opening March 2010                      

Program of Events - Available May 2010                    

The last Mathematics Teachers Day was held on 7th July 2009, with a successful turnout from teachers around the region. Here is what some attendees from previous years have had to say about the event.

• “The most worthwhile aspect of the day was having a variety of speakers with different perspectives on maths education”

• “A great day for exposure to the University to see where our students end up”

• “Worthwhile event for linking high schools maths to uni”

Talks and materials from 2009 Mathematics Teachers Day
Techniques for Mental Arithmetic - Other resources to follow Mr Michael Clapper
Developing representational Competence Dr Peter Gould
ATAR:How is it calculated and what can we predict?

ATAR - Presentation version		 A/Prof Jacqui Ramagge

 

Talks and materials from 2008 Mathematics Teachers Day
Mathematical Modelling in Nanotechnology Dr Natalie Thamwattana
In all Probability
- 2 Slides per page
- 6 Slides per page
 Dr Michael Evans
Unreal Numbers - The story of p-adic numbers A/Prof Jacqui Ramagge

 

Talks and materials from previous Mathematics Teachers Day
Google’s success and page rank algorithms Assoc Professor Greg Doherty The success of Google is predominantly due to mathematics – Google’s page rank algorithm. This talk presents some of the background to this success and some of the mathematics of page rank algorithms.
An Introduction to the Laptop Program in Year 7 at St Mary’s Gerry Sozio - Head Mathematics Teacher at St Mary Star of the Sea College, Wollongong This talk describes an Australia wide Mathematics Program for Schools. A Pilot Program has been run for years’ 7 & 8 with over 130 schools being involved in the program. The nature of the material and the aims of the program are presented.
Opinion polls Professor David Steel A high profile application of mathematical methods is the opinion polls. There are several factors affecting their interpretation that are discussed: sampling error, coverage, analysis of lead and combining several surveys.
Link to formulas for pi   A list of formulas for pi prepared for Mathematics Teachers Day
Link to mathematical quotations   List of mathematical quotations prepared for Mathematics Teachers Day
An application of functions of the form (ax+b)/(cx+d) to a resource allocation problem. Assoc Professor Rod Nillsen An aim of this talk, as with the one given in 2005(see below), was to show how school-level mathematics can be used to analyze issues of public policy. The problem here is to determine how recipients of funding would be affected should the criteria for allocating the funds be changed. The issue arose explicitly when the West report on higher education (1998) proposed to change the relative importance of funding to universities based upon teaching and research. A paper based on this talk will appear in The Australian Senior Mathematics Journal. Further information can be found at http://www.uow.edu.au/~nillsen
Can quadratic functions tell us whether Brendan Nelson is really trying to save taxpayers' money? Assoc Professor Rod Nillsen The talk shows how the school-level technique for maximizing a quadratic function can be applied to analyze a controversial issue of public policy -- namely, the extent to which government subsidies to independent schools save taxpayers' money. A paper based on this talk was published in The Australian Senior Mathematics Journal. (vol.21, 2007, pp.58-64). Further information can be found at < http://www.uow.edu.au/~nillsen

 

Summertime Maths DVD

The School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics is developing an information DVD for high school students, mathematics teachers and careers advisers, with a number of aims:

1. To provide information regarding Mathematics studies at the University of Wollongong;

2. To encourage students to take the appropriate level of HSC Mathematics for their career choice;

3. To show the relevance of Mathematics in today's world;

4. To provide remedial material for students to use in preparation for University studies.

The DVD is at a stage where we would like to gather feedback from some who will be using the information. What has been prepared so far is available online http://www.math.uow.edu.au/subjects/summer/ Please take a look and tell us what you think! Feedback should be sent to Caz Sandison (sandison@uow.edu.au).

Notes: The site contains a number of video clips that are quite large in size. We recommend you use a broadband link to view the site. The videos are in a format best viewed on a PC. The videos will soon be available in a more universal format.

If you would like further information, or to be added to the mailing list for upcoming events please e-mail Joell Hall at joell@uow.edu.au

Last reviewed: 30 September, 2009