Steve Humble - How to be Inventive When Teaching Primary Mathematics: Developing outstanding learners

Have you ever taken your children on a maths walk?
Are your pupils shape detectives?

How to be Inventive When Teaching Primary Mathematics is a pocket guide to inspire primary teachers to become confident, effective, imaginative teachers who enjoy teaching and whose pupils enjoy learning. It is packed with exciting, creative, unexpected ideas to help teachers and pupils open their eyes to the mathematical world around them. It gives teachers the tools to develop their own classroom activities and experiences, supporting learners as they move fluently between mathematical ideas and develop their ownership of mathematics: take your pupils on a maths walk, meet dinosaurs, visit art galleries, learn your destiny number, create your first human graph in the play-ground and learn how to be an algebra magician.

Written by Steve Humble, expert teacher, teacher trainer and, as Dr Maths, advocate for the power and potential of mathematics, this friendly, stimulating guide offers a fresh, practical approach to teaching mathematics based on the best research and practice, and years of experience in the field. Focussing on five key mathematical topics number, geometry, measurement, statistics and algebra it is structured in the form of a journey, introducing historical facts, ideas for innovative and inventive classroom activities and explorations of the key misconceptions for each topic.

How to be Inventive When Teaching Primary Mathematics will challenge you to think about your own beliefs and how they influence your practice, and help you understand how best to transform your teaching to stimulate childrens emotions to improve knowledge, learning and enjoyment of the beauty of maths.

Steve Humble is Teaching Fellow for secondary and primary PGCE mathematics at Newcastle University, UK. In his role as a maths publicist Dr Maths Steve writes books, blogs and a fortnightly newspaper column to help create greater public interest and understanding of mathematics.

How to be Inventive When Teaching Primary Mathematics

Developing outstanding learners

Steve Humble

First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2015 S. Humble

The right of S. Humble to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
How to be inventive when teaching primary mathematics: developing outstanding learners/Steve Humble.
pages cm
1. Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary). 2. Elementary
school teachers Training of. 3. Mathematics teachers Training of.M
I. Title.
QA135.6.H855 2015
372.7 dc23
2014038953

ISBN: 978-1-138-84341-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-84342-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73101-8 (ebk)

Typeset in Celeste and Optima
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK

Paws, this book is for you.

Thank you

FIGURES

TABLES

With over 20 years experience as a mathematics subject leader in various educational establishments, I became the Senior Regional Coordinator for the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), which I undertook for five years. Currently I work at Newcastle University, teaching mathematics on the primary and secondary PGCE. My research focuses on talented children in low-income areas of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and their possible contribution to the eradication of poverty. I am also interested in looking at teacher effectiveness in different school management types in India and Africa.

I am a Member of the European Mathematical Society (EMS) Committee for Raising the Public Awareness of Mathematics in Europe and a fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA). To promote public interest in mathematics I have written a fortnightly newspaper column as Dr Maths, as well as a range of puzzles, explorer books and a number of classroom resources.

My hope is that you see the value in this book and feel you can make it part of your teaching and learning. I welcome your comments and questions.

email: steve.humble@ncl.ac.uk

Look again and see whats new.
Look around and take in the view.
Look again and see whats new.
Human architecture
structures our life.
Designs forged
through centuries might.
The clock ticks on with time underplayed,
sequencing
layers on layers,
that drift and fade.
The walk we take has twists and turns,
patterns only viewed in diminishing returns.
Take some time to think.
Pause.
Take in the view.
Look again.
And see.
Whats new?

by Steve Humble (2015)

The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things.

Lewis Carroll

This book takes a fresh practical look at teaching mathematics. I base this approach not only on my own teaching experience over the past 29 years but also my involvement with teacher continual professional development within and outside university. I have taught maths to many trainee primary school teachers. They often conveyed to me their worries, fears and concerns regarding teaching maths to young children. However, I have always found that with a little bit of confidence, knowhow and originality maths teaching can be the most rewarding experience.

The book contains inventive ideas concerning mathematical topics that you will need for teaching in a primary school. These ideas will give you an insight into delivering lessons that show the beauty and power of mathematics. It will allow children to gain a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

One sees five topics in the curriculum that you as a primary school teacher need to embrace and transfer to your children: number, geometry, measurement, statistics and algebra. These provide the foundations of mathematical learning.

Looking at this list someone might say: I didnt like doing those at school.

So how can we stop your pupils growing up and saying the same thing? We want them and you to leave school at the end of the day saying I want to do more maths at home tonight. So thats where well start.

This guide provides you with some of the tools you will need to teach your pupils in an inventive way. Not only will you inform and stimulate, but you will use methods and ideas that twist and turn to make for some fun, provide original experiences and allow children to move fluently between mathematical ideas.

This book is structured in the form of a journey. You will see within each chapter an historical introduction, followed by ideas around innovative and inventive classroom activities and finishing by exploring the key misconception for that topic.