Helping primary school kids do better at maths

A seminar hosted by Southern Cross University aims to shed light on why some primary school students do poorly at maths and suggest ways to help them overcome their learning barriers.

Hosted by the Centre for Children & Young People, the seminar, at the Coffs Harbour campus, will feature the work of Associate Professor Bob Wright and David Ellemor-Collins who are working on a three-year project studying the learning of children in Year 3 and 4 who are low-attaining in number.

This Australian Research Council-funded project extends research into younger students’ number learning, familiar in programs such as Count Me In Too.

The seminar will overview the experimental framework for instruction in number that is being used in the project. The framework consists of five aspects: number words and numerals, structuring numbers to 20, conceptual place value, addition and subtraction to 100, and early multiplication and division.

The Director of the Centre, Associate Professor Anne Graham, said the project had important implications for mathematics teaching in schools and the seminar provided a great opportunity for teachers, parents and academics to come together to discuss how to support children who may not find their early mathematics learning easy.

The seminar will be run by David Ellemor-Collins and will be held on Thursday, August 14, from 4.30pm to 6.00pm at Southern Cross University’s Coffs Harbour campus in room OTH96 – the O Block Lecture Theatre. There is no charge. Please RSVP before Wednesday, August 12 to Wendy Britt wendy.britt@scu.edu.au or telephone 0266 20 3605.

Photo: David Ellemor-Collins is hoping to shed some light on why some children struggle with maths.