Sharing Good Practice
And then it hit me .
Figure 1 image of number line created with EquatIO by Texthelp
As teachers , we do this all the time . We identify challenges our students face , and we differentiate or scaffold to help meet them at their starting point . Supporting students with specific learning difficulties in maths may lead to a dyscalculia diagnosis . Still , in my experience , all students can benefit by being more inclusive and scaffolding , regardless of need . the ordinality of numbers . I often watched my students struggle when calculating with negative numbers . Only through this CPD time of exploration of dyscalculia did I connect that issues around ordinality may be at play . Although number lines don ’ t represent the order of numbers , they were a familiar tool to my GCSE students , and their use of them bred confidence , which created a positive mindset . Number lines became a strong support for my students to procedurally identify when counting up or down the direction of numbers . Through repeated practice , we tackled the ordinality of numbers through their visual representations . My number lines often had visual representations of numbers and digits to support the transcoding of the concept of numbers and digits .
Hearing the number fifty-seven and knowing that 57 represents what you heard is called transcoding numbers . I was , shamefully , unaware of potential challenges students could face in transcoding numbers . While researching the topic , I learned that transcoding in early years could be an indicator of challenges with maths later in life . Having never spent any time transcoding numbers before , I included visual representations of numbers using dots on my number lines as well as the digits . This number line scaffold support became all my students ' usual way of working , building confidence in working with numbers . needed to gain confidence to give maths a try . Figure 2 - base ten blocks created digitally
My work with manipulatives extended into coins for decimal notation and operations . Students could make more sense of adding together the decimal cost of two items with coins than without . The sense-making of seeing a visual representation supported all my students , not just those I had identified with specific learning difficulties in maths .
Similar to Morsanyi et al .’ s study , I found that a relatively low number of my students had an official dyscalculia diagnosis . Often it was difficulties I had identified in the classroom that led me to change my approach . I am not saying that all my students experience dyscalculia , but that my increasing awareness has led to an increase in students needing additional support .
Moving forward , I ’ ll be giving more consideration to those ‘ invisible barriers ’ my students may be experiencing . These scaffolds may be necessary for some , but they are useful for all .
References
Dunlosky J , Rawson KA , Marsh EJ , Nathan MJ , Willingham DT . Improving Students ’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques : Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology . Psychological Science in the Public Interest . 2013 ; 14 ( 1 ): 4-58 . doi : 10.1177 / 1529100612453266
Dweck , C ., 2017 . Mindset by Carol Dweck . London , United Kingdom : Robinson , p . 7 .
Morsanyi , K ., van Bers , B . M . C . W ., McCormack , T ., & McGourty , J . ( 2018 ). The prevalence of specific learning disorders in mathematics and comorbidity with other developmental disorders in primary school-age children . British Journal of Psychology , 109 ( 4 ), 917-940 . https :// doi . org / 10.1111 / bjop . 12322
Links to images of figures 1 and 2 Figure 1 . png figure 2 . png
Visually seeing the maths-the decimals , the fractions , often helped demystify challenges for my students . Being able to physically hold the number 10 in all its representations , blocks , cubes , rods , and counters became the support my students
Figure 2 - base ten blocks created digitally
Sammy White is an experienced maths teacher across secondary , alternative provisions and adult education . Sammy was named in the EdTech 50 in 2021 and holds ACMALT from the UK Association of Learning Technology . Sammy is a Teaching and Learning Specialist at Texthelp .
40 Term 3 Apr - Jun 2022
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