Explain this
ATM Conference 2012 • Enigmas
ATM has been involved in the business of the professional development of mathematics educators for over fifty years. The Easter Conference is the annual highlight of ATM’s programme of professional development events.
Enigma: “A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand” — Google Dictionary
There are many things which are puzzling in mathematics education and the ATM conference is a great place to explore them.
Mon 02 — Thu 05 Apr 2012
This year we return to Swansea where you can meet friends old and new, try out new ideas, solve problems on the beach and remember why you love mathematics. We will be reviving some old ideas and trying out new ones. There will be everything from shorter “have a go” sessions to longer sessions for those who want to get to grips with an issue.
If this is your first conference, don’t worry, everyone is welcome and their contribution is valued. After a few hours the only mystery will be why you haven’t been before.
We are hoping for good weather so that you can take in the sea air as well as attend some of the fantastic assortment of sessions and seminars on offer this time.
Booking Your Professional Development Conference Place
- Book a conference place
- Browse the list of professional development sessions
- Select and reserve your specific session places here
- Read more about the ATM Conference 2012
- Download booking form and programme
You can make your booking online and still have it invoiced to your school or institution by clicking that option on the final checkout page (instead of ‘Pay Now’).
Telephone 01332 346599 or email the office to get a booking form sent in the post.
University of Swansea
For 2012 the ATM Conference — the richest concentration of professional development opportunities you could find for all age ranges of mathematics educators — we return to the University of Swansea.
Swansea University is on the south coast of Wales overlooking the sea. The conference leads into the Easter weekend so you could extend your stay and enjoy Easter on the coast. Bringing your family is an option as there are areas where families can stay together including double, twin and adjacent room. The site is compact, with all areas of conference sited within a short walk. As well as the usual vast array of sessions, the workshop will be at the heart of all you can do, open daily for you to go and chat, engage in rich mathematical activities, as well as finding and developing ideas to use with your learners.
Find out more about the Swansea university campus
The Workshops and Sessions • The CPD Heart of an ATM Conference
From Monday to Thursday there are over 70 workshop sessions from which you can choose a personal professional development programme tailored to your needs and interests.
In addition there are ad hoc sessions in the Main Conference Workshop. Alternatively, you can take a break and explore, investigate and discuss in the Workshop itself.
The full list of sessions and notes from the organisers is here
Once you have booked your place, you will get an email asking you to select the sessions you wish to attend — some get booked up very quickly. |You can change your mind, within reason, until the organisers get to the point where they fix the lists.
Book your place for the best professional development of the year
Plenary Sessions
- Mathematics Education is not an Enigma • Doug Williams
- Teaching Styles • Barbara Ball, Kath Cross and George Knights
- Enigmas of the mathematical mind • Els De Geest
Mathematics Education is not an Enigma • Doug Williams
Mathematics education is not an enigma. We know how to do it. And we know how not to do it. What is called ‘traditional mathematics education’ has failed to educate. It may have taught, and students may have learnt, but it has failed to educate. Offering a diet of disconnected content parcels in a less-than- stimulating teaching environment is not educating.
On the other hand beginning with best practice teaching craft and a curriculum centred on learning to work like a mathematician — Working Mathematically — improves content skills, problem-solving skills and literacy skills. That’s win, win, win.
In this address we will explore features of a Working Mathematically classroom, highlight how a Working Mathematically teacher thinks, share examples of student work and indicate research and stories to explore later.
My aim is simply to inspire you by retelling stories of success from your colleagues and hopefully reinforcing a ‘can do’ attitude.
Doug is a story-teller in mathematics education. His role is to work with colleagues to collect and retell stories of success from classrooms. This work involves professional development sessions for teachers; working in classrooms to act out stories; and publishing stories, in the main through web sites. In whatever form, the stories are structured around students at all levels learning to work like a mathematician and the teaching craft which encourages that process. He has been sharing these stories through ATM conference for many years.
Doug’s teaching background is in both primary and secondary schools and he has also worked as a teacher trainer. He has broad experience working with systems to support curriculum shift and has worked widely with teachers whose particular
focus is supporting Indigenous students to achieve success in mathematics. Currently his major work focus is management of Mathematics Centre, which offers a world of alternative to text-based learning. He has had the opportunity to work with teachers and students across Australia and around the world.
Teaching Styles • Barbara Ball, Kath Cross and George Knights
Do different aspects of mathematics need to be taught in different ways in order to encourage effective learning? If so, what teaching styles are available to support this learning? It is 30 years since the publication of the Cockcroft Report Mathematics Counts provided some answers to these questions. This seminal report, produced at the end of an extended inquiry into the teaching and learning of mathematics, prompted discussion and debate and its major themes can clearly be seen resonating through the National Curriculum and subsequent initiatives such as the National Numeracy Strategies. As part of ATM’s response to the publication of the Cockcroft Report some working groups were set up and one of these produced a publication entitled Teaching Styles: a response to Cockcroft 243. We believe that the messages from the Cockcroft Report and our publication still have a vitality, freshness and relevance to current thinking about teaching and learning. Hence, in this plenary session, we will invite you to engage once again in some of the conversations we had at that time in the belief that you will be able to share insights that are relevant to mathematics classrooms in 2012.
Barbara Ball was a secondary classroom teacher for most of her career and in that capacity served on a number of national policy making committees. She has been the Professional Officer for ATM as well as a previous Editor of MT and a member of ATM’s General Council. Together with her husband Derek she has published many resources for teaching mathematics with ATM and elsewhere.
Kath Cross is a former teacher and member of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools becoming the HMI Staff Inspector for Mathematics from 1989, a time which coincided with the introduction of the National Curriculum and its testing. She is a former Treasurer of ATM and was a member of General Council for many years. She was one of the teacher members of the Cockcroft Committee and a member of the working group that worked on Teaching Styles: a response to Cockcroft 243.
George Knights is a former teacher, adviser, consultant and inspector. He has had a career-long interest in exploring how students learn mathematics effectively and has written for many ATM publications. For many years a member of ATM’s General Council, he was chair of the Association when the Cockcroft Report was published. With Barbara, he jointly edited Teaching Styles: a response to Cockcroft 243.
Enigmas of the mathematical mind • Els De Geest
Mathematics, mathematical thinking, being a mathematician, mathematizing — what does this mean?
Tons of books and papers have been written about it, even Hollywood films made. Words and expressions containing ‘mathematics’ seem to be puzzling to us human beings. Is a mathematical mind really such an enigma? Is it something you are born with? Is it something that is malleable and can be nurtured? Let’s explore this in our closing session.
Els De Geest is currently Lecturer in Mathematics Education at The Open University. Previously she taught mathematics in secondary schools and was a mathematics consultant for Slough LA. She worked as researcher on research projects with Anne Watson at the University of Oxford and was director of the Researching Effective CPD in Mathematics Education Project of the NCETM. She has been attending the Gattegno Reading Group for many many years. Els’ passion is to put research into classroom practice and vice versa. Her research is pragmatic while valuing, cherishing and building on existing expertise and professionalism of teachers.
Rich professional development and networking
Some conference snapshots: why they were there and what they gained.
Conference Timetable
| From To | 09:00 10:30 | 10:30 11:00 | 11:00 12:30 | 12:30 14:00 | 14:00 15:30 | 15:30 16:00 | 16:00 17:30 | 18:00 19:30 | 19:30 later |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 02 | Coffee | Registration | Lunch | Opening Plenary ‘Mathematics Education is not an Enigma’ | Tea | Sessions AB / A | Evening Meal | Special Event |
|
| Tue 03 | Sessions AB / B | Coffee | Sessions CD / C | Lunch | AGM & Extra Session | Tea | Sessions CD / D | Evening Meal | Conference Plenary ‘Teaching Styles’ |
| Wed 04 | Sessions EF / E | Coffee | Sessions EF / F | Lunch | Extra Session | Tea | Session G | Evening Meal | Musical Evening 19:30 Ceilidh 21:00 |
| Thu 05 | Session H | Coffee | Closing Plenary ‘Enigmas of the Mathematical Mind’ | Lunch |
Timetable notes
Timetable is subject to alteration depending on circumstances.
Monday and Thursday lunch only available if pre-booked.
‘Extra Sessions’ are impromptu/spontaneous and will be posted on the opening day.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press are extremely pleased to provide cocktails on Tue 03 Apr at 19:00 in the Taleisin Theatre Foyer at the University of Swansea.
Come and find out more about Oxford maths resources, including uniquely targeted GCSE materials and MyMaths online resources.
ATM Bookstall
The ATM bookstall will be open throughout the conference, giving an opportunity to view and buy ATM materials at special conference prices.
All our new publications will be available as well as the tried and tested favourites.
Workshop sessions
Over 50 workshops, lectures and sessions provided by people with ideas, enthusiasm and expertise covering primary, secondary and tertiary topics such as:
- Puzzling activities and challenging problems
- Children talking about mathematics
- Cockcroft 30 years on
- Teaching mathematics as if the planet mattered
- Code Breakers – a challenge day for KS2/3 pupils
- The enigma machine and secret world of codes and code breaking
- Proof by pizza
- Puzzles for EYFS to KS4
It is the sessions and workshops that make the ATM Conference the best value professional development you could possibly get. For the cost of a half-day of a consultant you can choose from over fifty different topics and themes. Fill your week with new discoveries, new ways of thinking, new ideas for the classroom whether you are teaching early years or in higher education.
A huge range of workshop sessions will provide the best professional development anyone could wish for. They covered every age range of mathematics teaching and learning from the early years to higher education and more.
Special Event • Mon 19:30 – 21:00
Come and meet other delegates and get involved in a bit of maths at the ‘Special Event’. The mathematics that we’ll explore does not require any complicated ideas, but there should be plenty to discuss for all stages of education.
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of ATM will be held at 14:00 on Tue 03 Apr 2012.
Members are invited to propose motions for resolution and nominate members of General Council.
Proposals and nominations must be received at the ATM Office by 01 Mar 2012 in order to allow time for assembling final paperwork.
Extras
The ATM Workshop
This special place for individual or shared activity will open from early till late, with space to build models, discover new materials, discuss problems, solve puzzles or simply think about mathematics. Everything you ever imagined to make mathematics work for you will be there, ready to be explored.
ATM Bookstall
The ATM bookstall will be open throughout the conference, giving an opportunity to view and buy ATM materials at special conference prices.
Publishers Exhibition
A variety of publishers and educational suppliers will be exhibiting.
Ceilidh with Cat’s Claw
Wed 04 Apr • 21:00
Cat’s Claw came together in January 1993 to stage a short ceilidh as a wedding present. The dance was a huge success, the scratch musicians (another enigma) were told that their sound worked a treat — and so a new band was born!
Working centre stage, Guy is responsible for the band’s characteristic rhythmic style with an understanding developed through a six-year apprenticeship in various South Wales bands.
Selyf and Imogen go on flights of fancy in and around the tune, emphasising Bob’s critical role in pinning the whole thing down with a strong and rock steady bass beat. Veronica’s calling adds to the band. She reads her audience well and turns them into dancers, adapting the dances to suit so she can call for novices and experienced dancers alike. You might find Bob switching to guitar as Guy plays harmonica or Imogen plays whistle or bodhran (or anything else she fancies) — nobody sits still in this band!
Cat’s Claw is fundamentally an all-acoustic band that gets your feet moving. The repertoire comprises music that the band enjoys playing together, whether Welsh, Irish, European or American — it’s all lined up and waiting.
Booking Places
Residential rates include accommodation, breakfast, coffee, lunch, tea and evening meal and access to all sessions.
To qualify for the student rate you had to be a student member. Students can join ATM at a preferential rate.
Non-residential rates included coffee, lunch, tea (but not evening meal) and access to all sessions.
Day rates included coffee, lunch, tea (but not evening meal) plus access to all sessions on the day.
Non-member rates applied to those who are not current members of ATM. However, if you join ATM at the same time as booking your place, you save money.
We would prefer you to book online
If you need to have an invoice sent or you need to send a Purchase Order because your school or institution is paying, then go through the normal checkout process but at the last page, below the ‘Pay Now’ button, you have the option to print out your order to be sent with a purchase order, cheque or BACS payment and your shoipping basket will be emptied.
If, despite that, you really want to fill in a paper form:
Opportunities
The ATM Easter Conference provides opportunities for delegates involved with mathematics education related to any age to:
- Share in successful practices
- Develop their own mathematics
- Tap into recent pedagogical and curriculum research
- Learn about international developments and practice
- Evaluate recently produced resources
- Find out about and experience the most recent ICT developments
- Join new research networks and projects
- Learn about the most recent developments in mathematics education
- Make new and renew contacts with mathematics educators
- Have fun
- Leave the conference re-energised and full of ideas
Is it a Conference or a Course?
In the sense that everyone meets to confer on the subject of mathematics education in a very wide sense - it is a conference. In the sense that the participants can choose from a wide selection of workshops and extend their knowledge and outlook - it is a course.
What is it Really Like, Though?
A teacher in their second year sent us this:
“I have personal experience of conference and offer the following anecdotes:
“Quiz Night • Don't need to know anyone - just sit with a group and start...
“Music Night • Seeing people like Anne Watson on stage and thinking - why are some people born with so much talent. How dare she be able to teach and sing!
“Sessions • FULL of ideas, ideas and more ideas. Sitting with people for an hour and a half before you realise they wrote the last book you read.
“Lunchtime • People coming to sit next to you just to chat, finding out they wrote the last book you read! No top table...
“In other words, despite the fact that these people are at the 'top' of their profession there are no airs or graces, no big 'I am' - these are people willing to offer help and advice to anyone who asks for it. I recently posted on the ATM mailing list for a copy of Starting Points and received 5 replies. Including one from one of the authors! And then I was given a second copy at conference!”
Forward Planning? Conference 2013
The ATM 2013 conference, 02-05 Apr 2013, will take place at the Royal Victoria Hotel, Sheffield. This historic hotel is ideally located in the city centre of Sheffield, just half a mile from Sheffield railway station, bus stations and the supertram network and has easy access from the M1 Motorway. Put the dates in your diary to ensure you attend a really special event in 2013.
