At our St Peters Campus, students from Years 3-6 engage in Extended Mathematical Understanding (EMU) activities, which help them with mental computation. EMU was developed by Associate Professor Ann Gervasoni of Monash University. EMU is a research-based approach that has been shown to improve students’ knowledge and confidence with mathematics.
Students are placed into different groups according to their growth points that were determined through 1:1 Mathematical assessment interviews.
EMU maths has many hands on activities which help students to develop their sense of number and allow teachers to identify any misconceptions the students may have. Collaboration is encouraged, although there are times when students are required to work alone.
This approach encourages children to do ‘hard thinking’ with teachers asking questions that encourage mathematical thinking such as:
- Why?
- How do you know?
- Is there another way?
- Is there a more efficient way?
- How do you visualise it ?
- How would you explain/convince a martian?
- What if...?
Being able to show and explain their thinking is an integral part of EMU maths. Students also share their results with the other members of the group.
The final part of EMU maths is when students reflect on their thinking in the form of a maths journal.
Darrin Warren
Year 3/4 Teacher - St Peters Campus
Nick Kriewaldt
Year 5/6 Teacher - St Peters Campus
