Creative Classrooms: Teaching Years 9-10 using AMSI’s new ICE-EM maths textbooks

In this episode of MathsTalk, Leanne continues the conversation about using textbooks creatively, moving from Years 7 and 8 into the more complex terrain of Years 9 and 10.

While many of the same principles still apply; conceptual understanding, mathematical language, structured lessons and exercises used for thinking rather than just completion, Years 9 and 10 bring their own challenges. Students are working with more demanding content, wider gaps in assumed knowledge, more entrenched mathematical identities, and a stronger need to see relevance in what they are learning.

This episode explores how teachers can use a resource such as the AMSI ICE-EM books to support both students who need consolidation and students who are ready for greater challenge. It considers how textbook exercises can be used to reveal structure, diagnose misconceptions, support mathematical communication, and keep mixed-ability classes working around the same important mathematical ideas.

In this episode

Leanne discusses:

why Years 9 and 10 are not simply “harder Years 7 and 8”

how older misconceptions can affect the learning of more demanding content

the importance of mathematical language, reasoning and explanation

how to use textbook exercises for thinking, not just completion

why relevance becomes more important in Years 9 and 10

ways to support mixed-ability classes without watering down the mathematics

how anxiety, disengagement and behaviour can be connected to students’ mathematical histories