Mastery Maths Cafe

Mathematics mastery is an approach to mathematics education which is based on mastery learning in which students are expected to achieve a high level of competence before progressing.

Ofsted recently reported that ‘the degree of emphasis on problem solving and conceptual understanding is a key discriminator between good and weaker provision,’ (Ofsted, 2015). The current paucity in provision can result in classrooms where ‘many pupils spend too long working on straightforward questions, with problem solving located at the ends of exercises or set as extension tasks so that not all tackle them,’ (Ofsted, 2015).

The structure of our lessons reflects the need to be able to ‘master’ mathematical skills. It is driven by the C (concrete) P (pictorial) A (abstract) approach to teaching as seen in our Calculation Policy. Calculation Policy from link on School Website An example unit structure would build like this: Mathematical talk Which is easier to do? 5 x 6 x 3? or 3 x 6 x 8? Why? If we know what 2 x 4 is, how do we know what 10 x 4 is?

Varied Fluency Fluency in the new National Curriculum One of the three aims of the new curriculum states that pupils (of all ages, not just primary children) will: become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

In a lesson it will look like this:

Or like this:

We then build to the reasoning and problem solving We then build to the reasoning and problem solving. Being able to reason and problem solve are the remaining two Aims of the new National Curriculum: Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language. Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

In a lesson reasoning and problem solving look like this:

We also use NRICH tasks to support the learning. NRICH link You are going to have a go at some of these now 