Event Legend

2007 Newsletter No. 5

I have just returned to work after spending four days at the Secondary Convention and I have to say that the feeling there was fantastic. I only heard praise for presenters and workshops, and teachers attending seemed to be very satisfied and have come away with a bundle of ideas they can implement straight away in their classes.

Thanks to Tony Robb and Scotch College for hosting our Sunday sessions again. They went down very well with the teachers who came along, as did the drinks and nibbles served at the Sundowner which followed!

Monday morning saw Barry Kissane give an inspiring and thought provoking keynote on the topic of ‘Mathematical Moments: Looking Forward and Looking Back’ which defi nitely set the scene for a day of refl ection, inspiration and motivation, helped along by our wonderful workshop presenters and concluding with a Sundowner sponsored by Casio.

Tuesday began with motivational speaker and Environmental Health Scientist, Dr Peter Dingle, sharing with us ‘The Five C’s for Taking Control of Your Life’ or ‘Why Maths Teachers Die Young’! Dr Dingle inspired us to eat healthily, look after ourselves and approach our lives with a positive attitude. After temporarily ignoring his healthy eating advice and eating muffins for morning tea, the sessions which followed continued the trend of helping teachers of mathematics to find new ways to approach their classroom activities. And of course it had to finish with a Sundowner sponsored by TI, after all what’s a maths conference without an opportunity to network? Over the three days, Greg Piggott’s screening of excerpts of The Nugget received rave reviews, as did Steve Ottaway’s ‘Low Tech Ideas To Use Next Week’, the sessions on using the various models of CAS calculators also went over very well and Bruce Ruthven’s sessions are always a winner.

My thanks go to all our presenters as they are the reason why MAWA conferences are so popular and why I have so much faith in the future of mathematics education in WA. No matter what changes may occur around us I am confi dent that with teachers as focussed on helping our students to achieve their best as Western Australian teachers so obviously are, a positive future for our students is guaranteed. It is the teacher that makes the difference.

I must quickly extend my thanks to our hard-working Committee members who are the reason MAWA is able to provide the high quality of programs and resources for teachers and students. They all have jobs and families, and still find the time to voluntarily work for you, our members, and your students.

Thank you also to all those MAWA members who regularly help us out with all our activities – without you they could not happen. And of course I must thank our wonderful team in the MAWA office – Bobbi, Jean and Annette. We are also looking forward to a new office staff member joining us shortly to help fill the gap we are all keenly feeling since Liana’s departure.

And congratulations to all those teachers who have recently heard that they will be attending the Australian Government Summer School at the University of New England.

Lastly, have a fantastic, well deserved holiday. I look forward to working with you all again in the New Year.

Michelle Östberg
President

National Mathematics Talent Quest

2007 WA Results

Year 2 Class - Merit certificate

Healthy or Unhealthy? That Is The Question
John Septimus Roe ACS

Year 4 Group - Merit certificate

Umbrellas
Olivia Shannon and Morgan Bowen
(Presbyterian Ladies’ College)

Year 5 Individual - Merit certificate

Tricky Numbers
Samuel Alsop (Frederick Irwin Anglican School)

Year 5 Group - WINNERS

2D Shapes In Everyday Life
Lauren Thorpe, Radhika Sethi, Tessa Ferreira and Beverley Wang (Methodist Ladies’ College)

Year 6 Group - Merit certificate

Ding! Dong! The Tsar Bell Rings
Mackenzie Huggins, Katie Schutze and Brianna Throssell (Perth College Jnr School)

Year 7 Group - Merit certificate

Tricky Tessellations
Natasha Woolley and Mesalie Feleke (Perth College Jnr School)

Year 8 Group - Merit certificate

Mathematically Interesting Number Plates
Jack Dewsbury, Calum Braham and Danny Caddy (Trinity College)

Year 9 Group - Merit certificate

Covering Western Australia
Rebecca Cutt and Hannah Owen (Frederick Irwin Anglican School)

Year 10 Individual - WINNER

Area Ratios
Tayla Hubbard (St Brigid’s College)

Year 11 Individual - Merit certificate

The Sine of Sound
Jolene Lim (St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls)

Download the complete Newsletter
2007 Newsletter No. 5 (122kb)