Showing Progress during a Mathematics Lesson

Demonstrating student progression during a mathematics lesson is about understanding the learning objective and breaking that down into explicit success criteria. Using Success Criteria Take, for example, a lesson on calculating the area of compound rectilinear shapes. The intended learning objective was written on the main whiteboard. Success criteria were used to break down the individual […]

Plotting and Interpreting Conversion Graphs

Plotting and interpreting conversion graphs requires linking together several mathematical techniques.  Recent U.K. examiner reports indicate there are several common misconceptions when plotting and interpreting conversion graphs.  These include: drawing non-linear scales on the x or y axis, using the incorrect units when converting between imperial and metric measurements, taking inaccurate readings from either axis not […]

Calculating the Volume of a Pyramid

When calculating the volume of a pyramid we can substitute the values of the length, width and perpendicular height into the formula V = 1/3 lwh.  In my experience this is often provided for the students with little explanation as to why a volume of a pyramid is exactly one third the volume of a […]