Maths Rethought – Maths Reimagined

So grateful on Monday to be working alongside amazing thought leaders in education — Dr Tim Kitchen, Dr David Leigh-Lancaster, and Antje Leigh-Lancaster — as well as my colleagues and students from Flinders Christian Community College, and teachers from neighbouring schools, all talking about teaching, learning and assessment in the age of AI. It was a day of collaboration and a genuine meeting of minds — when we come together, we’re inspired.

AI might have exposed some vulnerabilities in the way we educate, but working alongside AI, together, we can explore ways to enhance teaching, learning and assessment.

Our thought leaders first met with Leadership in the Boardroom. It’s genuinely exciting working in a school that’s engaged and on the front foot, thinking about the challenges and opportunities ahead in this new era of education — one that acknowledges AI. For this to work, everyone needs to be at the table, ready to engage. We don’t have all the answers, but we have the will to make change and stay relevant.

Then came lunch. We were joined by the whole Maths faculty and guests from neighbouring schools — this is what we call the “collective genius.” Over lunch and fellowship, we focused on the heart of the mission for the day, celebrating the experience and enthusiasm in the room. Some with 30-plus years of experience, others just starting out in their teaching careers — a beautiful mix.

By hosting and running this PD in the afternoon, we made it possible for all Maths staff to participate. It’s so good to be working in a school that understands and values the importance of timely, ongoing professional learning.

The afternoon was split into two halves. The first focused on current technology we already access and use, with live lessons showcased by our thought leaders and teachers, with students present. How fortunate our students are to see these thought leaders still “weaving their magic” — truly inspiring.

Tim Kitchen worked with Beth Massey-Chase, our Head of Maths at Flinders CCC, with Year 7s looking at Statistics. The context was Data Centres, and Tim showed Beth and the students how to use tools that bring statistics to life — the students were learning about animation and storytelling at the same time.

David Leigh-Lancaster first ran a session on “Circular Functions” for VCE Methods students and teachers. He encouraged students to post images into Copilot, helping connect teachers and students with what we don’t yet know — so clever, and so well done. David also led a session with Year 10 students and teachers on “Graphing Polynomials,” again encouraging students to use Copilot to better understand the relationship between a polynomial and its graph.

I led a session with my Year 9s on Linear Graphs, very much in my element using an 86-inch SMART Board on loan from Edunet. Alongside this, I used Texas Instruments Navigator, which allows students to “drive” the calculator from their seats, and the IXL platform we use at Flinders CCC to get just-in-time analytics on how well students were comprehending their learning — plus the wonderful PhET simulator. It was fantastic having Kelvin Finger from IXL there to help other educators better understand how to use the platform to enhance their own teaching and learning.

We then stopped for a short afternoon tea before turning our attention to what the adoption of AI in education looks like. We had a genuinely engaging “fireside chat,” facilitated by our thought leaders — what a privilege to be in a room with people working alongside so many schools.

The final session had Tim Kitchen teach us how to capture our learnings from the afternoon in a digital portfolio — a fitting way to close out a truly productive and inspiring afternoon.