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Maths Learning and Assessment Programs

Many different maths curricula are specified around the world and many different school programs are written in accordance with these. However, up to about Year 10, these curricula and programs all tend to contain basically the same maths topics, just arranged in a different sequence and maybe assigned to different year levels.

Furthermore, school programs up to Year 10 are in most cases not required to match the state-specified timings exactly, as long as students have covered the required material by the end of the period concerned.

For schools wishing to use the M1Maths materials as their primary student text, a number of options for learning and assessment programs are described below, but hybrids of these and completely different approaches are of course possible.

Option 1 - Fitting the M1Maths Modules to the Existing Program

For a school program up to Year 10, it should be possible to assign the corresponding M1Maths module(s) to each topic in the program and then to work through those modules accordingly.

This is basically the same as using a commercial textbook with the school program.

Option 2 - Using the M1Maths Levels as the School Program

This is a suggestion for a curriculum-paced school program based on M1 Maths. A schedule of modules could be decided upon, assigning the Level 1 modules to Year 7, the Level 2 modules to Year 8 and so on. The following is one possible sequence. Note that Level 5 is for students aspiring to the higher-level maths in senior.

Year 7: Level 1

M1-1..4

A1-1..3

N1-1..5

G1-1..3

S1-1..2

N1-6..10

A1-4..6

P1-1

Year 8: Level 2

M2-1..3

N2-1..4

G2-1..6

A2-1..3

P2-1..3

S2-1..2

 

 

Year 9: Level 3

N3-1..3

A3-1..5

G3-1

P3-1

S3-1..3

M3-1..4

A3-6..10

 

Year 10: Level 4

N4-1

A4-1..3

M4-1

P4-1

A4-4..6

G4-1

 

 

Year 10: Level 5

A5-1..8

N5-1

M5-1..2

A5-9..13

 

 

 

 

The skills would need to be developed in parallel with the knowledge. Knowledge and skills might be assessed once a term or at other intervals. The level tests below are one way to do this. Students could sit say the Level 2 test at the end of each term in Year 8 and see their progress as the year goes on and they learn more. Any students who work ahead of the class would be suitably rewarded.

Option 3 - Student-Paced Program

In a student-paced program, students work through the learning at a speed that suits their individual background, ability, aspirations and dedication, mastering more basic concepts before being expected to use them to develop more advanced concepts. This type of program is conducive to the develoment of a growth mindset in the students.

Many education authorities, though, specify what should be taught in each year level to all students regardless of their present state of knowledge. This can produce a lock-step progression through the material which might suit average to slightly above-average students, but which restricts the more able and enthusiastic students and leaves those students who have not yet mastered the pre-requisite knowledge to get lost, to get disillusioned and to get further and further behind.

In many cases, however, this requirement is not externally monitored and thus it is possible to use a program which allows all students to progress at their own pace and thus as far as suits their particular circumstances.

M1Maths is particularly suited to such a student-paced program. This is why the material is divided into Levels 1 to 6 rather than year-levels 7 to 12. The student-paced program links below are to a document which discusses the rationale for such an approach and gives a detailed account of such a program of learning and assessment. The Progress Tracker link is to a spreadsheet that can be used to record the students' progress within this program.

Student-paced program:   pdf     docx                     Progress Tracker:   xlsx

Click on the required format. Word documents and spreadsheets need to be downloaded and opened in Word or Excel to display properly.

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