[Linda] In Part 1 of Gympie State High School's journey to improve Mathematics outcomes for students,
we saw them work through an inquiry approach to develop their plan.
Today we'll see the plan in action as we travel
with students to workplaces to see Mathematics in real work contexts.
[Andrew] From bricklaying's point of view we begin the process with
the builder - so what happens is in a quoting process we work out the
the number of bricks in the house, therefore that has to be accurate.
Bricklaying mortar is called 'composition mortar'.
Composition is ratios of different materials.
When it comes to bricklaying as a job -myself as an employer- to pass on basic maths to students
or future apprentices is an important thing.
The student may not think when he comes as a first year that he may
not he mightn't think he's going to use a lot of maths but, he will eventually,
and then most likely he'll then understand, "Well - Grade 10, 11 and 12 Maths was important."
[Gavin] Simple little door -sheet metal- again starts off as a flat pattern, we might give
the... we might give the person the overall size, we know how much we want to fold on each end here.
They've got to be able to obviously add those dimensions up in each direction,
we've got to be able to transpose that onto our flat piece of material, cut it out, obviously it
has to be cut out to the correct size, otherwise it's a completely wasted piece of material.
[Dean] Well on this piece when we need to fix the material down, we would use division.
So on here we would measure this space here, and then however many rivets we want to put in,
we divide it by that many rivets, and that will give us an even amount of space to put the
rivets in, so it's better for structural load -like even load- and it makes it look better.
[Gavin] So guys what do you reckon we're looking at here?
[Student] Conveyor?
[Gavin] Yes. Correct.
[Student] So what's it doing here?
[Gavin] Well it was in for a repair, but as you can see we've decided that it's not
economical to repair, so the customer has asked us to go ahead and make a new one.
Well it's been good having the students here to have a look at what we do it's good to see that
they can see how Maths actually applies to what we do in our workplace at least our workplace here.
And Leevi you went to Gympie High...
[Leevi] Yeah yeah I started my first-year apprenticeship a few months ago.
[Jayden] My name's Jayden, so I manage a fire protection company in Gympie.
So I'm 23 and I've been asked just to come in and explain
-you know- how important Maths is every day.
This is what I do at work.
So we'll figure out a litres per second, and a pressure,
and we've got to work out 130% of that, and then we've got to find which pump will suit that
pressure and flow rate at 130% of the requirement.
[Jack] Students are now far more engaged in their Maths
classrooms and our post-disposition survey results have confirmed this.
Students are now seeing that Mathematics is important,
they're willing to have a go in class and try new things,
and it's really up to me as their teacher to ensure that we maintain that level of engagement
in the classroom -because unfortunately- we can't keep doing excursions every day.
Students are appreciating the opportunity to get out of the
classroom and see how Mathematics is applied in the real world.
[Anna-Riitta] We found that the change of disposition that was a big focus for
this course has been reflected in the students achievements.
In Semester 2 last year, this particular cohort had only about 42% achieving a 'C' or above.
Currently at the end of Term 1 and in Term 2 and Term 3 it's been sustained,
but we've had 82% of these students achieving a 'C' and above which means that they're
meeting the achievement standards that are part of the curriculum for Year 10.
[Jack] In the post-disposition survey fewer students found that mathematics was boring
and students rated themselves 50% better at Mathematics across all classes.
[Kerry] There's been really positive outcomes.
The number of students that are now interested in school-based apprenticeships and traineeships
has increased, and even students wanting to do work experience
in industries that they possibly would never ever have thought of or even knew about prior.
Word has gotten out into the community and we're getting more and more businesses wanting to be
involved in the program and then wanting our students to visit their workplaces which is great!
[Jack] By using an inquiry approach and analysing the data,
I've been able to make better decisions to measure the impact of this project.
Our journey wouldn't have been possible if we didn't have a good understanding
of our students, our colleagues, and the community.
You don't need to do everything at once. Just start small and scale up with what works.
[Anna-Riitta] So in taking this forward -whatever decisions need
to be made- they need to have solid links to the curriculum.
We want to make sure that the program, and what we're implementing for the students
is not an add-on, it's making direct links to the curriculum, direct links to reinforcing
their prior learning, as well as giving them ideas on where to move further forward in Mathematics.
[Kerry] I have felt very privileged to be part of this program.
My advice to other schools would be to utilise who they have in their school community,
partners of staff, parents, business owners that are happy to help out in any way.
You know if you don't ask, the answer will always be no.
[Linda] To support your school's journey in improving student disposition towards Mathematics,
consider using some of the resources accessed via One Portal,
the Youth Engagement kit designed for schools to engage parents, students,
and teaching staff with youth engagement support, or the Pathways Hub.
And finally, the M in STEM EdStudio for resources to help transform the teaching of Secondary Mathematics.
[Student A] I never realised how much Maths is in everyday life.
[Student B] Yeah I'm going to be paying a lot more attention in Maths from now on.