By Karen Poh
A TRIP to the grocery store could improve a child’s numeracy, says a New York mathematics consultant.
Dr Christine Scafidi, who works for the Australian and Unites States Services in Education (AUSSIE), a professional development company that helps teachers improve the literacy and mathematics standards in elementary, middle and high schools, dropped by Albion North Primary School on Wednesday to attend the Mathematical Association of Victoria’s (MAV) annual conference.
“For the last three years I’ve been coming here to speak and attend the MAV, and during that time I like to take the opportunity to visit schools so I can actually see what the teaching practices are, to see how students actually work with manipulatives and mathematics,” Dr Scafidi said. “I also like to see the style of professional development with teachers so I can really get an idea of how we can improve our schools.”
Albion North Primary School middle years coordinator Rasma Melderis said Australia was doing well as far as numeracy was concerned.
“ (The United States) are using maths texts that are written by teachers in Australia,” she said.
The school has also received positive feedback from Dr Scafidi.
“She made the comment that she was amazed and very pleased that at our school, the children are going above the state and national benchmarks for numeracy,” Ms Melderis said.
Dr Scafidi is interested in Australia’s style of instructional delivery.
But the development of a child’s numeracy can extend beyond the classroom, Dr Scafidi said.
“I think parents don’t realise that they do provide a lot of instruction just in daily activities that they do – speaking with the children when they go to the grocery store, how they’re going about a shopping excursion,” she said.
“If you pick up two oranges, you can ask them which one is heavier and which one is lighter,” Ms Scafidi said.
