Practising Maths - by Peter Mattock (Paperback)

About the Book

A practical guide to sourcing and designing maths practice that goes beyond rote learning and helps students genuinely understand what they're doing.

Book Synopsis

We all know that practice matters in maths. But what kind of practice helps pupils truly understand what they're doing, rather than just answering questions by rote? Building on the success of his previous books, Peter Mattock explores how we can move beyond the teaching of methods and strategies to carry out calculations - the kind of practice that often dominates the classroom - and establish something deeper. Because if all pupils ever learn is how to do maths, without learning about it, then we're not offering them a full mathematical education.This book focuses on the type of practice that encourages pupils to explain, justify, prove and make sense of mathematical ideas, rather than just learn how to use them. Drawing on twenty years of classroom experience, Peter equips teachers with the knowledge and confidence to design and choose tasks that are effective and foster a deep understanding of maths that we hope to develop in all learners. With clear explanations, practical activities that can be used for lesson planning, and key takeaways at the end of every chapter, Practising Maths supplies teachers with the tools and confidence to strengthen student learning at all levels.

Review Quotes

You can argue whether practice makes perfect or makes permanent or makes progress. But you can't argue that there are a range of ways to practise that all need to be utilised by pupils at some stage to create a rich experience of learning mathematics and thisbook shares research and wonderfully explains the rationale and usage of a range of different types of practice. It's one for all maths departments to have to hand to ensure they are offering a more impactful experience and curriculum for their classes.

Tom Manners

About the Author

Peter Mattock has been teaching and leading maths for over 15 years. He is a specialist leader of education (SLE) and an accredited secondary maths professional development lead who regularly presents at conferences across the country. Peter also develops teaching for mastery in the secondary school classroom, having been part of the first cohort of specialists trained in mastery approaches by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM).