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Obersving Maria's session today with her accelerated year 11 student who has just sat her math advanced trial exams. Her school took the CSSA paper which is known for being very difficult. She emphasised on enhancing the students critical thinking and always bringing it back to the theory and reasoning behind math. This paper particularly tested students skills in applying their knowledge to complex situations, rather than just knowing arithmetic and moving numbers around. With question 10, there is a function with 3 turning points that has been transformed and dilated in multiple manners, and these 3 turning points form a triangle and you have to find the area after the transformation. This wasn't about actually plugging the numbers from the formula in, it was determining whether the student understands what these transformations actually do to a graph and if she could apply those to the properties of a simpler shape. It ends up taking 2 steps, but the hard part of this question is the reasoning behind it. This paper also eliminated some of the shortcuts the new NESA approved calculator allows student to use; particularly with logs, surds and index laws. Instead of the calculator being able to simplify logs, the student had to apply log laws to algebra, which means the calculator is out of the question. As the student stared at it, Maria realised this was a skill the student had been outsourcing to the calculator for a while, and required revision. Instead, knowing the student has the knowledge stored somewhere, she prompted the student to remember it herself by asking her specific questions rather than just handing her the answer. The student making the realisation as opposed to being told what to do is more impactful, and the student will remember and think to apply these skills in a more meaningful way next time. Good Job Maria!
