Challenges teaching at a culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged school, building an action plan, gathering quality data, and overcoming the language barrier with a universal language: mathematics.

Dandenong Primary’s Assistant Principal, Terri Truscott, and AAMT’s Education Specialist, Denise Halliday, explore lessons learned in the process of implementing concepts from Peter Liljedahl’s fantastic ‘Building Thinking Classrooms’, metacognition, inspiring rich mathematics dialogue, using pre- and post-assessments, selectively responding to student questions, and more.

Key Links:
Check out Dandenong Primary School:
https://www.dandenongps.vic.edu.au/

Contact Terri Truscott:
[email protected]

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Guest host Denise Halliday speaks with Leanne West and Vicky Schavoni, two passionate maths educators who joined the AAMT’s 2024 North American Study Tour. Together, they reflect on what they learned visiting classrooms in Chicago and Calgary, attending the NCTM Conference, and connecting with teachers and leaders across the continent.

From building thinking classrooms and vertical whiteboards to number talks and challenging problems, Leanne and Vicky share practical strategies that have transformed their teaching back home. They also discuss how strong school leadership, a spirit of collaboration, and international professional learning can reignite passion for maths education.

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For Sam Ayre, mathematics isn’t just about numbers—it’s a language for thinking, reasoning and communicating. In this lively discussion with Allan Dougan, Sam describes how he helps students find confidence and voice in maths through classroom talk, group problem-solving, and conceptual understanding. He also offers advice for teachers wanting to make small, sustainable changes and highlights the power of collaboration through Tasmania’s Focus on Maths initiative.

Key Links
Pedagogy in Mathematics
https://aamt.edu.au/resources/pedagogy-in-mathematics

“Focus on Maths” Initiative
Project details and related resources are available via AAMT:
https://aamt.edu.au/projects/focus-on-maths

Peter Liljedahl – Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics (Grades K–12)
Official site and resources: https://www.buildingthinkingclassrooms.com/

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Maths enrichment, identifying student progress, the YMSA competition, and early career challenges.

Trinity Grammar’s Mathematics Specialist, Jessica Zhu, joins AAMT’s Education Specialist, Denise Halliday, to discuss all things maths enrichment: open vs closed ended tasks, fighting against the forgetting curve, engendering maths creativity in students, the YMSA competition, Pi Day, and more.

Key Links:
Check out the YMSA competition:
https://www.mathsthroughstories.org/competitions.html

And explore AAMT’s resources, events, and news:
https://aamt.edu.au/

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The power of mini whiteboards, call and respond, quality multiple choice diagnostic questions, and other tools to gather reliable data from the classroom quickly.

Host of the 'Mr Barton Maths' podcast, Head of Education at Eedi, author of 'How I Wish I'd Taught Maths', and creator of countless mathematics teaching websites, Craig Barton, joins Strength in Numbers to discuss effective ways to develop and grow as a teacher, his excitement over the ‘pre-test effect’, atomization, how to craft a good multiple choice question, the importance of common wrong answers, and so much more.

Key Links:
Explore countless resources, tools, research, and CPD:
https://www.mrbartonmaths.com/topics/

https://tipsforteachers.co.uk/

And learn more about how AAMT can help you as a teacher:
https://aamt.edu.au/

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Whether you’re in the classroom, leading a team, or shaping policy, Season 4 is about unpacking what matters most in maths education—and why.

Together, we’ll explore; how data can inform responsive teaching, the role of rich tasks and open-ended challenges in building Thinking Classroom, turning assessment into agency and curriculum into culture

This season, we dive deeper into the challenges and opportunities shaping maths education today. Host Allan Dougan is joined by teachers, leaders, and researchers who aren’t afraid to ask - and answer, the tough questions and share fresh insights.

Learn more about how AAMT can help you as a teacher:
https://aamt.edu.au/

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The AAMT’s position paper “Pedagogy in Mathematics,” giving teachers back their voice, maintaining appropriate challenge, and how to get the most value from the paper. 

Professor of mathematics education and AAMT’s board chair, Catherine Attard, joins Strength in Numbers to discuss the recently published position paper “Pedagogy in Mathematics,” a framework for action and improvements in your classroom, your school, and your approach, as well as the practices covered by the paper such as purposeful planning, developing mathematical proficiency, and adapting to and supporting all learners.

Key Links:
Explore the Pedagogy in Mathematics paper here:
https://aamt.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AAMT-Pedagogy-in-Mathematics.pdf

And find helpful resources and research in the accompanying resource list:
https://go.aamt.edu.au/2025PedagogyReadingList

Sponsored by Tutero
Tutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at https://www.tutero.com

Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers:
https://aamt.edu.au/

Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast Studio

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AAMT’s study tour to the NCTM conference, ICME 15, the Focus on Maths grant program, and the Pedagogy in Mathematics paper.

Mathematics Education Specialist at AAMT, Denise Halliday, joins Alan for a retrospective on the AAMT’s busy 2024, including events such as a study tour to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference in Chicago, the National Summit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Education, the Australian Mathematics Education Journal and the Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom journal, professional learning initiatives and opportunities, as well as a look ahead to an exciting 2025.

Key Links:
Read the Pedagogy in Mathematics paper here:
https://aamt.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AAMT-Pedagogy-in-Mathematics.pdf

International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME 15)
https://icme15.org/

National Summit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Education
https://atsima.com/national-summit-on-indigenous-mathematics-education/

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (USA)
https://www.nctm.org/

Learn how to join your local AAMT affiliated association here:
https://aamt.edu.au/about-us/membership/aamt_affiliated_associations/

Sponsored by Tutero
Tutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at https://www.tutero.com

Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/

Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast Studio

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Situating the curriculum in real life to engage students, giving purpose to learning, teaching that real data is never perfect, the value of not having the right answer as a teacher, and much more.

Founder of the Australian Data Science Education Institute, author of Raising Heretics, PhD in Computer Science Education, and passionate educator, Dr Linda McIver joins Allan to discuss best practices to grow students into powerful critical thinkers, challengers of orthodoxy, analysts and problem solvers via asking difficult questions, providing real emotional connections to projects, using real, messy data to teach, and more.

Tutero
Tutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com

Key Links:
Get hundreds of great resources from the Australian Data Science Education Institute:
https://adsei.org/

Get Raising Heretics: Teaching Kids to Save the World from your favourite retailer:
https://adsei.org/raising-heretics-how-data-science-education-can-change-the-world/

Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers:
https://aamt.edu.au/

Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast Studio

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The power of AI as a teaching aid, how to ethically use AI and ChatGPT as a thinking partner, content generator, and consumer of data.

Co-CEO of Tutero, Joey Moshinski, and Education Specialist at AAMT, Denise Halliday join Allan to talk about the benefits, challenges, limitations, and ethics of using AI large language models as a tool to improve the teaching of mathematics, as well as challenges with equity of access, techniques to create prompts for your AI, tailoring common exercises to your classroom with AI, and how AI has more to offer to teachers than to students.

Key Links:

Sign up for Tutero’s classroom software for free at:
https://tutero.com.au

And connect with Joey Moshinski on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-moshinsky-551540159

Tutero
Tutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at https://www.tutero.com

Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers:
https://aamt.edu.au/

Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast Studio

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The value of mathematical empathy, combatting societal perceptions about mathematics, meeting students where they are in order to understand them, and more.

PhD Candidate and author of “Contemplating the Role of Mathematical Egotism”, Rebecca Burtenshaw joins Allan for a conversation on mathematical egotism, Rebecca’s journey from “disillusioned with mathematics” to PhD candidate in maths education, changing student’s relationships with mathematics, focusing more on student perceptions of mathematics, balancing collaboration and guidance, being aware of your own biases as a mathematics teacher, and contemplating what success in mathematics really means.

Tutero
Tutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com

Key Links:

Read Rebecca’s paper on Mathematical Egotism here:
https://go.aamt.edu.au/StrengthinNumbersS03E06

Burtenshaw, R. (2024). Contemplating the role of mathematical egotism. In T. Evans, O. Marmur, J. Hunter, G. Leach, & J. Jhagroo (Eds.). Proceedings of the 47th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 104–111). PME

Or follow her on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-burtenshaw-32b79b191/

Podcast production by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studio https://eastcoaststudio.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.