Online Professional Development Videos

In addition to face-to-face events, the Loughborough University Mathematics Education Network offers a growing series of free, online professional development videos, which are available from this page.

Some are presented by colleagues from within Loughborough University's Department of Mathematics Education, and others by external experts within mathematics education. Some videos have been designed mainly for secondary teachers, others mainly for primary/early years teachers, and others for anyone. We hope that there is something here for everyone.

Filter by phase

To select videos of particular relevance to a certain phase of education, use the filters below.

If you have watched any of these videos, please click HERE to fill in a short (5-minute) survey to give us some feedback – with the option of entering a draw to win one of 5 mathematics education books.

Executive Function: Part 2

In this video, Professor Camilla Gilmore considers different ways in which the working memory can play a role in mathematical thinking and what this means for designing mathematical activities.

Executive Function: Part 1

In this video, Professor Camilla Gilmore considers different ways in which inhibitory control can affect mathematical thinking and how this might inform the design of mathematical activities.

Joined-up conceptualisaion thumbnail

Joined-up conceptualisation

In this video, Anne Watson talks about joined-up conceptualisation, looking at three lessons on loci. In the video notice she highlights the language that is used, the way tools are used and the order of tasks.

Statistical Diagrams from Playfair to Nightingale

The earliest statistical diagrams were drawn towards the end of the eighteenth century by William Playfair and they feature in our everyday life and in our curricula to this day. Dr Chris Pritchard looks at the developments of statistical diagrams throughout history and the role they play now.

Can we get students to "explain their reasoning"?

In this video Michael Pershan argues that explanations are quite important in mathematical learning, even though students often have a very difficult time explaining why procedures work.

Cognitive Load Theory: Practical Applications

This video presents practical applications of Cognitive Load Theory for the classroom. Building on Ouhou Chen's video, Ollie Lovell, provides classroom examples of the redundancy effect, split-attention effect, worked examples and more.

Exploring computation fluency connecting structures, strategies and symbols

Dr Ruth Trundley explores the importance of connecting different representations of mathematics and in particular how the meaning attached to symbols is essential in supporting fluency.

A small-scale action research project on spatial reasoning

In this video Dr Alison Borthwick describes a project with teachers who were keen to find out more about spatial reasoning with 5-11-year-olds. The video includes a flavour of the international research, the activities the teachers completed and the impact on both adults and children.
Dr Helen Williams Playful Mathematics

Playful Mathematics

Dr Helen Williams presents some background into the literature on play and learning generally, and considers what this might mean for the learning of mathematics in particular, as well as what 'playful mathematics' might look like in practice.

Comparative judgement in the mathematics classroom

Comparative judgement offers a novel approach to assessing important but fuzzy learning outcomes, such as problem solving and conceptual understanding. In this video, Dr Ian Jones introduces comparative judgement and how it can be used in the mathematics classroom.

Early counting

In this video, Dr Catherine Gripton explores the development of counting in early childhood and discusses ‘counting collections’ as an approach which can support children’s participation, agency and enjoyment of counting.

Probability in school

In this video, Jemma Sherwood looks at probability: the ways it’s considered by mathematicians, its purpose – as a discipline and in school – and how we can move pupils from an intuitive but immature understanding of chance to a more nuanced, formal, mathematical understanding.

Maths without mistakes

In this workshop by Dr Dan Meyer, he discusses curriculum, technology, and strategies that celebrate and develop that thinking instead, helping learners grow in their maths identity and knowledge.

Effective teacher professional development

Research is increasingly providing insights about how pupils learn. However, our understanding of how to design professional development in order to help teachers put these insights into practice remains limited. In this talk, Dr Sam Sims outlines a new theory of effective professional development.

Angles in Polygons in Depth

This workshop by Jo Morgan takes a detailed look at angles in polygons, examining this topic’s place on the national curriculum and how it is assessed at GCSE.

Parental Engagement in Mathematical Learning

Drawing on over 10 years of research in this area, Professor Tim Jay talks about why out-of-school mathematics thinking and learning is so important, why parental engagement interventions often don’t achieve their aims, and how an alternative approach to working with parents can help.

Self Explanation Training and the Transition to Undergraduate Mathematics

Dr Lara Alcock looks at how studying Mathematics at Undergraduate level is often much different to the expectations of students where they are unaccustomed to studying the many theorems and proofs that appear in their lecture notes. This video explores how they can study more effectively.

"Reading Maths is Hard"

In this session, Beth Woollacott talks about some of the characteristics of mathematics text that can make it more complex and discusses some of the limited research on students’ reading of mathematical text.

Mathematical Learning Difficulties Following Preterm Birth

This video by Professor Camilla Gilmore reviews current evidence about the long-term development of children born preterm and the impact on their attainment at school, in mathematics and across the curriculum. It includes information about strategies for supporting children born preterm in school.

Board gaming and the number line

Lucy Rycroft-Smith shares a research-informed wander through her board game collection, considering the possible implications of design choices in terms of representing numbers in number lines in various board games.

Identities and mathematics

In this video, Lucy Rycroft-Smith, from the explicit standpoint of a queer female(ish) mathematician, considers ideas about representation, identity and belonging in maths and what the implications might be for us as learners and teachers at every level.

A visualisation in number theory

In this session Dr Vicky Neale invites us to investigate a visualisation in number theory (a branch of mathematics about properties of whole numbers).

How mixed-attainment grouping affects the way students experience mathematics

In this video Tom Francome examines why Mixed-attainment mathematics teaching is not a common practice in England, despite evidence that ability grouping is not an effective strategy for improving educational outcomes.

Mathematics anxiety – is it a thing?

Mathematics anxiety refers to feelings of tension and anxiety some individuals encounter when dealing with maths in academic and daily-life situations. In this video, Dr Krzysztof Cipora gives a brief introduction to the topic of maths anxiety.

Developing Fluency With Procedures Without Using Traditional Exercises

In this video, Dr Colin Foster introduces the idea of mathematical etudes, which are tasks designed to generate extensive practice of important mathematical procedures within an interesting, problem-solving context.

Making Maths Visible: Using Models and Structure in Place of Rules

In this session Peter Mattock will highlight a couple of mathematical concepts, and how we can use representations to highlight their structure to help pupils in a coherent journey exploring the concepts.

Improving Language Use in Maths

In this video, Dani Quinn looks at how specific techniques linked to literacy and language can feed into a broader culture of high expectations and building pupils’ confidence. The video should be particularly relevant to colleagues in Key Stay 3 and 4,but is also useful for Key Stages 2 and 5.

Maths' Many Misconceptions: Factors, Multiples, Primes

In this video, Craig Barton uses some of the 200+ million answers on his Diagnostic Questions website to unearth where students do really well and where they struggle with factors, multiples and primes.

Developing Pattern Awareness in the Early Years

In this video, Dr Sue Gifford describes a project with teachers of 3-5-year-olds who developed a range of pattern activities in different contexts, with some surprising responses from the children.
Intro slide for Helen William's video

Supporting Spatial Reasoning in the Early Years

Dr Helen Williams explores the importance of early spatial reasoning on later, and wider, mathematical achievement.

Attention

Professor John Mason explores the role of teachers as initiators of actions which intervene in learners’ attention.

Pie Charts in Depth

Jo Morgan's Workshop looks at how teaching pie charts gives us the opportunity to strengthen our students' proportional reasoning as well as their statistical literacy.

Using Tasks Richly

Professor John Mason explores different ways to introduce a task, and indications are given of ways to use a task richly, whether during work, or in drawing work to a close.

Education as Negotiation: The Case of Basic Probability

Professor Dor Abrahamson's video advances a view of teaching and learning mathematical ideas as equitable dialogue between individuals holding different perceptions of a shared sensory display.

How to be a Better Consumer of Education Research

Dr Hugo Lortie-Forgues explores the metrics teachers considered most informative, understandable, and helpful, and suggest ways to help teachers develop accurate expectations of the impact of educational interventions.

Two Ways of Communicating Research to Teachers

If education research is to lead to improved learning outcomes for students, then its outcomes must be communicated to teachers. Professor Matthew Inglis explores what are the outcomes of education research.

Cognitive Load Theory Informed Teaching

Ouhau Chen aims to initiate some discussion with teachers as well as inform teachers how cognitive load theory can inform teaching in his presentation on Cognitive Load Theory Informed Teaching.

Secondary NRICH: Increasing Parental Engagement

In this session, Dr Ems Lord will explore the rationale, resources and findings from NRICH's recent project focusing on increasing parental engagement for Y7 students.

Primary NRICH: Collaborative Problem-Solving in the Primary Classroom

NRICH Director, Dr Ems Lord explores the most effective strategies for developing CPS in the primary maths classroom.

Designing Mathematical Tasks for Deeper Understanding

In this workshop, Chris McGrane explores the vital role of tasks in the mathematics classroom. In his video, he considers how we might design and adapt tasks to help our pupils learn.

Previous Professional Development Events

Find information about the events run by the Loughborough University Mathematics Education Network here.

Find out more

Research In Action Podcast: Series 1

In this 10-episode mini-series of the Mr Barton Maths podcast, Craig Barton, Visiting Fellow at the Mathematics Education Centre, interviews 10 colleagues from the Mathematics Education Centre about their research.

Find out more

Research In Action Podcast: Series 2

In this second mini-series of the Mr Barton Maths podcast, Craig Barton, Visiting Fellow at the Mathematics Education Centre, interviews 9 more colleagues from the Mathematics Education Centre about their research.

Find out more