Professional Development

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

Pupils can often experience mathematics teaching as trying to remember as many of the “rules” as possible. But what if, instead of just rules, pupils could “see” the mathematical structures that influence and define the rules?

This is where we can make maths visible, using suitable representations and manipulatives to allow pupils to make sense of mathematical structure. In this session Peter 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.

Watch the video

About Peter Mattock

Peter Mattock has been teaching mathematics in secondary schools since 2006 and leading maths departments since the beginning of 2011 – currently as an Assistant Head Teacher at an 11-16 school in Leicestershire. Peter has been accredited as an NCETM Secondary Mathematics Professional Development Lead and a Mathematics Specialist Leader in Education. He was also one of the first secondary maths teachers to take part in the NCETM Secondary Mastery Specialist programme and now works as the Secondary Mastery Lead for East Midlands South Maths Hub.

Peter’s book, Visible Maths: Using representations and structure to enhance mathematics teaching in schools, is available on the Crown House Publishing website, through Amazon or from your preferred local book shop.

Age: secondary