Week 7- Reflection

1.     Develop a Mental Warm Up (MWU) that can be used in a Stage of your choice

and that focuses on mental computation skills. Film yourself administering this MWU (2 minutes max) and upload the recording. Write possible answers

The mental warm up targets stage 3 years 5 and 6, and relates to mental computation in multiplication. This warm up targets the student’s ability to utilise mental strategies to multiply three digit numbers with one digit numbers. In relevance to my own personal experience I have always struggled with mental computation particularly when needing to multiply numbers. During the segments within the tutorial and working alongside a student in the previous assignment I felt inept to completely assist in every aspect the best I could, because personally I wasn’t one hundred percent confident. However, this specific exercise was specifically chosen as a warm up to help tackle any difficulties a student may have and assess what can be done well after this exercise is completed. Bern (2018) states that students who may be at-risk or struggling slightly with mathematics is to help develop their growth mind-set and encourage them towards gradual improvement.  I would utilise this warm up in a future classroom to gather insights about my students and begin to structure my lessons in accordance to where the gaps may be in mental computation or even in multiplication on its own. Students within the bracket of years 5 and 6 may have a variation of ways in solving these problems but below I have structured the way the syllabus formulates the working out of answers. In relation to the syllabus I have replicated the exercise from this statement ‘Use mental and written strategies to multiply three – and four – digit numbers by one-digit numbers, including ( NESA , 2018 ) : Multiplying the thousands, then the hundred, then the tens and then the ones, e.g 673 x 4 ( NESA , 2018) . Alongside the video of the mental warm up being administered I have attached the answers a student may come up with through the process of mental computation.

Answers :

1.     193 x 7 = ( 100 x 7 ) + ( 90 x 7 ) + ( 3 x 7 )

= 700 + 630 + 21

= 1351

2.     426 x 2 = ( 400 x 2 ) + ( 20 x 2 ) + ( 6 x 2 )

= 800 + 40 + 12

= 852

3.     555 x 5 = ( 500 x 5 ) + ( 50 x 5 ) + ( 5x5 )

= 2500 + 250 + 25

= 2775

4.     839 x 6 = ( 800 x 6 ) + ( 30 x 6 ) + ( 9 x 6 )

= 4800 + 180 + 54

= 5034

Nsw Education Standards Authority ( 2018 ) . Number and Algebra . Retrieved from : http://syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au/mathematics/mathematics-k10/outcomes/

Long ., B. ( 2018 ). Helping at-risk students develop good learning actions. Part 2 online , Vol. 33 , ( No 2 ) . 14-15. Retrieved from : https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy1.acu.edu.au/fullText;dn=518771943806267;res=IELHSS