This course aims to encourage students to develop a positive attitude towards mathematics as a problem-solving tool. Students are encouraged to work systematically and logically and to communicate mathematically. At the same time students are given sufficient practice to allow them to develop the manipulative skills necessary with algebraic operations. Throughout Semester 2 in Year Ten students continually use mathematical software as a tool to assist in understanding concepts, as well as a means of analysing data from models constructed by the students. The Year Ten Semester Two assignment work is centred around using a computer as a mathematical tool.
Homework is set after most mathematics lessons.
The homework allows practice with concepts or procedures taught in the lesson, allows for revision of work previously encountered, gives students a set time to work on assignments or poses open-ended questions as an introduction to new concepts. The Mathematics Department is beginning to use computers more and more as a teaching tool. Throughout this year the Year Ten classes are spending a significant amount of their lesson time in the computer room. The software programs which are being used, for class activities, are designed to allow students to explore and investigate ideas and to test these ideas using mathematical models. The emphasis is on interpretation, analysis and making sense of the problem, the process and the answer.